Martial Archetype
Comments from the Palm: I wrote this a while ago, well before the UA article with a similar archetype came out, and I still find that one somewhere between lacking and too strong, whereas this gets the point across much better.
Brute
The battlefield attracts fighters of all types and creeds. Inevitably, each warrior will do his damnedest to prove to the others that his way is the “right” way of fighting: the champion sculpts his body into a figure made of marble, the battlemaster uses tricks and tactics to control the flow of combat, and the eldritch knights straight-up cheat by bringing magic into the whole mess. Kensai, Duelists, Weapon Masters of all types, they all think they know how to win.
The real answer is much, much simpler: Pick up the biggest, heaviest thing you can find, and squash the rest of them with it; that’s the Brute way.
Heavy Iron
Starting when you take this archetype at 3rd level, you learn how to make the most out of the biggest, heaviest weapons. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with melee weapon that has the Heavy property or an unarmed strike, you can deal an additional 1d4 damage to that creature.
This extra damage increases as you gain levels in the fighter class: at 7th level, it increases to 1d6 damage; 10th level, 1d8 damage; 15th level, 1d10 damage; and at 18th level, it increases to 1d12 damage.
Grab and Smash
Starting at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in improvised weapons, and treat any sufficiently large improvised weapon (a boulder, a table, or an orc, for example) as if it had the Heavy property.
Beast of Burden
Starting at 7th level, your muscle makes you extremely adept at lugging lots of heavy gear and throwing your weight around. Your capacities for carrying, lifting, pushing, and pulling are doubled, and you gain advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks.
Hammer Throw
At 10th level, you can treat any weapon you are proficient with as if it had the Thrown property, with a range of 20/60 feet. Additionally, you can always use your Strength modifier on ranged attack rolls made when throwing a weapon.
Tough as Nails
Starting at 15th level, whenever you take bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, that damage is reduced by an amount equal to your Constitution modifier.
Awesome Blow
Starting at 18th level, once per turn, when you hit a creature that is large size or smaller with a melee weapon that has the Heavy trait, that creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC equals 8 + your Proficiency modifier + you Strength Modifier) or be shoved away from you or knocked prone, your choice. If you shove a creature away from you using this ability, you can move them up to a number of feet equal to 5 times your Strength modifier.
