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Amulet of Mighty Fists
DESCRIPTION
This amulet grants an enhancement bonus of +1 to +5 on attack and damage rolls with unarmed attacks and natural weapons.
Alternatively, this amulet can grant melee weapon special abilities, so long as they can be applied to unarmed attacks. See Table: Melee Weapon Special Abilities for a list of abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses. An amulet of mighty fists cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +5. An amulet of mighty fists does not need to have a +1 enhancement bonus to grant a melee weapon special ability.
According to this, you can cave an amulet with just a weapon ability for the +1 price, and no bonus to attack and damage. Using the rule for the first bold sentence, what +1 ability would be available to choose from for a druid using the amulet to augment the wildshape forms? I was thinking keen for claws and bite, but keen could not be applied to unarmed strikes so that one is out.
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The potential derail: Wait.. keen can't been applied to unarmed strike? EDIT: Oh, right. Piercing or slashing only.
And now back to our regularly schedule programming:
If you are going with an elemental theme, an enchantment of the appropriate element is a good choice. Lacking that, bane for a common monster or ghost touch are always good choices. Spell storing would be a technically allowed and useful ability but.. weird flavor. "I store a spell in my slam attack" "Wait.. what?!"
I don't believe they meant that to be taken too literally. Sure, I could be wrong (always the case with trying to guess the intent of a rule, but rules-lawyering has its own drawbacks too).
There are obviously some weapon qualities that cannot be applied to part of a typical creature's body. For example, Dancing would be disallowed, as would all the qualities that are only applied to ranged weapons (Throwing, Seeking, Returning, etc.) because you cannot detatch your body parts. Keen or Vorpal fists, or Disruption claws would be disallowed as the damage type is wrong for the body part they are applied to. Brilliant Energy would be arguably disallowed becaue it is only allowed on "melee weapons, thrown weapons, and ammunition" and some might argue that fists and claws are melee natural attacks rather than melee weapons (I wouldn't argue that point; I would allow Brilliant Energy fists or claws or even bite, given the appropriate Amulet enchantment).
It is my contention, then, that these are the abilities thay were intending to exclude by the carelessly worded line that you pointed out in your OP.
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I'd loooove to see a Monk with Brilliant Energy Fists. The standard actions alone! :D
Monk: "I'll open the door guys, watch out backs."
DM: "You find yourself unable to open the door."
Monk: "Why? Is it locked?"
DM: "No, for some reason your glowing energy hands can't touch the handle. Something about passing harmlessly through nonliving matter."
Monk: "That's lame, it just makes my attacks do that, I could kick or knee things and they'd have the effect!"
DM: "Yeah, but remember when you originally pointed that out I brought up the fact that technically meant you'd slip through the floor and die at the planet's core, or on the way down..."
Hehehe
I'd loooove to see a Monk with Brilliant Energy Fists. The standard actions alone! :D
Monk: "I'll open the door guys, watch out backs."
DM: "You find yourself unable to open the door."
Monk: "Why? Is it locked?"
DM: "No, for some reason your glowing energy hands can't touch the handle. Something about passing harmlessly through nonliving matter."
Monk: "That's lame, it just makes my attacks do that, I could kick or knee things and they'd have the effect!"
DM: "Yeah, but remember when you originally pointed that out I brought up the fact that technically meant you'd slip through the floor and die at the planet's core, or on the way down..."
Hehehe
Had a Monk do that.... "SHINING ..... FINGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
[Me]: "Okay, for that, you take a 50XP penalty for the rest of the game. Your attack does hit, however, and plunges right through the enemy's adamantite shield and into his chest. You feel your fingers sliding through his flesh, feeling every molecule in your hand slide around his, knowing it's only the effects of the amulet stopping your hand fusing with your opponent's chest."
[Monk]: "..... I remove my hand and plunge it into the walls of fire next to me, screaming 'BE CLEAN, BE CLEAN'."
I think it was the fact that I described the horror on their faces, the screams of terror and paid and rage as their bodies began to melt together that caused the most hurlage. Never write up an encounter when sick with food-poisoning, you've been dosed to the eyeballs with medication and watching strange B-Grade Indie movies.
It was one of the more memorable enemies they fought, two minds fighting for control of a body that just wouldn't die, every blow the two stuck at their conjoined form only served to bind them tighter as their flesh fast-healed from their commingled state into a single, composite blend, unable to escape, unwilling to trust each other to pool their resources to escape their predicament, the two Sorceresses trying to swap minds with any other humanoids they encountered to escape the nightmare and the PCs grimly hunting the abberation to mercifully end the BBEG(s) lives.
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I'd loooove to see a Monk with Brilliant Energy Fists. The standard actions alone! :D
Monk: "I'll open the door guys, watch out backs."
DM: "You find yourself unable to open the door."
Monk: "Why? Is it locked?"
DM: "No, for some reason your glowing energy hands can't touch the handle. Something about passing harmlessly through nonliving matter."
Monk: "That's lame, it just makes my attacks do that, I could kick or knee things and they'd have the effect!"
DM: "Yeah, but remember when you originally pointed that out I brought up the fact that technically meant you'd slip through the floor and die at the planet's core, or on the way down..."
Hehehe
LOL, well, since a monk is not restricted to just using their hands and feet for attacks, and the amulet does not specifically state that it only buffs hands... Would not the entire monk become brilliant energy?
I could see the other characters now:
"Quick, take off that damned amulet so that we can sneak past these guards in the dark!"
Or worse, this monk may never go to the second level of any building, without dropping through the floor. Assuming that the building is not a living tree...
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You actually can get both. You just take which ever is cheaper and jam it into the other one. Cost 50% more.
Those very rarely used rules have been around for a while in 3rd edition too.
Don't want to choose between a cloak of charisma +2 or a cloak of resistance +1? Just toss the resistance into the charisma. You just add 1500gp to the price of the cloak of charisma. Though now it's a headband....
On a separate note:
If I were a monk, why wouldn't I just get enchanted Handwraps for the +1-5 to hit as well as something like flaming. That would seem more worthwhile than wasting an Amulet slot where I could have had a Wisdom item, no?(I am using the DDO Eberron Unlimited as the example since this is where I first saw handwraps for improving monk unarmed.)
Also, in the actual Eberron Campaign Setting book, it says that a Warforged Monk using a Battlefist would count as 1 size larger for monk unarmed strike damage, would that be all attacks or just the 1 hand meaning I would need 2 for both hands and feat are unaffected?
Unarmed attacks dont specify which body part is used unless you do so for fluff reasons. In other words every attack you make benefits.
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According to this, you can cave an amulet with just a weapon ability for the +1 price, and no bonus to attack and damage. Using the rule for the first bold sentence, what +1 ability would be available to choose from for a druid using the amulet to augment the wildshape forms? I was thinking keen for claws and bite, but keen could not be applied to unarmed strikes so that one is out.
I may be wrong in this but I don't think natural attacks count as unarmed attacks therefore your druid wouldn't benefit in any way from the item. I bring this up specifically because I ran into situations where a creature would have natural slam attacks and it benefits none from the increased UD from the monks ability.
Specifically a warforged monk.Feel free to correct me if I am wrong but I would like to at least see some RAW on this if so.
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{re Brilliant Energy monk} Nah, he just has to wear bacon for shoes.
but it has to be living, not formerly living. Otherwise brilliant energy would not have problems with undead. So, knowing that, he would have to wear live pigs for shoes instead of bacon..
Squealing, live pigs.
"IT BUUUURRNSSSS!!!!"
Just had the mental image of the Monk hunting down Zombie Cows to make shoes out of them ... ewwwww ...
"Dude .... did your sandals just moan 'Brains'?"
".... look, just ... ignore it, alright? Stupid bloody faulty amulet..."
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According to this, you can cave an amulet with just a weapon ability for the +1 price, and no bonus to attack and damage. Using the rule for the first bold sentence, what +1 ability would be available to choose from for a druid using the amulet to augment the wildshape forms? I was thinking keen for claws and bite, but keen could not be applied to unarmed strikes so that one is out.I may be wrong in this but I don't think natural attacks count as unarmed attacks therefore your druid wouldn't benefit in any way from the item. I bring this up specifically because I ran into situations where a creature would have natural slam attacks and it benefits none from the increased UD from the monks ability.
Specifically a warforged monk.Feel free to correct me if I am wrong but I would like to at least see some RAW on this if so.
First line of the item description says unarmed and natural weapons
Brilliant Energy Monk + Fuzzy Bunny Slippers (made out of living bunnies) seems fun but impractical.
I was going to reply that shocking or frost might work pretty well, but by a strict reading of the rules they won't work either. I hadn't really considered this myself and was planning to add all sorts of d6s to my druid's amulet. However (from the SRD):
Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor bonuses, which cease to function). Items that require activation cannot be used while you maintain that form.
Suddenly the command word activation most melee weapon special abilities have seems pretty painful. Sure, you can walk around with the ability activated all the time, but technically speaking it can't work when you're wildshaped. That cuts out a lot of stuff. Some that would still work at +1: Bane, Ghost Touch, Ki Strike (probably not real useful here), Mighty Cleaving, Spell Storing (might not be able to recharge while wildshaped), Thundering, and Vicious
It seems like Merciful would work too since it is kind of "on" by default unless you command it to deactivate. Most of those aren't that great, so maybe it makes sense to wait for a +2. For a good "always on" +2 ability Holy is tough to beat. If you have access to additional books like Magic Item Compendium there are some other abilities which would work. Unfortunately the "Screaming" ability I just put on my druid's amulet isn't one of them. The Vampiric ability is a nice +2 which would work though. Collision (a +2 enchantment for a flat +5 damage) also seems pretty decent.
If you consider the ability always active and the whole of a monks body to be "his weapon" then no, nothing would really work.
However it is much more sensible to say the effect only happens if the monk actually strikes/kicks/bashes/headbutts his opponent.
Also it is quite astounding how many people still believe there are such things as amulets/periapts of wisdom or cloaks of charisma.
According to this, you can cave an amulet with just a weapon ability for the +1 price, and no bonus to attack and damage. Using the rule for the first bold sentence, what +1 ability would be available to choose from for a druid using the amulet to augment the wildshape forms? I was thinking keen for claws and bite, but keen could not be applied to unarmed strikes so that one is out.I may be wrong in this but I don't think natural attacks count as unarmed attacks therefore your druid wouldn't benefit in any way from the item. I bring this up specifically because I ran into situations where a creature would have natural slam attacks and it benefits none from the increased UD from the monks ability.
Specifically a warforged monk.Feel free to correct me if I am wrong but I would like to at least see some RAW on this if so.
Unarmed attacks count as natural weapons for the purpose of enhancements. It should be noted in the monk class description.
If you consider the ability always active and the whole of a monks body to be "his weapon" then no, nothing would really work.
However it is much more sensible to say the effect only happens if the monk actually strikes/kicks/bashes/headbutts his opponent.
Also it is quite astounding how many people still believe there are such things as amulets/periapts of wisdom or cloaks of charisma.
I liked them better because I did not have too spend more money to boost two mental stats or physical stats. I may start taking crafting feats to knock the cost back down.
Wouldnt briliant energy weapons also drop to the center of the world if there wasnt some kind of stopper? And why hasnt anybody mentioned turtle shoes?
Just another question. I have recently been informed of a +1 enhancement for weapons called "guided" which comes from an older adventure path. This makes the character use Wisdom for attack rolls and damage instead of strength. Is this still an legal enhancement? If so, monks would be a bit broken imo. They no longer need insane strength to hit and deal damage, and focus mostly on wisdom, and some dex/con.
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Wouldnt briliant energy weapons also drop to the center of the world if there wasnt some kind of stopper? And why hasnt anybody mentioned turtle shoes?
Only the business end of the weapon is enchanted that way. The haft/hilt/etc would be left normal so that it could still be wielded. Though that does leave interesting storage ideas, like using a golem as an impromptu sheathe.
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Whether or not guided is legal depends on your gm :)
Ask him/her if you can use that particular feat for your character.
I know there've been a few similar feats, like intuitive attack and zen, but I don't believe either of those had you using wisdom for damage, just for to-hit rules.
Basically, anything is legal if your dm says it is. It's definitely not a core feat, however.
Here is the catch, it isn't a feat. Its a weapon enchantment, valued at +1. Could be really nice for druids and clerics as well.
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Eh, missed that :D
The statement still fits though. It's not a guaranteed bonus. Looking at that enchantment though, it's so good that I would almost call it a mandatory enchantment.
So good that I would probably default on no, and force the player to convince me as to why it wouldn't be overpowered for his/her character. :D
Here is the catch, it isn't a feat. Its a weapon enchantment, valued at +1. Could be really nice for druids and clerics as well.
Where from can you cite the source I just searched the SRD and did not find anything on the guided weapon ability.
Although there is a feat called guided hand from UC : link
Here is the catch, it isn't a feat. Its a weapon enchantment, valued at +1. Could be really nice for druids and clerics as well.Where from can you cite the source I just searched the SRD and did not find anything on the guided weapon ability.
It's from the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP.
And for the sake of this poste there is a special weapon ability that does not count as a +# called transformative +10,000.
See link:Transformative
This quality should allow for piercing and slashing unarmed strikes, Mr Edward Scissor Hands.
Thus keen and other piercing or slashing weapons abilities can now be considered fair game.
Also see Dueling +14,000gp while you are there also a nice addition to an amulet of mighty fists.
PERSONALLY:
I would add Fury Born and +3d6 of various elemental damages to the amulet that I was building.
I would also get enchanted Gauntlets as these are specifically weapons for unarmed attacks so they can also be enchanted, and have monk unarmed strike damage applied through them. They have the mandatory +1 enhancement before we get into abilities. That leaves at least 4+'s which I would then put into dancing gauntlet(s). Yes a pair.
See Link:Gauntlet
The gauntlets defined as unarmed attacks now benefit from:
- 1 extra attack from from Ki.
- Tops out at +5 Attack and Damage Enhancement bonus from Furyborn.
- So say at level 11 this monk in a combat situation may always have 1 gauntlet active and every 4th round switch them, using a standard action to activate and a free action to reclaim one thus 3 out of 4 rounds he has effectively doubled his attacks.
Level 11 monk 6 attacks with flurry +2 from Speed and Ki = 7 (potentially at +5 attack and damage)
Gauntlet Out = +7 attacks (potentially at +5 attack and damage)
Both gauntlets out IE: 1 round to prepare, Surprise round activate second one = 2 standard actions, so for 2 rounds +14 attacks
In the most "Twinked" version this monk makes a flurry (ignoring STR) that looks like this: (1rst round) 21 attacks
12/13/14/15/16/16/16/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/6/6/6/6/6/6/6
Bonus Damage (+3d6+Enhance) Min: +5/6/7/8/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9/9.
then Round 2 begins... if necessary.
The last part of the last post is just for chuckles,
Since no level 11 should have that much GP to get those items, unless the whole party saved all their pennies for it in which case they probably wouldn't survive till 11, and it still might not be enough to pull it off at 11. Even without the +3d6 elemental attack on the amulet that is still two +5 magic weapons.
But it may be a great NPC tactic to give the group a bit of hell from one NPC but the Items if retrieved would be an awful lot of loot.
And for the sake of this poste there is a special weapon ability that does not count as a +# called transformative +10,000.
See link:TransformativeThis quality should allow for piercing and slashing unarmed strikes, Mr Edward Scissor Hands.
Thus keen and other piercing or slashing weapons abilities can now be considered fair game.
Well, even without that, it is perfectly possible to have unarmed strikes do damage other than bludgeoning. The snake, tiger, and boar styles all add different types, which would make them viable for keen without having to magically gain knifehands (which sounds painful).
So, since unarmed strikes can apply even without magical assistance, I could see a legitimate argument for applying keen and such to natural weapons that deal piercing or slashing.
Hmmm. If you have Dervish Dance and wield a guided scimitar, what do you use for attack and damage? Dex or Wis?
Hahah, the trouble that comes from mixing editions ...
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According to this, you can cave an amulet with just a weapon ability for the +1 price, and no bonus to attack and damage. Using the rule for the first bold sentence, what +1 ability would be available to choose from for a druid using the amulet to augment the wildshape forms? I was thinking keen for claws and bite, but keen could not be applied to unarmed strikes so that one is out.
Correct. You can get an ability without having to +1 it first.
Keen could be applied to unarmed strikes, but only if you could somehow deal slashing or piercing with them. With Boar Style and it's other parts, or Snake Style and it's other parts, you could achieve slashing and piercing.
Agile is a +1 cost ability that often gets used with AoMF.
You'd have an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists for the +1 cost, but with a +0 to your abilities.
Normally used for dex builds. Is your wildshape druid STR based?
Well, even without that, it is perfectly possible to have unarmed strikes do damage other than bludgeoning. The snake, tiger, and boar styles all add different types, which would make them viable for keen without having to magically gain knifehands (which sounds painful).
So, since unarmed strikes can apply even without magical assistance, I could see a legitimate argument for applying keen and such to natural weapons that deal piercing or slashing.
Orly, Jeff?