SURELY by now we have a Fighter (or Barbarian?) build to accomplish this?
Why should Monks get all the brawling fun.
Reckon it's probably doable, but you'd need to use the Cestus.
Personally I hate that Brass Knuckles are still treated as unarmed.
I have seen monks do it, but most of the feats went into combat maneuvers. If you want to strike and do combat maneuvers then it is better to go fighter. I would look at the lore warden.
Be a Synthesist Summoner.
Pounce + lots of natural attacks + Grab + enlarge person + eventual size increase evolutions.
I'm playing a guy with the martial artist archetype right now, actually...more of a commando than MMA, but still similar.
I'm going with Power Attack, Imp Trip, and Vicious Stomp so far; later on I'm aiming at Crane Style for defense (I use a Dan Bong for defensive fighting and grappling assist), and maybe Mantis Style and/or Jawbreaker. I also dipped rogue and took Imp Grapple and Strangler, but that might not suit your build.
Something that might suit you would be to take 3 levels of Fighter with the Brawler archetype, for +1/+3 to att/dam with all close weapons (including unarmed strikes). Plus the BAB and HP are nice, and it synergizes well with MA-Monk.
Not that I've seen (I have APG and Ultimate Combat); from what I understand, you just try to stack a bunch of flat damage bonuses.
Keep in mind...a +1 to damage is similar to increasing a die size, statistically. 1d4+3 (from brawler using a cestus, for instance) is 4-7 damage; compare that to an 8th level monk's 1-10; higher min, lower max, same average.
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Okay, how does this look? trying to make it PFS legal too. Probably get Armor spikes too.
Cage Fighter test 1 [Unarmed Fighter Archetype]
Traits:
Quain Martial Artist
Expert Duelist
Feats
1. Unarmed Style, Weapon Focus[Unarmed]
2. Combat Expertise
3. Improved Grapple
4. Improved Trip
6. Weapon Specialization, Greater Trip
8. Greater Weapon Focus
9. Greater Grapple
10.Sleeper Hold
12.Greater Weapon Specialization, Vital Strike
un armed fighter archetypre
I just looked it over, and I don't see anything about increasing your unarmed damage...just getting Imp Unarmed Strike. Am I missing something?
I'll give input on your build a little later...what style are you thinking of taking at 1st?
Cage Fighter test 1 [Unarmed Fighter Archetype]
Traits:
Quain Martial Artist
Expert DuelistFeats
1. Unarmed Style, Weapon Focus[Unarmed]
2. Combat Expertise
3. Improved Grapple
4. Improved Trip
6. Weapon Specialization, Greater Trip
8. Greater Weapon Focus
9. Greater Grapple
10.Sleeper Hold
12.Greater Weapon Specialization, Vital Strike
How about this build, for combining with monk?
Mnk4/Ftr8
1. Mnk1 = Imp US, Imp Grapple, Wep Foc (unarmed), Stunning Fist
2. Mnk2 = (monk feat)
3. Mnk3 = Combat Expertise
4. Ftr1 = Imp Trip
5. Mnk4 = (feat)
6. Ftr2 = Greater Trip
7. Ftr3 = Greater Grapple
8. Ftr4 = Wep Spec
9. Ftr5 = Greater Wep Foc
10.Ftr6 = Sleeper Hold
11.Ftr7 = Vital Strike
12.Ftr8 = Greater Wep Spec
You get all the same feats as your original build, at similar times. In addition, you have Stunning Fist, 1 bonus monk feat (I'd suggest Combat Reflexes) and 1 extra feat (at 5th) that can be whatever you want (I'd suggest Power Attack; I can't believe it's not in your build, since it'd be a big help to you).
You get Imp Grapple 2 levels early, Greater Grapple 2 levels early, and Vital Strike 1 level early.
You get Combat Expertise 1 level late, Wep Spec 2 levels late, and Greater Wep Focus 1 level late.
You can shift Wep Spec early, if you like, since the Martial Artist archetype lets you treat monk levels as fighter levels for certain feats; can get it as early as 5th, actually.
BAB is only 1 point less than your original build but saves are much better; skills are better, HP are worse (neither by much). You get Flurry of Blows, base 1d8 unarmed damage, and some other monk gravy, but lose (delay, rather) your high-level fighter abilities.
It doesn't it just gives better static numbers
Okay then...I thought your post was attempting to answer his question (does anything increase unarmed strike beyond 1d4).
go tetori archetype for the grapple feats maybe take it to 4th level to get unarmed to a D8 add this feat and plug in unarmed fighter archetype
Why Tetori over Martial Artist? Quick comparison (based on my 4 level monk dip concept):
Martial Artist gets (in 4 levels) Pain Points, Martial Arts Master, and Exploit Weakness. You lose Still Mind, Slow Fall, and Ki Pool.
Tetori gets (in 4 levels) Graceful Grapple and Counter Grapple. He loses Flurry of Blows and Slow Fall, and is limited in his bonus feats.
I like MA better, personally, but that's a judgment call...Tetori is better for grappling, MA for striking. Also, MA lets you ignore the alignment prereq, if that's important.
I also don't understand why Unarmed Fighter vs. Brawler...they both get options, but Brawler gets better damage: +2/+4 by 7th level as opposed to +2/+2 by 9th.
Non of the styles seem to have what I need, but I may have to read them again and see what I can cook up.
My thoughts on styles:
-Boar style can give pretty decent bleed damage, for minimal investment.
-Crane style gives awesome defense if you take Crane Wing.
-Dragon style is good if you're going to pump your Str score.
-Mantis style is good if you like Stunning Fist (good synergy with Pain Points from MA archetype), but requires Heal investment.
I agree martial artist is a better archetype, but you lost still mind and therefore can't take monastic legacy which would allow that fighter monk a bigger damage die. The tetori bonus feats fit the idea better if you need to keep still mind.
True enough.