Monk Unarmed Strike and Weapon Bonus


Classes: Bard, Monk, and Rogue


Hello.

I am new to this.

Currently I begin to play a Half-Orc monk in the Pathfinder Beta.

After reading the section about Unarmed Strike I had some thoughts:

There it is written:
"A monk's unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured or natural weapons."

Meaning as I understand it: You can use spells and spell-like effects to enhance your unarmed strike, but you could also enhance your unarmed strike like a magic weapon. It is an effect that enhance or improve the unarmed strike as a manufactured weapon.

So you could create "magic hands", so to speak.

Holy Unarmed Strike of Speed +5, anyone?

Sorry about my english, but what do you think?


I have always wondered about this as well, though I don't believe you can give your unarmed strikes permanent enhancement bonuses like you could magical weapons, I think that entry only means spells. Otherwise a player with a 5th Level Monk, 15 level Fighter wearing +5 gauntlets and an amulet of mighty fists +5 could also enhance their hands with a +5 bonus giving them +15 to hit and +15 damage O_O

That'd just be too much T_T


If you are attacking with gauntlets you are not making an unarmed strike.


Abraham spalding wrote:
If you are attacking with gauntlets you are not making an unarmed strike.

Page 104 of Pathfinder Core Rulebook:

Gauntlet: This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes. A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack. The cost and weight given are for a single gauntlet. Medium and heavy armors (except breastplate) come with gauntlets.

The book says otherwise >_>


Well, this is true, but:

- a +5 Gauntlet
- a +5 Amulet of Mighty Fists
- a Greater Magic Weapon cast by a 20th-level Wizard
- a Greater Magic Fang cast by a 20th-level Druid
- making the Unarmed Strike a +5 magical weapon(if allowed by the rules or as an house-rule by the GM)

all of these would give a +5 enhancement bonus to hit and damage, and such bonuses would overlap and not stack.

EDIT: I just checked, and the Official 3.5 FAQ says:
"Can a monk get her unarmed strike enhanced as a magic weapon?
No. Even a magic gauntlet or spiked gauntlet isn’t the ideal answer, since these aren’t listed as special monk weapons (and therefore aren’t as versatile as unarmed strikes). The amulet of mighty fists grants the wearer an enhancement bonus on unarmed and natural weapon attacks, which would include the monk’s unarmed strike."
Of course, PFRPG could work differently in the future.

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