Fisticuffs

[Paladin777]

Would Beast Barbarian (with dual wielder) with refluffing the claws into the punches and stuff work?

I have played three different unarmed Barbarians at this point and 2 of them took Tavern Brawler. 1d4+Str+rage damage is decent enough to get you by, and advantage on Athletics while raging makes grappling a breeze. You could take the Fighting Initiate feat later on for Unarmed Fighting which increases your damage to 1d8 and adds a little bonus to grappling damage. Maybe at some point take a could levels of Fighter for Action Surge and the TWF style for the extra off hand punch damage. Rage damage already works with your off hand punches anyway.

Mechanically those would both work, but barbarian isn't really the playstyle or general flavor I'm looking for, even if reskinned.

Edit: Actually, they wouldn't anyway because the DM is allowing me to count as armed because of the fighting style, and Barbarians don't get that.