Grappling Damge

[punkorange]

When exactly is a grappler dealt damage as if from an unarmed attack.
And with a monk grappling someone, is it still considered lethal damage?

 

[Pinotage]

When exactly is a grappler dealt damage as if from an unarmed attack.
And with a monk grappling someone, is it still considered lethal damage?

You deal damage every time you succeed at a grapple check to 'Damage your Opponent' or right after achieving a Hold on the initial grapple attempt. So a character with BAB +6 could damage his opponent twice during a round, once when starting and succeeding at the grapple and once when using the 'Damage your Opponent' Grapple Check.

A monk deals lethal damage according to his unarmed stike damage rather than size, but can take a -4 penalty to do non-lethal damage.

Pinotage

 

[punkorange]

okay, so a low level monk grappler could be somewhat deadly eh.

 

[VorpalStare]

You deal damage every time you succeed at a grapple check to 'Damage your Opponent' or right after achieving a Hold on the initial grapple attempt. So a character with BAB +6 could damage his opponent twice during a round, once when starting and succeeding at the grapple and once when using the 'Damage your Opponent' Grapple Check.

A monk deals lethal damage according to his unarmed strike damage rather than size, but can take a -4 penalty to do non-lethal damage.

Pinotage

Monks don't take a -4 penalty to deal non-lethal damage. See the section "Damage Your Opponent", p. 156 PHB:

Exception: Monks deal more damage on an unarmed strike than other characters, and the damage is lethal. However, they can choose to deal their damage as nonlethal damage when grappling without taking the usual -4 penalty for changing lethal damage to nonlethal damage (see Dealing Nonlethal Damage, page 146).
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[Pinotage]

Monks don't take a -4 penalty to deal non-lethal damage. See the section "Damage Your Opponent", p. 156 PHB:

Exception: Monks deal more damage on an unarmed strike than other characters, and the damage is lethal. However, they can choose to deal their damage as nonlethal damage when grappling without taking the usual -4 penalty for changing lethal damage to nonlethal damage (see Dealing Nonlethal Damage, page 146).
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Aack! That's what I meant to say. Thanks for the correction.

Pinotage

 

[kjenks]

According to the PH, armor spikes inflict extra piercing damage. This can increase your grapple damage quite a bit as you get to add your Str bonus twice (once for inflicting nonlethal unarmed strike damage, once for inflicting lethal piercing damage). For a human fighter, this is 1d3+Str nonlethal plus 1d6+Str piercing.

Or, according to the FAQ, grappling while wearing armor spikes allows you to inflict piercing damage rather than unarmed strike damage.

Ask your DM.