D&D 3.x [3.5] Monk damage progression post-lvl20

[Raistlin97]

I saw a post from '09 declaring that monk damage doesn't progress after 20, but I can't find anything 3.5-specific that supports it. In 3.0, Monk progression was irregular, so didn't qualify, but WotC fixed that, such that Monk damage rises every fourth level. As per the epic rules, every class feature that improves at a fixed interval of levels qualifies, so Monk damage progression should, too, right? Is there something I'm missing? Before anyone brings up the ELH, it was 3.0, and under 3.0, Monk indeed lacks damage progression after lvl16, but I'm asking as regarding 3.5.

 

[Alzrius]

I saw a post from '09 declaring that monk damage doesn't progress after 20, but I can't find anything 3.5-specific that supports it. In 3.0, Monk progression was irregular, so didn't qualify, but WotC fixed that, such that Monk damage rises every fourth level. As per the epic rules, every class feature that improves at a fixed interval of levels qualifies, so Monk damage progression should, too, right? Is there something I'm missing? Before anyone brings up the ELH, it was 3.0, and under 3.0, Monk indeed lacks damage progression after lvl16, but I'm asking as regarding 3.5.

According to the official 3.5 update booklet (which was available both in print and on the WotC website; I'll attach a copy to this post), "The epic-level class progressions for the core classes are unchanged."

Now, that's slightly awkward, since the Epic Level Handbook says "Unarmed Strike: The damage for a monk’s unarmed strike does not increase after 16th level," but in 3.5 the monk's unarmed damage increases at 20th level (EDIT: the line about their unarmed strike damage being capped after 16th level can also be found on page 208 of the 3.5 DMG). But leaving aside that relatively minor contradiction, the intent seems to be that ELH's prohibition against the epic monk's unarmed damage increasing still applies in 3.5, albeit after they get their last damage increase at 20th level.