Ignoring DR with an unarmed attack

[saucercrab]

The Shen PrC from an older issue of Dragon did get Ki Strike (silver) IIRC.

And cold iron (forget the levels). #319, BTW.

Also, the Omatu master (#315) grants silver & cold iron penetrating; it's a halfling monk PrC.

Looks like the hardest DR to bypass innately (sans items) are silver and cold iron.. feats exists for alignment-based DR, and Versatile Unarmed Strike take care of damage type based ones. Magid, Lawful and Adamantine is in the core monk.

There are probably someone who knows how to make a monk build that can bypass all DR?
Or perhaps, the question is - how many types of DR can you reliably bypass through multiclassing/PrC and feats?

A warforged monk is close. With no PrCs, he can get past adamantine, cold iron, silver, magic, chaotic, & bludgeoning DRs. And that's before magic items that grant sure striking, holy, etc. I don't remember if I was able to fit in Versatile Unarmed Strike in the build I was working on.

I'm sure I saw an adamantine weapon spell somewhere recently, but I don't remember what book it was in.

Book of Exalted Deeds, IIRC.

 

[boolean]

I'm sure I saw an adamantine weapon spell somewhere recently, but I don't remember what book it was in.

Earth Hammer from Races of Stone also provides a similar effect.

 

[Nail]

Make it a Touch attack.

 

[Bagpuss]

Yeah get killed and gain the Ghost Template, and Corrupting Touch (Su).

 

[Nail]

.....Shudder.....



(Having been on the losing side of that argument. Sigh.)

 

[Adolfo_Mondschein]

Adamantine Punch

It's not an absolute way to ignore hardness, but adamantine gauntlets will ignore hardness under 20.

Dheran is correct. Technically gauntlets(not spiked) count as Unarmed Strikes, if you have proficiency with them you may use your unarmed monk damage, flurry of blows, etc. with them. You can get adamantine gauntlets and enchant them to make them tough and bypass annoying Damage Reduction. If your worried about golems, a brooch of golem bane out of the DMG is a have to have, cheap item.

Hope this helps!

 

[Klaus]

Dheran is correct. Technically gauntlets(not spiked) count as Unarmed Strikes, if you have proficiency with them you may use your unarmed monk damage, flurry of blows, etc. with them. You can get adamantine gauntlets and enchant them to make them tough and bypass annoying Damage Reduction. If your worried about golems, a brooch of golem bane out of the DMG is a have to have, cheap item.

Hope this helps!

That'd make sense, wouldn't it?

Unfortunately, the FAQ states that gauntlets are not monk weapons, and as such the monk can't use his flurry of blows, his increased unarmed damage, etc, etc.

>sigh<

 

[Wavestone]

And cold iron (forget the levels). #319, BTW..

Thanks.. remembered the silver offhand, but not the cold iron. I think it was a very flavorful monk PrC, with the Shen form and all.

A warforged monk is close. With no PrCs, he can get past adamantine, cold iron, silver, magic, chaotic, & bludgeoning DRs. And that's before magic items that grant sure striking, holy, etc. I don't remember if I was able to fit in Versatile Unarmed Strike in the build I was working on.

I guess your build here is Monk17? Adamantine, Magic and Lawful (not Chaotic! Chaotic outsiders like Slaad have DR/Lawful, IIRC) from Monk. Bludgeoning from base unarmed. But cold iron/silver? Unless I remember wrong, the tracery feats are exclusive - you get the one or the other? Prestige classing is a possibility, but you lose out on Adamantine.


Unless.. Warforged Monk with Cold Iron tracery, Versatile Unarmed Strike, and 2 levels in Argent Fist (to get Silver, and still be able to get Adamantine). Monk18/ArgFist2 ==> can penetrate magic, adamantine, silver, cold iron, lawful, piercing, slashing, bludgeoning? Then you only lack Good/Evil/Chaotic. Or for that matter the exotic materials from Eberron.. Byeshk, anyone?

well.. I'm sure anyone out there can figure out how to do it.. for a last resort, make a prestige class whose focus is to penetrate all kinds of DR..

 

[Klaus]

The tracery feats aren't mutually exclusive. A warforged monk could get Cold Iron Tracery, Silver Tracery, wield a +1 Battlefist (which is Adamantine) and Oil of Align Weapon and be able to bypass DR x/ cold iron, silver, adamantine, magic and alignment-based by 3rd level (1st-level feat for CI Tracery and 3rd for Silver).

 

[Wavestone]

The tracery feats aren't mutually exclusive. A warforged monk could get Cold Iron Tracery, Silver Tracery, wield a +1 Battlefist (which is Adamantine) and Oil of Align Weapon and be able to bypass DR x/ cold iron, silver, adamantine, magic and alignment-based by 3rd level (1st-level feat for CI Tracery and 3rd for Silver).

Thanks.. dont have the books atm. Looks pretty good with said Warforged monk then.. he only needs to take Versatile Unarmed Strike to penetrate all DR. If that works with the Battlefist, that is.. Whether he can afford the said magic items at that level is another matter.. even if he can, thats almost all his money spent on penetrating DR..