Improving Monk Damage

[the_bruiser]

I see it is being just fine.

I can't get the formatting right, but the general info is still there:

Levels Monk w/o Feat	  Monk w/feat
------ --------------	  ------------
  1-3	  1d6 (3.5)			1d8 (4.5)
  4-7	  1d8 (4.5)			2d6 (7)
  8-11	1d10 (5.5)		   2d8 (9)
 12-15	2d6 (7)			   2d8 (9)
 16-19	2d8 (9)			   4d6 (14)
   20	  2d10 (11)			4d8 (18)

James - Thanks for the analysis. I actually had come up with something different – I’m curious how we differ. Is your chart from an ‘official’ source, do we just come up with different, equally valid answers, or have I made a mistake? Here’s what I came up with:

SRD:
IMPROVED NATURAL ATTACK [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Natural weapon, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: Choose one of the creature’s natural attack forms. The damage for this natural weapon increases by one step, as if the creature’s size had increased by one category: 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 3d6, 4d6, 6d6, 8d6, 12d6.
A weapon or attack that deals 1d10 points of damage increases as follows: 1d10, 2d8, 3d8, 4d8, 6d8, 8d8, 12d8

Levels Monk w/o Feat	Monk w/feat
------ --------------	  	------------
  1-3	  1d6 (3.5)		1d8 (4.5)	+1, from top progression
  4-7	  1d8 (4.5)		2d6 (7)		+2.5, from top progression
  8-11	1d10 (5.5)		2d8 (9)		+3.5, from lower progression
 12-15	2d6 (7)			3d6 (10.5)	+3.5, from top progression
 16-19	2d8 (9)			3d8 (13.5)	+4.5, from lower progression		
   20	  2d10 (11)		3d10 (16.5) 	+5.5, others went 2->3 dice

Interesting – I thought this was an elegant, increasing function, gradually going from +1 to +5.5 with monk level – seemed to work out beautifully. I’m probably missing something…?

 

[Pax]

Another thing in Magic of Faerun - it's expensive so you won't be getting it TOO soon - would be Monk's Tattoos, found on page 163. They improve a monk's unarmed strike damage, AC, and speed by four levels. While it costs 80,000gp ... it's a slotless item, and more, one that cannot simply be taken away from you (short of destroying them and/or flaying your monk).

That AND the belt would give you +9 levels for those things, which means 2d8 damage, +3 AC, and +60' movement. And in one more (actual) level, you hit 2d10 damage and +4 AC. After that, you'd have to look up the ELH's entries for the Monk.

Also in Savage Species, is the Ring of Growth. Once per day, bump yoruself up an entire size category (with all the strength and base-damage increases that entails).

 

[trentonjoe]

Improved natural weapons

I let the monk in my campaign take it. He is 15th level. He still does way less damage than the 13th level barbarian/cleric but about as much (or maybe a little more) as the 12th level ranger.

This is just off the top of my head but fully prepped and given a full round of attacks the Barbarian does about 50 points of damage, the monk and the ranger get in about 30ish.

Seems okay to me.

 

[the_bruiser]

Thanks for the feedback. You're right, though, it'll be a long time (read: never) before my monk can afford those tattoos in this campaign.

Which of the above charts for before/after monk damage looks right to you guys?

 

[James McMurray]

After that, you'd have to look up the ELH's entries for the Monk.

Monk damage doesn't increase at epic levels, everything else increases at the same rate.

 

[Pax]

Brusier, your numbers are off. EACH DIE gets the change - 2d10 doesn't become 3d10, it becomes 4d8. That's because 1d10 becomes 2d8, and twice that (for 2d10) is 4d8.

Also, 2d8 becomes 4d6. Each 1d8 becomes 2d6, and twice THAT (for 2d8), is 4d6.

 

[James McMurray]

Whoops, yours is right. I increased 2d6 as if it were 2 seperate d6s. I didn't notice there was an entry for 2d6 already in the list.

20th level is the only one that needs interpretation then. I'd go with my version for 20th level, just because the damage is slightly higher, and at that level you'll need every last drop.

 

[the_bruiser]

Okay, James seems to be with me (except 20th, which is open to interpretation).

Pax doesn't seem to agree - but to be honest, I'm not sure I understand at all what you're getting at. Are you talking about the feat that I was talking about? Or are you talking about something different, like open hand style or enlarge or something? I don't know what you mean about "each die," or where the 4d6 is coming from, since I cannot find that on the SRD for Improved Natural Attacks. My apologies for not understanding your post.

 

[Legildur]

Improved Disarm with a quarterstaff can be quite effective. Okay, so Strength isn't so good, but can still get reasonable bonuses on disarm attempt (+4 from feat and +4 for using 2-handed weapon) and no penalty for failure (unlike trip attempts).

 

[Coredump]

Complete Warrior: Check out Kensai. Lets you enchant your unarmed attacks. No gold, just XP. Pick up a few levels of that and you can have your increased damage.