level 20 Unarmed Swordsage

[m149307]

I had come across someone mentioning this class earlier... and am curious how it could be built to deal enough damage to keep up with other level 20's in a group, as well as surviving fights with high CR monsters. Posting suggestions to do this would be awesome. Thanks

[Red Fel]

I had come across someone mentioning this class earlier... and am curious how it could be built to deal enough damage to keep up with other level 20's in a group, as well as surviving fights with high CR monsters. Posting suggestions to do this would be awesome. Thanks

Well, several thoughts come to mind. First and foremost is the whole "melee can't have nice things" issue, followed closely by the dilemma of unarmed strikes. Here's where it ultimately falls out.

At level 20, your Unarmed Swordsage will have +15 BAB, +6 Fort, +12 Will and Ref saves. He'll have 25 maneuvers known, 12 readied, and 6 stances known (absent feats increasing the above). He'll have +5 to initiative, Weapon Focus in something (probably Setting Sun, Shadow Hand, or Tiger Claw, since they give unarmed strike a boost), +Wis to damage, +2 to saves, improved evasion, and the ability to trigger two boosts. You also get Wis to AC. In addition, because you're using the Unarmed Adaptation (which many people presume to include Improved Unarmed Strike plus the damage progression of a Monk) you deal 2d10 damage on a hit, are treated as armed, and may deal lethal or nonlethal damage.

We'll assume for sake of argument that you took Adaptive Style, the Swordsage feat tax. Don't bother with Superior Unarmed Strike, because it would treat your unarmed damage as 4 levels higher, and Epic Monk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/classProgressions.htm#epicMonk) doesn't get a damage upgrade.

So, on a full attack, you're dealing 3 hits of 2d10 damage, or an average of 33. That's not a lot. So what can we do to improve it? Well, Snap Kick is an option, granting you an extra hit. Ordinarily, I'd propose a Totemist dip for Girallon arms, but since we're not able to dip anything, that's out. Nonetheless, if you're Dragonborn or otherwise have the Dragonblood subtype, the Shape Soulmeld feat can give you some helpful natural weapons (such as claws or a tail slap), which give you more attacks. Further, taking Martial Study (something from Iron Heart), Martial Stance (Punishing Stance), and Ironheart Aura and Stormguard Warrior, you could cram a lot of damage onto your attacks each round, and that's all before maneuvers. Let's look at an easy example.

Let's assume you're a Dragonborn whatever, to keep our options open. You get a total of 7 feats. Let's say they are, in no particular order, Martial Study (Wall of Blades), Martial Stance (Punishing Stance), Ironheart Aura, Stormguard Warrior, Shape Soulmeld (Dragon Claws (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=4)), Shape Soulmeld (Dragon Tail (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=4)), and Beast Strike. You now have three iterative attacks (to which you add 1d6 from Punishing Stance and 1d6 + Str from your claws), two claw attacks (to which you add 1d6 from Punishing Stance), and one tail attack (to which you add 1d6 from Punishing Stance). This comes out to 6d10 + 3d6 for your unarmed strikes, 2d6 + 2d6 from your claws, and 1d8 + 1d6 from your tail, with your Str tacked on to pretty much everything. That averages out to a respectable 98.5 damage per round.

Then we bring in Stormguard Warrior and it all goes to the Hells in a handbasket. Combat Rhythm is magic. For one turn, you do all six attacks - three unarmed strikes, two claws, one tail - for zero damage. You then add +5 to all damage rolls on the next turn for each hit that connected - that's 6 hits, or +30 damage. Not +30 total, mind you - +30 on each hit. You will (hopefully) hit six times. That's +180 damage added to your 98.5 every other round, which averages to a total of 188.5 per round.

And all that is before counting whatever pain you inflict via maneuvers. I don't need to tell you how obscene this is in conjunction with Time Stands Still.

Note this, however. Most maneuvers are incompatible with a slew of natural weapons. Why? Because most of them are a single attack. How lucky for you, then, that Swordsages have a crapton of boosts - and that you can trigger two of them in a round, thanks to Dual Boost. Keep that in mind.

Oh, and grab a Necklace of Natural Attacks. It's worth it.

[emeraldstreak]

Eh? My swordsages do 180 damage with their pinky finger.

[SinsI]

If you get a Greater Mighty Wallop item, your normal attack goes from 2d10 to 12d8, so with 3 attacks you deal 162 damage on average each turn (not counting any bonuses). You can get this spell daily for one measly Pearl of Power 3 given to your wizard.

[emeraldstreak]

If you get a Greater Mighty Wallop item, your normal attack goes from 2d10 to 12d8, so with 3 attacks you deal 162 damage on average each turn (not counting any bonuses). You can get this spell daily for one measly Pearl of Power 3 given to your wizard.

Now that's a guy who knows where to start.


What the unarmed swordsage does is to combine the insane optimization available to the highest base damage die in the game (the medium monk's 2d10 at 20) with all the goodies of ToB, making it one of the best martial-types out there.

[m149307]

How much would a greater mighty wallop item cost?

[SinsI]

How much would a greater mighty wallop item cost?

Without relying on wizard, 1 use/day for 20 hours: 3*20*1800/5 = 21600 gp.
Continuous item: 3*5*2000=30000 gp.
Relying on wizard: Pearl of power 3 is 9000 gp.

If he doesn't also wish to spend a slot, you have to give him a Runestaff. That's 3*3*(400-2*100) gp = 1800 gp + plus the cost of the lesser spell (i.e. 1*1*200) gp.
So, if you have a wizard in party, it is 9000 gp for PoP 3 + 2000 gp for Runestaff of Greater Mighter Wallop = 11000 gp.

[emeraldstreak]

It is also wand-able and oil-able. And while the most powerful, it's only one of the dice buffs.