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Hey, just realized I wasn't entirely sure about something:
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Dragon Roar (Combat)
The spirit of the dragon wells up inside you and bursts forth in a mighty roar.
Prerequisites: Str 15, Improved Unarmed Strike, Dragon Style, Stunning Fist, Acrobatics 8 ranks.
Benefit: You gain one additional Stunning Fist attempt per day. While using Dragon Style, as a standard action you can expend two Stunning Fist attempts to unleash a concussive roar in a 15-foot cone. Creatures caught in the cone take your unarmed strike damage and become shaken for 1d4 rounds. A successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Wis modifier) reduces the damage by half and prevents a target from being shaken.
Special: If you have the Elemental Fist feat (Advanced Player's Guide 158), you can expend a daily use of that feat to deal your Elemental Fist damage to those caught in the cone. This damage is not halved even on a save.
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When you use this feat is the 'Unarmed Damage' equal to your unarmed strike attack, or just the base dice?
i.e. my 12th level monk would do 2d8+Str+etc or just a flat 2d8?
I would think it is just the base damage.
That's how I have been running it in the past, I just suddenly realized I wasn't actually sure. It does seem like that is probbaly how it works.
If it's not just base damage, you end up with complications from the other Dragon style feats - do they apply? Then add in Power Attack...
Sorry if this is a necro, but I was wondering about this as well. I did a search and only found one other post from 2011, http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mple?How-does-Dragon-Roar-work#1 which disagrees with this one.
It seems to me if it read "Creatures caught in the cone take your weapon damage...", and you had a +2 longsword and a +3 bonus from Str then creatures would take 1d8+2 damage, since that's what the weapon does. So would the bonus from something like Amulet of Might Fists get added, but the damage from a bard's singing not?
The only thing that feels a little odd about this is that for the longsword, the +2 is part of the weapon, while for the unarmed strike, the amulet is a separate thing. On the flip-side, the strength bonus for the longsword is NOT part of the weapon, but if I'm using my fists, it seems like my STR should be part of that.
Thank you!
Did you mean 1d8+5?
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I don't see why ordinary enhancements to that weapon's damage roll wouldn't be included. STR mod, PA, Weapon Specialization, Enhancement Bonuses, etc. My assumption is that this all should be included. I can see the argument both ways, but it just seems like it'd be a rather underwhelming power if it didn't include everything that normally goes into your Unarmed Strike damage rolls.
Looking back at the Monk description, I think unarmed damage is the base, and unarmed strike damage is everything. What pluses you add is open to interpretation, but I'd default to adding them all in the absence of more guidance.
I can see why things like PA wouldn't be included, since that modifies your attack action while using Dragon Roar is specifically a Standard Action. (Also, PA trades out hit for dmg, but there is no "hit" to the Dragon Roar to trade out, unless you could lower the save DC for more damage, but that seems to be getting really far afield)
But some clarification on which modifiers (enhancement bonus, Str, bard, favored enemy, etc..) should be included would be nice.
PA works normally. The fact there isnt an attack roll isnt a issue. You trade hit for damage, but if you wouldnt get the damage bonus on attacks without hit rolls you shouldnt take the penalty on attacks without damage rolls (like a touch attack to deliver a spell) and you still take the penalty if you activated power attack.
Power Attack states that you gain the bonus on melee damage rolls, which Dragon Roar is obviously not. Yes, unarmed strike is a melee weapon, but it's not being used to make a melee attack; in fact the weapon 'unarmed strike' isn't being used at all, just it's damage roll.
Dragon Style states that you gain its bonus on the damage roll for your first unarmed strike in a round, which Dragon Style is also obviously not, for the same reason above.
Dragon Ferocity, on the other hand, is a bonus to all unarmed strike damage rolls - which is exactly what Roar uses - so it should work.
The general strength modifier also runs into the problem that it only applies when you are making a melee attack with a weapon, and equipment likewise requires you to be making an attack with the weapon it affects. Once again, Dragon Roar does not, in any way, involve actually making an attack, melee or otherwise; it only borrows a damage roll from a melee weapon.
Edit: oh... the dead have risen and feasted on my brain. Delightful.
Edit: oh... the dead have risen and feasted on my brain. Delightful.Nom nom nom.
Thanks for your insight. What do you think about something like Amoulet of Mighty Fists, which provides an enhancement bonus to the unarmed strike and not just the attack action of striking with you fists (like the +2 longsword example above)?
AAGH YOU DID IT AGAIN.
AOMF that provides damage to unarmed strike works. AOMF that provides rider effects - like flaming - that deal damage when you land a strike do not.