Increased Damage with Level

[rgrove0172]

Old RPGr here but knew to the system.

Somehow I had the notion that as a character's BAB went up, this was applied to their damage rolls as well as their To Hit.

I see now that this is not the case. So a level 1 fighter hitting with his shortsword does the same damage as a level 10? (same strength bonus of course)

I would have thought that the higher level characters would deliver more damage. It seems odd that they must depend on magic items and such to do enough damage to threaten the higher level monsters.

[SwiftyKun]

A vanilla level 1 would do as much damage as a vanilla level 10. This is true for any class that doesn't have increased damage as they level up(such as the monk). However, it's practically impossible for anyone of a higher level to not be deadlier in combat than their lower level counterparts. As a character levels, new magical items available through questing and gold become purchasable, new feats become attainable, and attribute points become spendable. So yes, you do get stronger as you level up and deal more damage, but through a multitude of things that all add up together.

Edit: As an example,

A level 1 fighter armed with a great sword and 15 strength is dealing 2d6+3(STRx1.5) damage.

A level 4 fighter armed with a purchased +1 great sword, 16 strength from an ability point attained at level 4, and the popular feat for fighters, weapon specialization which is only attainable at level 4, is now dealing 2d6+4(STRx1.5)+1(Magical)+2(Feat) in damage.

[Googleshng]

The short version is- Power Attack. Nice damage bonus that scales to your level.

The long answer is classes focused on dealing damage generally have some sort of bonus as they level up that adds a little more on. Generally, you end up with a lot of little bonuses from different sources all adding up, and eventually you're going to go from 1d10+6 or so to 1d10+50 by the time you're around level 12.

[Claxon]

Well in the case of your fighter (assuming the player isn't dumb) he would select Light Blades as his Weapon Training group as well as Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization as well as Greater Weapon Focus / Specialization.

The combination of these things gained over the course of 10 levels will provide: Weapon Training +2 to attack and damage, +2 to attack from Weapon Focus/Greater Weapon Focus, and +4 to damage from Weapon Specialization/Greater Weapon Spec for a total of +4 to attack and +6 to damage. Also factor in magic items which will increase your strength and thus the bonus applied to both attack and damage as well as Power Attack which will provide a bonus to damage for an attack penalty. Best applied to two handed weapons for greatest effect.

[Bruunwald]

As your fighter levels, he gains iterative attacks faster than most of the other classes (paladin, barbarian and ranger excepted). Tool him right, he'll likely hit with all of those attacks, dealing more damage per round as he advances.

More damage per level would scale far too quickly for game balance. But more damage per round, plus additional damage through other means (feats, advanced abilities, etc.), scales nicely.

[rgrove0172]

Got it, thanks