The idea seems ludicrous to me. No one in their right mind (and I asume a high Wisdom monk is in his right mind) would do something like that. Now, Brass knucles seems like the reasonable way to go.It not so crazy, a monk is looking for a way to perfect himself. and having metal hands that can destroy an armor or door or golem is not crazy
it would be a true extension of himself unlike brass knuckles, which are not unarmed strike.
The main reason this seems ludicrous is that the grandmaster monk of your order will sunder the adamantine with a reed pipe, hop onto your shoulder light as a feather, and tap your head to get your attention.
"Your tools are broken! Now where are you? You are lost on the path, and less of a man for it!"If you tried the self-perfection line:
"But I have perfected myself! I am beyond your abilities, far faster than any before me!"
He taps your broken hands again with his pipe, and you feel nothing.
"Perfected yourself? You did nothing of the sort. You took the route of the lazy, simply cutting away what you saw as weak and replacing it with a cheap tool. You are no better than the most foolish child, flailing with a toy and calling it a weapon." You start to speak, but he cuts you off.
"You are ignoring the order's teachings, trying to find perfection in something outside of yourself! Enlightenment does not lie in books! No more than perfection lies in these toys!"
He glides to the floor off of your shoulder and begins to walk away. Looking at the crushed and lifeless hands, the jagged remains of the fingers on the floor, you are left to confront the lesson. In his benevolence, your grandmaster leaves you with more guidance.
"Self-perfection does not consist of cutting away weakness, but transforming it into strength. External tools are for those too weak to achieve perfection."
so being a monk how does one deal with damage reduction or stone skin?.
amulet of mighty fists? or just carry a handy pair of admantine nunchucks?
That's built right into the monk class with the Ki Strike ability making their attacks Magic/Lawful/Adamantine...
yeah at level 20! my 5th level fighter can have a admantine sword at level 1 if he has the treasure
Actually, monks get Adamantine at level 16. Prior to that, your other option is using weapons. As monks can flurry with the appropriate ones, there's no penalty there other than slightly reduced damage die (and that is minimal considering by the time the die gets really big, Ki Strike (adamantine) kicks in).
There's also a feat that grants better DR overcoming options earlier, but it's in the 3.5 Pathfinder material. I'll dig that up as a reference...
EDIT: And here it is...
Secret of Steel - Shattering Spirit
Source Pathfinder Campaign Setting 85
As a student trained in the Impossible Techniques of Jalmeray, you can rend wood, burst brick, or even shatter steel with the perfect focus and application of your ki.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +6, must be lawful.
Benefit: You gain a pool of ki points equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). As a swift action, you may focus your ki into strikes that can overcome the hardness of any substance. Each unarmed strike attack you make while in this focus expends 1 ki from your pool, whether or not it hit. You lose your focus automatically when you run out of ki, when the encounter ends, if you are reduced to fewer than 0 hit points or killed, or as a free action any time you wish.
While focused in this way, your unarmed strikes are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction or bypassing hardness.
Special: You may gain this feat multiple times. For each additional time you gain the feat you add 1 to your ki pool and your unarmed strikes gain an additional property for overcoming damage reduction, in the following order: adamantine, cold iron, silver, magic, lawful, epic. If your unarmed strikes already count as one or more of those properties (from any source), they gain the next property in line.
A monk trained at one of the Houses of Perfection may select Secret of Steel-Shattering Spirit as his 6th-level monk bonus feat.
I didn't read the thread, but when I read the title I laughed, anyone else?
|
Actually, I had heard of an artifact arm in 3.0 that required the wielder to have lost a limb in battle. It was called something like the Silver Arm of ........ I can remember. But it gave you a fully functional appendage that the person could even feel through. The hand itself was made of silver, it counted as +1 silver 1d6 damage and gave you a +6 bonus to strength. I believe it also gave some kind of AC bonus. You could also still use a ring on it. The problem was losing the appendage cost you a permantent 2 points of strength and dex. And that was only losing 1 limb.
I didn't read the thread, but when I read the title I laughed, anyone else?First time it was funny. After it had been necroed for the nth time, less so.
technical it was only necroed once by me.....not nth times...
Actually, monks get Adamantine at level 16. Prior to that, your other option is using weapons. As monks can flurry with the appropriate ones, there's no penalty there other than slightly reduced damage die (and that is minimal considering by the time the die gets really big, Ki Strike (adamantine) kicks in).
There's also a feat that grants better DR overcoming options earlier, but it's in the 3.5 Pathfinder material. I'll dig that up as a reference...
EDIT: And here it is...
Secret of Steel - Shattering Spirit
Source Pathfinder Campaign Setting 85
As a student trained in the Impossible Techniques of Jalmeray, you can rend wood, burst brick, or even shatter steel with the perfect focus and application of your ki.Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +6, must be lawful.
Benefit: You gain a pool of ki points equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). As a swift action, you may focus your ki into strikes that can overcome the hardness of any substance. Each unarmed strike attack you make while in this focus expends 1 ki from your pool, whether or not it hit. You lose your focus automatically when you run out of ki, when the encounter ends, if you are reduced to fewer than 0 hit points or killed, or as a free action any time you wish.
While focused in this way, your unarmed strikes are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction or bypassing hardness.
Special: You may gain this feat multiple times. For each additional time you gain the feat you add 1 to your ki pool and your unarmed strikes gain an additional property for overcoming damage reduction, in the following order: adamantine, cold iron, silver, magic, lawful, epic. If your unarmed strikes already count as one or more of those properties (from any source), they gain the next property in line.
A monk trained at one of the Houses of Perfection may select Secret of Steel-Shattering Spirit as his 6th-level monk bonus feat.
I like this a bunch. what do you mean by 3.5 pathfinder material?
Actually, I had heard of an artifact arm in 3.0 that required the wielder to have lost a limb in battle. It was called something like the Silver Arm of ........ I can remember. But it gave you a fully functional appendage that the person could even feel through. The hand itself was made of silver, it counted as +1 silver 1d6 damage and gave you a +6 bonus to strength. I believe it also gave some kind of AC bonus. You could also still use a ring on it. The problem was losing the appendage cost you a permantent 2 points of strength and dex. And that was only losing 1 limb.
Sounds like an interpretation of the Silver Arm of Theros Ironfeld from the Dragonlance setting...I'd have to dig out my Dragonlance hardcover to verify if the stats line up exactly.
For the feat referenced, it was published in the first campaign setting book and so was written for version 3.5 of the game, rather than the updated Pathfinder rules. It has not been reprinted as yet, and the developers have specifically noted it as a "feat of concern" for some changes if they ever reprint it. So, some DM's may allow it, some may allow it with changes, and others may disallow it entirely.