Manufactured weapon damage scaling by size

[AerynTahlro]

I've done quite a bit of searching in the past 24 hours trying to find the answer to this, and I have yet to come across a definitive response. So I decided to go compare the available resources. If I missed a post, faq, or resource somehow, feel free to inform me of such.

Here are the progressions:

Natural Attack Chart:

Source
-
1
1d2
1d3
1d4
1d6
1d8
2d6
2d8
4d6

Improved Natural Attack:

Source
1d2
1d3
1d4
1d6
1d8
2d6
3d6
4d6
6d6
8d6
12d6

Tiny & Large Weapons Chart:

Source
Note 1: I can only guess here since there isn't an actual table for +sizes over large.
Note 2: I didn't add weapons with less-popular damages into this progression because they tend to normalize once they increase/decrease in size...but not always. (2d4-->2d6, then can follow the next 2d6 progression; but 1d10->2d8->3d8 is its own strange progression!)
Note 3: This chart is a bit of a pain thanks to the missing "Small" column.
Note 4: I can't determine if the proper way to create a standard progression list from this chart is to go all the way across the chart (once a Small column is added), or simply alternate between two columns.

-
1
1d2
1d3
1d4
1d6
1d8
2d6
3d6
???
???
???
???

No matter which one you choose, there comes a point in the progression when it "normalizes". Here's where things get super tricky.

Improved Natural Attack doesn't follow the same progression as the actual natural attack chart even though the text states that it increases the damage step--it uses its own progression. From there each one goes a different way, making it near impossible to accurately guess what is supposed to happen with the scaling:
1d8->2d6->2d8->4d6
1d8->2d6->3d6->4d6
1d8->2d6->3d6->???

So manufactured weapons seem to follow the same or similar scaling to the progression in Improved Natural Attack, which I can accept but would still love to see confirmation. On top of that, knowing how the wonky progressions go (1d10, 2d8, 3d8, etc), or just having a second chart, would be fantastic.

Help?

[AerynTahlro]

Bumping for great justice...to rules clarification. :-) Hopefully a 24-hour wait was enough.

[AerynTahlro]

Had a few minutes today, so I hit the beastiary with some educated guess searching (basically just tried to guess which humanoids were large or larger).

Here's the fun progression confusion spelled out:

Spoiler:

Exhibit A: Greataxe
Small->Med->Large->Huge
1d10->1d12->3d6->4d6

Exhibit B: Spear/Longsword/Morningstar
Small->Med->Large->Huge
1d6->1d8->2d6->3d6

Exhibit C: Greatclub
Small->Med->Large->Huge
1d8->1d10->2d8->3d8

So I'm going through, and A/B seem to eventually progress to similar ground... that 3d6 shows up there eventually. And then we have Exhibit C, which doesn't have any d6's in it...

So now it looks like a weapon with 1d10 damage for a medium creature creates the anomaly path. Everything else seems to fall into the damage progression that leads to 3d6->4d6, but I can't find anything beyond 4d6.

[AerynTahlro]

I suppose that this just isn't a hot button issue... Some input would be nice though...

[Troubleshooter]

That's convenient. I was trying to remember where that third source for weapon progression was just a half-day ago.

[AerynTahlro]

Bumping again.

[kyrt-ryder]

*1d8 -> 2d6 -> 3d6 -> 4d6 -> 6d6 -> 8d6 -> 12d6

1d10 -> 2d8 -> 3d8 -> 4d8 -> 6d8 -> 8d8 -> 12d8

[AerynTahlro]

kyrt-ryder wrote:

*1d8 -> 2d6 -> 3d6 -> 4d6 -> 6d6 -> 8d6 -> 12d6

1d10 -> 2d8 -> 3d8 -> 4d8 -> 6d8 -> 8d8 -> 12d8

Thank you for the input, but what source are you using to confirm that?

[Skylancer4]

There is a nice comprehensive chart in the 3.5 Rules Compendium, I think it took each set of damage dice and went four increases. My GM and I were looking at it the other day for our upcoming 20th level campaign.

[Covert Operator]

Grarrrg knows what he's talking about.
So the Strong Jaw spell provides the progression for natural attacks, stating that it and it also says something like "If cast on a Colossal or Gargantuan creature, double the damage." (Strong Jaw increases by two steps)
So that clears up the progression for Natural Attacks, by a loose reading mind you:
2d6 - 2d8 - 4d6 - 4d8 - 8d6 - 8d8 - 16d6 ...

As for Weapon attacks, I get this data from simple extrapolation:
2d6 -+1- 3d6 -+1- 4d6 -+2- 6d6 -+2- 8d6 -+4- 12d6 -+4- 16d6 -+8- 24d6 -+8- 32d6 -+16- 48d6 -+16- 60d6 -+32- ...

[Nefreet]

Here's the current FAQ request that's being worked on.

Coming up with one progression may be more difficult than originally thought.