For some reason, we tend to imagine that as civilization crumbles in an apocalyptic catastrophe, entertainment becomes more brutal and cruel. The clear pop-culture analogue I can thing of here is the Thunderdome, from the third Mad Max movie, but pit-fighting does seem to be a signifier of a cruel and anarchic world (even if, historically, the most famous gladiators fought under an unprecedentedly advanced empire).
The Gladiator in this UA is a Fighter subclass that strongly encourages you to go heavy on Charisma, as your fighting is part of a gory performance. As a note, I think that this could pair well with a Warlock dip, though of course remember that most good melee feats will still require at least a minimum of 13 in Strength or sometimes Dexterity.
Also of note, many Gladiator features here require a melee weapon to use, so while most Fighter subclasses are perfectly viable as a ranged build, this one's obligate melee.
Level 3:
Brutality:
The central feature of the subclass allows you to augment your weapon hits. Once per turn (though not only on your turn) if you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can add one of the following effects. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) per Short or Long Rest. Each of these lets you tack on an additional weapon mastery effect specific to the brutality effect along with an additional bonus. The mastery is in addition to whatever mastery you're already getting.
Bleed lets you activate the Sap property in addition to another mastery (likely the weapon's default, but of course Fighters can swap those out by mid-levels) and also deal extra damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
Bluff lets you activate the Vex property and also gives you advantage on the next saving throw you make before the end of your next turn.
Stumble lets you activate the Topple mastery and the target can only take an action or bonus action on its next turn, not both.
I quibble a bit with Bleed here, as it doesn't create some kind of periodic damage effect. Of course, at higher levels as Fighters we can already swap in Sap, Push, or Slow, but we could potentially do that along with this with these strikes. Naturally, I'll always feel inclined to compare this with the Battle Master, but I think the effects that come with the bonus mastery are an interesting wrinkle. You get all three of these (and later more). But unless you're emptying the tank, you'll need to be a little conservative with them.
Combat Theatrics:
This gives you two benefits:
Athletic Flair lets you add your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) to any Strength Athletics check or Dexterity Acrobatics check you make.
Again, you need to have a decent Charisma modifier for this subclass to work, so this will be a nice bonus when it comes up.
Bonus Proficiency gives you proficiency in your choice of Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, or Performance.
Nice, but clearly not the headliner.
Level 7:
Flourish Parry:
As a reaction when someone hits you with a melee attack, you can use a reaction to increase your AC against that attack by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
If the reaction causes the attack to miss, you can retaliate as part of the same reaction, making a melee weapon attack against the triggering creature. If this hits, you can use a brutality effect without expending a use of the feature.
If you use this counterattack, you can't do so again until you finish a Long Rest or expend a Second Wind to restore your use of it.
The real headliner here is that this is a defensive reaction you never run out of. Sure, the counterattack is limited, but every single round, you will be able to potentially parry an attack. Once again, you'll really need a high Charisma for it to be reliable, but unless you have a DM who doesn't tell you the actual attack roll, you'll be able to gauge when it's time to use it. I actually think this makes the Gladiator really attractive as a sword-and-board build - as someone who played an Eldritch Knight with the Shield spell, I can tell you it's very nice to be very hard to hit. This isn't quite Shield, as it's only against one attack, but the unlimited nature is very cool. The counterattack is also nice, but not the thing that gets me excited about it.
Level 10:
Bolder Brutalities:
You gain new brutality effects you can use.
Rive lets you activate the Cleave mastery, and you get to add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus action attack.
Cleave's pretty hard to come by - only on Greataxes and Halberds. And this makes Cleave better. One of the big problems with Cleave is that it's useless if you don't have multiple enemies standing next to each other. But being able to choose it situationally, I think, makes it a lot better.
Rush lets you activate the Push mastery and also you can move up to your speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
I like this: while the obvious thing would be to pursue your target after pushing them, you can also get a ton of extra movement to reposition somewhere safer.
Stagger lets you activate the Slow mastery, and the target has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.
This could be a really good set-up to help out one of the spellcasters. Slow is not the most exciting mastery, but disadvantage on the next saving throw? Quite nice.
Level 15:
Brutal Resurgence:
When you use Second Wind to regain HP, you gain an expended use of Brutality. You also regain a use of Brutality when you use Action Surge.
This is going to significantly increase the amount of brutality you can use. You'll want to ensure you're using enough to not "cap" uses.
Level 18:
Mutilate:
When you hit a bloodied creature with an attack roll, you can attempt to critically injure it. The target makes a Con save (DC based on your Charisma). On a failure, you can choose one of the following effects:
Maimed prevents it from taking more than one attack with the attack action.
Sluggish halves the target's speed and reduces their AC by 2.
These effects last until the creature regains HP.
Once a creature fails its save against this, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Lots to unpack here, but I love that the target needs to heal up before the effect ends. Against most monsters, that's never going to happen. It is very limited in use, but I love that you have bad-luck protection. If the target succeeds its save, you can use this on your next turn. By the time you get this feature, monsters have hundreds of HP, so bloodied can still mean there's a lot of fight left to go. Also, you can gauge which effect to use: if it's a Marilith or some other monster with a ton of attacks, Maimed will almost neutralize it. If it only does like 2 attacks, it might be more helpful to use Sluggish.
I'd love to have some way to restore uses of this.
Overall Thoughts:
I think with any Fighter subclass, giving you a menu of things to do is always a good call - and it's a design we see a ton. I'm curious to see if the way this is tied to weapon masteries remains the final design. Only Bleed actually adds damage, and in that case only a modest amount (though at low levels, an extra 3 or 4 damage can be a big deal). The limitation on once per turn does have a little negative synergy with the Fighter's ability to make so many attacks per turn. I really like Flourish Parry and Mutilate here. And I do think Mutilate in particular really gives you that flavor of brutality.
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