3.0, 3.5, PF, How to improve the crit chance of Unarmed Strikes

[SangoProduction]

3.5 material is preferred, but all sources are available. Even Dragon Magazine and the like, so long as it can be seen freely online.

[Sayt]

Well, Pathfinder's Deadly Fist has an unarmed Strike with a 19-20 threat range, and then Keen for 17-20.

Alternatively, Pathfinder's Cestus gives (I think) UAS a crit range of 19-20. Keen Improved Critical for 17-20, DIsciple of Dispater for 15-20. If you then Manifest Dispatch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/d/dispatch) at ML10 to gain Augment 1, you can gain 13-20 for one attack.

[Someguy231]

Well, Pathfinder's Deadly Fist has an unarmed Strike with a 19-20 threat range, and then Keen for 17-20.

Alternatively, Pathfinder's Cestus gives (I think) UAS a crit range of 19-20. Keen for 17-20, DIsciple of Dispater for 15-20. If you then Manifest Dispatch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/d/dispatch) at ML10 to gain Augment 1, you can gain 13-20 for one attack

Disciple of Dispater stacks with the Improved Critical feat, not the Keen weapon enchantment.


Iron Power (Ex): When using an iron or steel weapon, a 4th-level disciple of Dispater gains a +1 insight bonus on attack and damage rolls. Furthermore, his threat range is doubled as if he were using a keen weapon. At 8th level, the insight bonus improves to +2, and the threat range triples. This ability does not stack with the keen weapon quality, but it does stack with the Improved Critical feat.

[SangoProduction]

Well, Pathfinder's Deadly Fist has an unarmed Strike with a 19-20 threat range, and then Keen for 17-20.

Alternatively, Pathfinder's Cestus gives (I think) UAS a crit range of 19-20. Keen for 17-20, DIsciple of Dispater for 15-20. If you then Manifest Dispatch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/d/dispatch) at ML10 to gain Augment 1, you can gain 13-20 for one attack.

ERG!!!! I hate that they made it so Cestus isn't considered an Unarmed Attack, but instead, a light weapon attack. But Gauntlet could work to enchant. Sad that we can't get that extra bit of crit range. Also, you probably meant "improved crit", as DoD stacks with that, but not Keen.

[Sayt]

Disciple of Dispater stacks with the Improved Critical feat, not the Keen weapon enchantment.

Ahh, right, I knew it stacked with one but not the other.

[Tiri]

Disciple of Dispater stacks with the Improved Critical feat, not the Keen weapon enchantment.

It only works with unarmed strike if you have a metal body part, though.

[Doc_Maynot]

Warforged could remedy that.

[Sayt]

It only works with unarmed srtike if you have a metal body part, though.

Thus the cestus.

[Tiri]

Thus the cestus.

I don't play Pathfinder, so I was unaware of this. I'm not sure if it would really work anyway because it doesn't make your unarmed strike itself metal.

[Eisfalken]

Truth be told, bludgeoning weapons overall get shafted on critical range; very few even get 19-20, much less anything better.

But that's actually not a problem. Greater mighty wallop basically says you don't have to crit, you're going to call multiple dice of damage anyway. Best thing of all is that wallop pairs up beautifully with true strike on a bludgeoning weapon: if you aren't going to crit anyway, just be sure your attack is guaranteed to land, so all those damage dice smack hard.

Remember, if you can't crit, look for ways to inflate the base damage dice of the attack with "effective size increases" as well as actual size increases. It's even better when facing crit-immune creatures like constructs, elementals, plants, undead, etc.; if your fist is treated as being 4 sizes bigger, it's gonna hit harder than if it crits every round anyway.

[Necroticplague]

I don't play Pathfinder, so I was unaware of this. I'm not sure if it would really work anyway because it doesn't make your unarmed strike itself metal.

Ward Cestus is actually 3.5, not PF.

Ward cestus

This is a stout leather gauntlet with a well-forged metal weight sewn into it over the knuckles. A strike with a ward cestus is considered an unarmed attack. If you take an All-Out Defense action, you gain an additional +1 deflection bonus to your AC, representing blows you block with the back of your protected hand. Your opponent cannot disarm you of a ward cestus. The cost and weight are for a single ward cestus.
So while it, itself, doesn't make your unarmed strike metal, it is (at least partially) metal, and it benefits from anything that provides bonuses to unarmed strikes.

[Âmesang]

On a similar note, a 9th-level initiate of the draconic mysteries from the Draconomicon can deal triple damage on a crit with an unarmed strike.

[Tiri]

Ward Cestus is actually 3.5, not PF.

So while it, itself, doesn't make your unarmed strike metal, it is (at least partially) metal, and it benefits from anything that provides bonuses to unarmed strikes.

While that is probably entirely correct, we were specifically talking about the Pathfinder cestus.

[Psyren]

Thus the cestus.


I don't play Pathfinder, so I was unaware of this. I'm not sure if it would really work anyway because it doesn't make your unarmed strike itself metal.

It's a separate weapon, but there are ways to make its damage scale like a monk's unarmed strike. (Ascetic Strike, Close Weapon Mastery, Sacred Weapon etc.)

[SangoProduction]

Hmm. I guess this is kinda a disingenuous way but...I found this enchantment called Aptitude, and use the Kukri, which would let you get a Roundabout Kick off of its crits (due to it counting as unarmed for the purpose of feats)...but if you're a monk, you miss out on the unarmed damage...unless you get the crit and bonus attacks to the point where it's going to eventually net more average damage.

Shouldn't be too hard to do an excel sheet to find out where it fails to hold up and where it doesn't. Perhaps I'll do that some time soon...I have work due tomorrow, so I kinda don't wanna do it today though.

[Zanos]

IIRC, DoD is a 3.0 class, and in 3.0 keen stacked with improved critical as a general rule. In 3.5 they were changed to not stack. Since DoD specifically functions as keen, it would not stack with improved critical when brought to 3.5.