Unarmed Strike OP, what am I doing wrong?

[Bober]

Hi,
one of my players is building up a soldier, and we noticed his unarmed strikes are way stronger than any appropriate melee weapon he can use.

He's level 5, and he has a powered armor. That gives him:
1d10 basic damage, +5 dmg (equal to his soldier level, given by weapon specialisation), +4 dmg (STR modifier, given by the 18 STR of his powered armor), +2 dmg (additional half STR mod, given by Hammer Fist).

That adds up to 1d10+11. Given the best level 5 2H melee weapon he can get (Swoop Hammer, tactical), he would do the same. Any other weapon he could get would do a lot less damage.

Am I missing something? Or is it just that powered armor pretty much make melee weapons useless?

[Pantshandshake]

Power armor unarmed damage caps out at 2d8, on the Jarlslayer. So, no, it doesn't come close to making melee weapons useless.

[Zoggy Grav]

Bober wrote:

Hi,

one of my players is building up a soldier, and we noticed his unarmed strikes are way stronger than any appropriate melee weapon he can use.

He's level 5, and he has a powered armor. That gives him:
1d10 basic damage, +5 dmg (equal to his soldier level, given by weapon specialisation), +4 dmg (STR modifier, given by the 18 STR of his powered armor), +2 dmg (additional half STR mod, given by Hammer Fist).

That adds up to 1d10+11. Given the best level 5 2H melee weapon he can get (Swoop Hammer, tactical), he would do the same. Any other weapon he could get would do a lot less damage.

Am I missing something? Or is it just that powered armor pretty much make melee weapons useless?

That's nothing, really. My armor storm soldier doesn't even use powered armor, and at level 5, he does

1d4 for Hammer Fist
+5 for 21 Strength
+2 for Melee Striker Gear Boost
+2 for Hammer Fist's bonus if you have Melee Striker
+5 for Weapon Specialization
______
1d4+14 while wearing heavy armor, not even any fancy powered armor or a weapon.

That said.

I'm a vesk.

So instead of using Hammer Fist, I can just use Natural Weapons...

1d3 for Natural Weapons (can be lethal or non-lethal)
+5 for 21 Strength
+2 for Melee Striker Gear Boost
+7 for Natural Weapon Specialization
______
1d3+14 without even having to wear heavy armor. At level 6, this will jump to 1d4+18 if you upgrade buy the +4 Strength upgrade and start to outstrip Hammer Fist; grabbing up Improved Unarmed Strike will boost the damage die to 1d6 and scale up as you go further.

So you're not reading it wrong. Just remember that around Level 5, enemies take a significant jump in difficulty because players are supposed to get a lot stronger.

[1bent1]

Never mind, nothing to see here.

[Isaac Zephyr]

I was going to say yeag, Armor Storm is just a good build, and Natural Weapons races get a lit out of Unarmed. Together they're a big force.

Granted, the following. Improved Unarmed has good early scaling but bad late scaling, so Armor Storm does eventually beat it around 13 when AS adds 1d6 on top of the already bigger Battleglove hit die.

Secondly, you cannot put fusions on fists. So that's another slight downside that they will never be magic for DRs, or get other damage types.

[BretI]

Remember that even with Improved Unarmed Strike, the attack is with an Archaic weapon. It will do 5 less damage unless the race gives a special exception (Vesk, Nuar, a few others) or the target is wearing no armor.

[Bober]

Thanks for the replies. I know it will get worse as you level up, it was just weird to me that at level 5 it's still stronger than most weapons.

BretI wrote:

Remember that even with Improved Unarmed Strike, the attack is with an Archaic weapon. It will do 5 less damage unless the race gives a special exception (Vesk, Nuar, a few others) or the target is wearing no armor.

I forgot about this! Thanks!

Now considering the lack of enchantments and the arctic type, it makes it a lot less valuable.

[Isaac Zephyr]

Bober wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I know it will get worse as you level up, it was just weird to me that at level 5 it's still stronger than most weapons.

BretI wrote:

Remember that even with Improved Unarmed Strike, the attack is with an Archaic weapon. It will do 5 less damage unless the race gives a special exception (Vesk, Nuar, a few others) or the target is wearing no armor.

I forgot about this! Thanks!

Now considering the lack of enchantments and the arctic type, it makes it a lot less valuable.

As a note, Archaic dies not apply to Hammer Fist builds, since they count as using a Battleglove (even though the attack is still an unarmed strike).

[nadhil]

Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike: a punch, kick, head--butt, or similar forceful blow (none of which count as weapons). On a hit, an unarmed strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes.

[Pantshandshake]

...thank you for that useful addition.

[AngryDM]

nadhil wrote:

Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike: a punch, kick, head--butt, or similar forceful blow (none of which count as weapons). On a hit, an unarmed strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes.

I think you might be in the wrong place, friends. That's DnD 5e rules

[HammerJack]

I... think you might be in the wrong year? That's a 2018 thread.