In the Pathfinder Society I’d like to create a Fighter (using Pathbuilder 2E) that’s good at grappling creatures. But there seems to be so many ways of doing this.
It seems like taking Monk/Wrestler as a L2 Archetype Dedication would be advantageous, but since I’ve never played a pure Fighter I’m not sure if their feats would accomplish the same thing without the overhead. (It’s PFS so no Free Archetype.)
I want a character that does good to great, consistent damage (hence Fighter as base class), with the ability to pin down a tough opponent to make them flat-footed, so others can land hits easier.
Honestly, Monk + Wrestler or Monk + Barbarian (giant) would probably make a better grappler overall, and do more damage over time, since the Monk inherently does more damage from unarmed attacks. I know what you mean about the fighter doing better damage, but that’s sort of predicated on playing a fighter as a plain vanilla fighter. Once you’ve sort of focused on grappler, you’re chucking part of the fighter’s advantages out the window.
If you do want to stay with fighter as your main class, my opinion is that wrestler is clearly the better choice, mostly because it’s entirely focused on grappling. Take farmhand background, snagging strike as 1st level class feat, wrestler dedication at 2nd which gives you titan wrestler, then combat grab at 4th. If you make it all the way to 8th, that’s when the really fun feats come online, like whirling throw.
Hadn’t really considered monk as a base class. I’ll check it out!
Thank you.