Ways for a small character to get bigger damage...

[Honeko]

I'm trying to find a way to get bigger damage while playing a small race (like Gnome). What I've found thus far is to add precision damage or to increase your effective size. But when I want to play a small character, I don't want to be big. And I have so few levels to work with...

So, Are there feats and things that I'm missing or am I stuck with the basic increase size/add more precision damage?

[Gavinfoxx]

Read the rogue handbook... especially about the Confound the Big Folk feat...

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8711233

[Rubik]

Smaller characters tend to have higher Dex scores. This means that the Shadow Blade feat from ToB is your friend. Have a decent Str score and a good Dex score, and you can get BOTH to damage, which balances out a bit. You still have an effective -1 point of damage from your base weapon, but it still works. Also, Power Attack is still the go-to for massive damage (as are multipliers of various sorts).

Note that mounted combat tends to be better for Small creatures in a lot of campaigns, since they need Medium or larger mounts and it's fairly easy to fit a Medium mount into any space that the rest of the party can fit into. Unfortunately you don't get the space of a larger mount, so it's a tradeoff.

[Metahuman1]

Mounted Combat, Sneak attack, Iai-jutsu focus, Sudden Strike, Power Attack, Skirmish, Touch spells (Channeled and otherwise.), Mounted Combat, and Martial Maneuvers all work fine in what ever combo you fancy if your a small character.

Also, if your doing unarmed combat, get a Greater Mighty Wallop put on you once or twice a day. Same if your using any Bludgeoning weapon really. You'll be fine after that. =)

[Snowbluff]

Mounted Combat, Sneak attack, Iai-jutsu focus, Sudden Strike, Power Attack, Skirmish, Touch spells (Channeled and otherwise.), Mounted Combat, and Martial Maneuvers all work fine in what ever combo you fancy if your a small character.

Also, if your doing unarmed combat, get a Greater Mighty Wallop put on you once or twice a day. Same if your using any Bludgeoning weapon really. You'll be fine after that. =)

This, and most Maves in the ToB aren't size dependent.

[tiercel]

Duskblade doesn't care that much about your size either -- it's about the spells you are channeling (plus possibly Arcane Strike, especially depending on your DM's reading of the feat).

Heck, given that pretty much all your channeled spells are 3rd level and below, lesser metamagic rods of Empower (if allowed in your campaign) give you a lot of bang for the buck.

For that matter, Psychic Warrior would probably do if you're into psi (if nothing else, because you can stop being small if it really matters).

[Krazzman]

Ranger 1 Lead Blade increases your weapon effectively by one size without it getting bigger.
Ranger 1, Sorc/Wiz 1 Gravity Bow, same as Lead Blade but only for Bows (and crossbows if I remember right)

[D@rK-SePHiRoTH-]

So, Are there feats and things that I'm missing or am I stuck with the basic increase size/add more precision damage?
Knowledge Devotion? Iaijutsu Focus?

[Coidzor]

IIRC, the general formula goes something like Two handed power attack + good to-hit bonuses = more damage than you'll have from applying any stat to damage.

Valorous weapon property(Unapproachable East) will double damage on a charge, as will being mounted with a lance. All three of these things can combine, for double return power attack that does 3x the damage on a charge for 6*BAB damage a hit when power attacking for full.

Add in a level of barbarian for pounce and a DM who reads the mounted combat rules as you charging with the mount and charging to the point where you can attack and you can do full attack mounted charges for 3x weapon damage and 6*BAB damage from power attack. More with different feat investments.

Things like Knowledge Devotion and Optimized Inspire Courage can get you the To-hit bonuses to make up for Power Attacking, and things like the spell Wraithstrike will make up for Power Attacking for full.

If you really want size increases... bludgeoning weapons benefit from the Mighty Whallop line of spells, from Races of the Dragon, IIRC, without actually increasing in size. Also the executioner's mace can deal all damage types and is a martial weapon....

[Feytalist]

Magic of Faerun had the hornblade anchantment for weapons: it allows weapons to deal damage one size category bigger. So a Small longsword would deal Medium longsword damage, and so on.

It might have been updated to 3.5, I'm not sure.

[Gwendol]

Gauntlets of giant felling - 3/day charged item that gives extra d6 dice damage based on the size of the opponent. Discuss with your DM to upgrade them to "always on" is optional, but recommended.

[Aerlock]

This (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872846/I_May_Be_Tiny,_But_Youre_Dead:_the_other,_melee_Ki ller_Gnome,_for_your_pleasure.) works too.

- Aerlock

[Dusk Eclipse]

IIRC, the general formula goes something like Two handed power attack + good to-hit bonuses = more damage than you'll have from applying any stat to damage.

Valorous weapon property(Unapproachable East) will double damage on a charge, as will being mounted with a lance. All three of these things can combine, for double return power attack that does 3x the damage on a charge for 6*BAB damage a hit when power attacking for full.

Add in a level of barbarian for pounce and a DM who reads the mounted combat rules as you charging with the mount and charging to the point where you can attack and you can do full attack mounted charges for 3x weapon damage and 6*BAB damage from power attack. More with different feat investments.

Things like Knowledge Devotion and Optimized Inspire Courage can get you the To-hit bonuses to make up for Power Attacking, and things like the spell Wraithstrike will make up for Power Attacking for full.

If you really want size increases... bludgeoning weapons benefit from the Mighty Whallop line of spells, from Races of the Dragon, IIRC, without actually increasing in size. Also the executioner's mace can deal all damage types and is a martial weapon....

Where is Executioner's Mace printed?

[Eric Scott]

Powerful Build and MonkeyGrip... you can now wield weapons 2 sizes larger than you.

[Telonius]

Size matters not, for my allies are Leap Attack and Shock Trooper. Require a large character do they not.

[Keld Denar]

Blade Bravo is a pretty neat PrC in Races of Stone that really plays up size differences. It grants a couple dice of SA, which opens up Craven. If you take levels in PsyRogue, you can learn Compression and drop from small to tiny or diminutive size, which grants some pretty sexy bonuses with Underfoot Combat even against normally medium sized foes. Also cranks up your Dex, which can help with Shadow Blade damage.

[Manateee]

Just to summarize: Size doesn't matter for damage.

It hurts your base weapon damage and probably comes with a strength hit, but just do what you'd normally do, an you'll be in the same boat as a medium character.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Well that Str penalty does have some drawbacks as if you want to get power attack you have to put at least 15 in Str which on some point buys might be a bit painful, or if you are rolling for stats you better pray to get high-ish rolls.

Curiously enough, monk becomes an awesome dip here as with the alternative combat styles in the SRD and Unearthed Arcana you can get both Power Attack and Improved Bullrush (IIRC) without pre-requisites.

[kardar233]

Where is Executioner's Mace printed?

I believe it's in a Dragon Magazine, the one with Kyuss on the front. Damn fine artwork, and you get a look at an Exec's Mace (though Gargantuan-sized).

[Gwendol]

Monk is like hummus: a good dip. Yeah, the alternate styles are great for getting access to feats without the requirements.

[Curmudgeon]

Powerful Build and MonkeyGrip... you can now wield weapons 2 sizes larger than you.
Nope. Both of these are relative to your actual size, so they don't stack.
Benefit: You can use melee weapons one size category larger than you are with a -2 penalty on the attack roll ...
A goliath can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. Also note that Monkey Grip doesn't work with off hand weapons.

[Psyren]

Rays don't care how small you are either. A blaster build like Spellwarp Sniper could work wonders.

[Rubik]

There's always Tiny von BigMcLargeHuge. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132294) Use Human Heritage to qualify.

[Feytalist]

There's also Jakob the Liar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9323504&postcount=172), an Iron Chef entry with the same kinds of tricks. It's well set out and built, so take a look at it.

[Killer Angel]

I'm trying to find a way to get bigger damage while playing a small race (like Gnome). What I've found thus far is to add precision damage or to increase your effective size. But when I want to play a small character, I don't want to be big. And I have so few levels to work with...

So, Are there feats and things that I'm missing or am I stuck with the basic increase size/add more precision damage?

You should specify what kind of character you have in mind.
A sneaky rogue or a melee type?
The ways to achieve more damage are different... but in both cases, you need multipliers (which are easier to obtain for the melee, thanks to PA, charge, mounted combat, and so on).
BTW, a small character will have a medium mount, so you won't face many of the difficulties that can encounter anyone with a large mount.

[Ellrin]

I'm trying to find a way to get bigger damage while playing a small race (like Gnome). What I've found thus far is to add precision damage or to increase your effective size. But when I want to play a small character, I don't want to be big. And I have so few levels to work with...

So, Are there feats and things that I'm missing or am I stuck with the basic increase size/add more precision damage?

Among all the other awesomeness of the binder (ToM), there's one vestige that lets you summon large magic warhammers and wield them as though they were sized for you. I liked the trick on my first gloaming binder, though I never really got the chance to put her through her paces.

And then you could pair that with the vestige that lets you sneak attack...