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<blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 3914145" data-attributes="member: 51942">In my experience, merely the cost.&nbsp; An amulet which is triple the cost of a weapon is simply outrageous - for a monk.&nbsp; For a dragon, it's a different story.&nbsp; A monk generally doesn't need to bypass DR/magic since his fists can anyhow, so he's only buying it for improving the fist themselves.&nbsp; Monks aren't particularly impressing in the damage area, normally, compared to a two-handed weapon wielding fighter - and that's fine.&nbsp; But the pricing of the amulet makes it worse even than a two-weapon wielding fighter, and those are pretty bad, by all accounts.&nbsp; Generally, I let my players by a monk-specific unarmed strike amulet for 1.5 times the normal weapon enh. cost, i.e. 3 * bonus-squared.&nbsp; This seems to work fine.In a practical matter, I'd definitely not let my PC's encounter a 20th-level caster-for-hire.&nbsp; They've never encountered anything above 12th level yet, and a 20th level caster is not something they'll find around the corner, and further, only a small fraction of the NPC's they encounter are for hire.&nbsp; They might eventually actually meet a 20th level NPC, but they'll need to meet hundreds until they find one that can cast permanency, greater magic fang, and isn't occupied with their own things, and is willing to pay an XP cost at the moment.&nbsp; My suggestion: make the amulet of &quot;unarmed striking&quot; cheaper (and potentially add an interesting flavorful twist), don't let them hire a mage more than 5 levels above their own without a real in-game plot element, and if players come to rely very heavily on the non-dispellability of spells, then make sure to have a bunch of low-level clerics spamming low-level dispel magics just to be annoying.&nbsp; If they're 15th level, then a 10th level cleric adds little to the challenge but can be quite annoying if they're really relying too heavily on dispellable spells.As a DM, I'm rarely too bothered with dispel magic, it's just too much hassle. But if people start casting persistant spells and buying permanencies left-right-center, then it's probably wise to sometimes - even if rarely - remind them that this isn't a great idea.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="eamon, post: 3914145, member: 51942"] In my experience, merely the cost. An amulet which is triple the cost of a weapon is simply outrageous - for a monk. For a dragon, it's a different story. A monk generally doesn't need to bypass DR/magic since his fists can anyhow, so he's only buying it for improving the fist themselves. Monks aren't particularly impressing in the damage area, normally, compared to a two-handed weapon wielding fighter - and that's fine. But the pricing of the amulet makes it worse even than a two-weapon wielding fighter, and those are pretty bad, by all accounts. Generally, I let my players by a monk-specific unarmed strike amulet for 1.5 times the normal weapon enh. cost, i.e. 3 * bonus-squared. This seems to work fine. In a practical matter, I'd definitely not let my PC's encounter a 20th-level caster-for-hire. They've never encountered anything above 12th level yet, and a 20th level caster is not something they'll find around the corner, and further, only a small fraction of the NPC's they encounter are for hire. They might eventually actually meet a 20th level NPC, but they'll need to meet hundreds until they find one that can cast permanency, greater magic fang, and isn't occupied with their own things, and is willing to pay an XP cost at the moment. My suggestion: make the amulet of "unarmed striking" cheaper (and potentially add an interesting flavorful twist), don't let them hire a mage more than 5 levels above their own without a real in-game plot element, and if players come to rely very heavily on the non-dispellability of spells, then make sure to have a bunch of low-level clerics spamming low-level dispel magics just to be annoying. If they're 15th level, then a 10th level cleric adds little to the challenge but can be quite annoying if they're really relying too heavily on dispellable spells. As a DM, I'm rarely too bothered with dispel magic, it's just too much hassle. But if people start casting persistant spells and buying permanencies left-right-center, then it's probably wise to sometimes - even if rarely - remind them that this isn't a great idea. [/QUOTE]

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