How would you do 100 damage very early?

[Zergrusheddie]

If you had to deal 100 damage at the lowest level possible by following RAW, what would you do? Well, why stop there; what would you do to deal the most damage possible at the lowest level possible?

Best of luck
-Eddie

[MeklorIlavator]

Well, the lowest is Pun-Pun(Infinite at level 1). At level 9, the 1d2 Crusader(1cleric/8crusader, using 9th level feat on Martial stance for Aura of Chaos) activates, which also gets infinite, though it uses some questionable rulings.

[Fjolnir]

they got pun-pun to level 1, I could have sworn the fastest true pun-pun build was level 5, though he is totally broken no matter what

[chiasaur11]

they got pun-pun to level 1, I could have sworn the fastest true pun-pun build was level 5, though he is totally broken no matter what

No, level one kobold paladin with a lot of knowledge: The planes.

Pazazu gets him a candle, the candle gets him wishes, wishes get him an obedient sutukh, all without dropping below NG.

[tyckspoon]

If you don't want to go infinite, the quickest way should be with a mounted charger. Be a Half-Orc or Orc Fighter, to start- you'll need a lot of feats. Get to Spirited Charge with your Fighter bonus feats from levels 1+2 and your normal level 3 feat. Buy a Lance and a combat-trained mount somewhere in there. At level 4, you can charge things and do x3 damage on a hit. Assuming you two-hand a lance with an 18 Strength, that gets you 3d8 + 18 damage without doing any Power Attacking at all(the weapon should also be at least +1 by this point by whatever means, so 3d8 +21.) Charging gives a +2 to hit, which you should be feeding into Power Attack- give that another +4 base damage, multiplied into +12 by Spirited Charge. 3d8 + 33. For levels 3-6, slip over into Barbarian. Complete Champion Pouncing variant if you can swing it, plus the Races of Destiny substitution level if you want, which changes the Charge modifiers to +4 attack/-4 AC; more Power Attack cushion. At level 6, pick up the Headlong Rush feat (this is why you have Orc blood.) It doubles your damage on a charge at cost of incurring Attacks of Opportunity from pretty much everybody. With normal D&D multiplication rules applying that makes your charge damage modifier x4.

So at level 6 you are doing 4d8 +4x (1.5xStr mod) + 4x weapon enhancement when you charge. If you got the Pouncing barbarian, you are potentially doing it twice. That should be 18 (Average of 4d8) + 28 (18 base strength +2 Enhancement item= +5 mod, +7 two handed x4) +4 (+1 weapon x4) = 50 damage a hit before any Power Attack. If you rage, you get to Strength 24 for a +7 mod, +10 two-hander, 40 damage total contribution, 62 average dam/hit. Power Attack feeds in a whopping 8 points of damage per attack bonus traded in these charges, and if you took the Half-Orc sub level you get +4 to hit just for charging. So give that to Power Attack for another 32 damage. A Raging Charge, single hit, then gets you 94 damage. You can break the 100-point mark by rolling better than average, getting somebody to drop a Bulls Strength on you (26 Raging Strength, +8 mod, +12 two hander, 48 damage contribution) or by putting just one more point into your Power Attack.

For later enhancement, get a +whatever Valorous Lance for another multiple and maybe a set of Strongarm Bracers so you can make it a Large one. The increase normally isn't very great, which is why the bracers are cheap, but the multipliers make it a pretty decent investment- switching 1d8 to 2d6 gets you an extra 3.5 average damage per multiplier, along with better minimum and maximum ranges.

[Kantolin]

Strength 20 character critting with a scythe and rolling max damage does, on its own, 15 * 4 = 60 damage.

We'll assume power attack 4, so level 4. That adds 8 damage to the base, which multiplies into 32 damage - 92 damage.

Make the scythe +1, and that's 96 damage, and all it requires is equipment you are almost guaranteed to get by level 4 if you're opting to focus on using a scythe.

You can then take weapon specialization, or have a bard singing inspire courage, or have someone cast some buff on you that boosts your damage in some way, or be a duskblade and channel anything, or drink a bull's strength potion, or something. Blam, 100 damage without putting any real work into it.

So on that respect, let's say you have a level 2 bard singing inspire with inspirational boost and song of the heart so it's +3 (Badge of valor is above WBL). Then your party level 1 or 2 wizard has casted enlarge person on you the level 2 duskblade, who also channels shocking grasp and rolls max, with a level 1 Marshal (who has a 20 charisma, so probably a LA+1 creature) flanking the opponent and using motivate tactics.

That's [ 3(Bard) + 9 (22str+1.5) + 8 (mundane scythe) + 5 (Marshal) ] * 4 = 25 * 4 = 100 + 12(Shocking grasp) = 112 damage, at level 2.

Although in that respect, the lowest level to do 100 damage is to go and fetch 100 level 1 people, and thus is technically doable at level 1. :P Doezzat count?

[Armads]

What about the obese dragonborn orc who jumps on enemies to crush them?

[Randel]

Human cleric with two flaws.

Fell Animate metamagic
Divine Metamacig (fell animate)
Corpsecrafter
Destruction Retribution.

use up four turning attempts to create a zombie by killing something with a spell. this zombie can then either attack or if destroyed it explodes and gives off at least 1d6 damage (more if it has more hit dice)

get a bunch of mice, kill them with inflict minor wounds over several days (faster if you have nightsticks or access to more turning attempts or spells)

These zombies won't be under your control (well you can control a few of them, but we aren't going that way) but you can just stuff them all in a sack or something.

Dump sack or exploding zombie rats onto enemy, they eat its face and if they attack them then the rats explode and hurt the enemy while healing their fellow rats. Eventually the enemy will die from bites or negative energy explosions. Could even put a flask of alchemists fire into the sack, if you drip the sack enough to kill all the rats at once then you can add as much negative energy damage to the bomb as you want... then any surviving rats will be on fire.


Orcs invade town.

Villager 1: No! Not the medicine factory!
Orcs break into medicine factory and run out laughing with a bunch of valuables.
Villager 2: No! Not the exploding zombie rat factory!
Orcs break into rat factory... sudden screams of pain and they all run back out, explosions and killer undead rodents flood the streets.
Villager 3: That place was bad news since the day it came...

After the heros come and fight off the orcs

Fighter: Good job team, today the village is safe once again!
Villagers come running from the other side of town.
Villager 3: The exploding zombie rats are on FIRE! We're doomed!

[Ganurath]

Half-Orc Psychic Warrior with Expansion, a solid Jump modifier, and 250 lbs weight minimum after equipment can deal 20d6 damage per hop at level 1. It averages at 70, but I'm sure you can make two vertical Jumps with a double move action for 140 damage per round per manifester level. Nevermind Travel Devotion...

Hop on Pop!

[ericgrau]

Pun pun, as mentioned, or some other ridiculous combo from splatbooks (or even core), or a reasonable combo from splatbooks. The second supposedly isn't as bad, but it still ruins the game so as far as I'm concerned it's the same. For example the previous post makes questionable use of the falling object rules. A dragon weighs more, yet his crush attack doesn't deal so much damage. The third is merely more powerful than normal, and could fly depending on your gaming group. I'm assuming others will post plenty of useful examples of the 3rd case. EDIT: I would like to clarify that I'm not saying you can't suggest the 2nd case or even the first, that's not my call. I am encouraging people to post the 3rd case as well even if it doesn't provide as much damage as the 2nd.

Without using splatbooks, I'd try multiple spell storing weapons with inflict serious wounds in the hands of a TWF rogue, plus boots of speed for an extra attack. You can swap out the weapons with quick drawing or gloves of storing as you burn the stored spells. About 40 damage per hit times however many hits you land. A wizard with empowered scorching ray + quickened scorching ray could work a little later, as could a fighter/barbarian/etc. with the same tactic as the rogue. He doesn't get SA but he does get higher AB, another attack, strength damage, and greater weapon spec. A weapon damage enchantment or two could help further. Telekinesis could be used with several large greatswords (up to 15 IIRC), for 3d6 each if they hit. They can be transported via shrink item, extradimensional storage, etc. The problem with all of these is that they're limited use.

[magellan]

I would do it like this: "hey ,you " - point at player - "you take 100 points of damage"

[Eldariel]

Level 1 Human Fighter with Str 18 picking Mounted Combat > Ride-By Attack > Spirited Charge for the X3 damage critting for X3. Should get you X4 damage. Level 2, pick Power Attack for the feat and do 18*5 damage. So level 3 Mounted Charger gets 20*5 damage at max even if level 3 is a level of Warrior.

[Telonius]

"How would you do 100 damage very early?"

1. Be a Half-Orc Rogue with STR 20.
2. Get a Scythe.
3. Get a target with 100 hp.
4. Wait until the target is asleep.
5. Coup de Grace. Fort save = 10+(2d4)*4+1d6+(1.5*Str). Minimum = 26, average = 40, maximum = 55.
6. Assuming the target fails its fort save, it dies.

Potential HP Damage: All of it.
Guaranteed HP Damage: Minimum 16, average 30, maximum 45.
Problems: Must be subject to critical hits, must be asleep, must fail its fort save.

[Person_Man]

Orc Fighter 2/Paladin 1 with Power Attack, Headlong Rush, Battle Jump (Unapprouchable East), a Wand of Rhino's Rush (Spell Compendium) can get *4 damage on a Charge at ECL 3. With a greatsword, 22 Str with a two handed weapon, full Power Attack, Smite Evil, and a +1 weapon, you're dealing 4(2d6 + 9 + 6 + 1 + 1), which works out to be 76-116 damage (average 96). If you can take Flaws you can add on Weapon Specialization or something similar, you can push it to 100.

[tyckspoon]

Headlong Rush requires BAB 4. It's not a Fighter bonus feat, so the earliest you can normally pick it up is with your general feat pick at level 6. Battle Jump requires you to get at least a 5 foot drop on your opponent, which is doable at low levels with a High Jump if you roll well, but not reliable... better than relying on a max-damage crit, tho.

[Eldariel]

Telonius: Why stop at Half-Orc? What about the real Orcs? Everyone knows Half-Orcs got the worst of both sides.

[Kaiyanwang]

Orc Fighter 2/Paladin 1 with Power Attack, Headlong Rush, Battle Jump (Unapprouchable East), a Wand of Rhino's Rush (Spell Compendium) can get *4 damage on a Charge at ECL 3. With a greatsword, 22 Str with a two handed weapon, full Power Attack, Smite Evil, and a +1 weapon, you're dealing 4(2d6 + 9 + 6 + 1 + 1), which works out to be 76-116 damage (average 96). If you can take Flaws you can add on Weapon Specialization or something similar, you can push it to 100.

With weapon categories from UA, we have place for a Mercurial Greatsword

[Yukitsu]

Push a person into a very deep chasm.

[Zherog]

Falling damage caps at 20d6, which is an average of 70 damage.

[Yukitsu]

Falling damage caps at 20d6, which is an average of 70 damage.

So keep doing it until you roll higher.

In fact, just take infested with chickens, stand on a cliff edge, and see how long it takes.

[Telonius]

Telonius: Why stop at Half-Orc? What about the real Orcs? Everyone knows Half-Orcs got the worst of both sides.

Just going for the standard PHB races, and core-only weapon options. Full Orc wielding a goliath greathammer would do an even larger amount of damage.

[Theodoriph]

Let's see...without using mounted combat, unreal stats or doing anything rude.

Level 5 Human Paladin: Charging Smite Variants

Strength: 18
Charisma: 20 (+3 bonus from an item, +1 from level 4)

Smite: 1 point per paladin level
Charging Smite (Player's Handbook II): 2 extra points of damage per paladin level when you smite while making a charge attack (take this ability instead of a special mount at level 5)

Feats:

Power Attack
Divine Might (Defenders of the Faith and others) (Free Action: Turn attempt for damage equal to Cha mod)
Divine Metamagic (Defenders of the Faith and others) (Quicken)

Weapons:

Scythe


Round 1 - Fight!

Quicken cast Divine Sacrifice - Trade 10 hitpoints for an extra 5d6 damage
Scythe - 2d4
Strength Bonus: +6
Power Attack - +10 damage
Divine Might - +5 damage
Smite - +5 damage
Charging Smite - +10 damage

Total Average Damage - 58.5
Max Damage - 74

Critical Hit:

Divine Sacrifice 5d6 (Defenders of the Faith) (average 17.5) (pity it's not 20d6 That would be awesome)
Scythe 8d4 (average 20)
Strength Bonus (24)
Power Attack (40)
Divine Might (20)
Smite (20)
Charging Smite (40)

Total Average Damage - 181.5
Max Damage - 206

Edit: Forgot the strength bonus to damage

[BlueWizard]

This will never happen in one of my games ever again...
A druid player of mine took master of many shapes, somehow I allowed cave troll as a form. On a pounce he did 120 to 150 points of damage. It was sick, and should never be allowed, but if your DM is gullible like I was at the time... do it.

{He might've even taken the vow of poverty, but I can't remember. I tried to block that PC from my memory.}

[Eldariel]

Just going for the standard PHB races, and core-only weapon options. Full Orc wielding a goliath greathammer would do an even larger amount of damage.

I was just wondering why stop at PHB races if you're otherwise using the whole Core.

[Theodoriph]

Approaching this from another angle:

Level 4 Human Fighter:

Str 18

Feats:

Power Attack
Cleave
Great Cleave

Weapon Greatsword: 2d6 damage


Step 1: Lie 8 naked level 1 commoners on the ground around him

Fighter's to hit: 4 BAB + 4 = 8
Peasant's AC = 10 -4 =6

Power Attack = 4. He will hit on a 2 or higher.

Step 2: Attack a peasant (7 damage + 6 strength + 8 power attack = 21 average). Great Cleave. Kill peasant 2. Great Cleave etc.

Total Damage Dealt: 8*21 = 168
Total Peasants Killed: 8
...
Profit


Pros of this approach v all the others: It's pretty much foolproof. As long as he can hit 5 peasants before critically failing, he's good =D If the DM decides there's no way in hell he can miss a peasant lying on the ground and doesn't require him to roll...even better.


Note: Make sure they're evil peasants so you don't adversely affect your alignment.

[Theodoriph]

Just to be silly:

If you use a scythe in my previous example...the maximum amount of damage you can do is:

256 - Scythe
256 - Power Attack
192 - Two Handed Strength Mod

Max Damage - 704

Obviously that can increase with higher strength =D I think I still had a feat to burn too.


If you use a reach weapon (e.g. Guisarme), you can hit 16 prone peasants and theoretically do:

24 Guisarme
24 Power Attack
18 Two Handed Strength Mod

Times 16 = 1056


And that's how you can dish out over 1000 damage at level 4. Sure the odds of that happening are terrible...but it's possible =D

If anyone knows of a reach weapon you can also you use to hit adjacent people...it could get ruder. You can also deal more damage if, with the two extra feats I have, you take Monkey Grip and something else.