4E Unarmed Fighting

[Pinnacle]

I've been working on trying to make a 4E binder, and the need for rules for skilled unarmed fighters came up.

I'm sure this has been done before, but how does this look to everyone?


Heroic Tier Feat
Improved Unarmed Strike
Prerequisites: Str 13 or proficiency in at least one military or superior melee weapon
Benefit: Your unarmed attack is no longer considered an improvised melee weapon; it is now considered to be a military melee weapon that is part of the unarmed and mace weapon groups and has a +3 proficiency bonus, 1d6 base damage, and the off-hand property.


Equipment
Hand wrap: This strip of cloth is perfectly ordinary and costs 1 gp. Martial artists sometimes wrap them around their hands to protect them.
More importantly, this wrap can be enchanted as a magic weapon. Its bonuses and properties apply to unarmed attacks, even if they aren’t actually made with your hands.
Wearing a magic hand wrap does not take up your hand slot—magic gloves can fit over it.

[DiscipleofBob]

A d8 sounds a bit much for an Unarmed Strike.

Shouldn't it be more like a d4? Even a feat shouldn't make your fist better than half of the melee weapons.

[Foxtale]

d8 does seem a bit high. But then you consider that you need to get a feat to get proficiency in it.

I'd say d6 is a good middle-ground. Then it's a d4 with the damage die increased only once.

Basically, the feat gives a +2 Proficiency with improvised melee attacks (specific only to fists), which is pretty incredible by itself, considering you are always armed with fists. (Do you get attacks of opportunity with fists?) I'd say a +2 Proficiency bonus when using your fists as improvised weapons would be a feat in and of itself. You could reduce the prereqs for this though.

A second feat could replicate the Rogue's shuriken ability and increase the damage die by one. (I think that's to d6.)

[Jarlax]

i think an even ground would look something like this

Heroic Tier Feat
Improved Unarmed Strike
Prerequisites: Str 13 or proficiency in at least one military or superior melee weapon
Benefits: when making unarmed attacks the weapon entry reads:

Unarmed attack
Prof: +2
Damage: 1D6
Range: -
Price: -
Weight: -
Group: Unarmed, Natural Weapon
Properties: Off-Hand

this only makes it comparable to a club or a short sword. there are no off hand weapons with greater than 1D6 damage even in the superior melee weapons list. any more damage and this would be a single feat that provides every player with a weapon better than all the other off hand weapons damage wise and comparable to most other weapons, all held in an empty hand.

[Ceiling009]

Hmm... I have my versions... though I think it's bordering more on a Monk sub-path specialization to things... It's on Pdf currently...you can get it here. I'm not sure how it works on balance or how it works on anything compared your ideas...

[Pinnacle]

I thought it should be comparable to other military weapons.

My reasoning was that it shouldn't be looked at from how much it improves unarmed strikes, but from how much it improves the PC's abilities. Most characters who would gain any use of it would be carrying military weapons if they didn't take it.
I added the mace weapon group part because it seemed like the closest thing that had any effect (nothing is based on the unarmed group).

I think I should bump the damage down though, and the bonus up to compensate, which seems to be the consensus (and makes more sense anyway).

[TheOOB]

I see no problem with this, I would allow it in my group. Basically by spending a feat you get a weapon that is basically equivalent to a short sword, which is a weapon that classes that care will usually get without a feat, the advantage being you don't have to hold the weapon.

That said, I understand where you where coming from with the mace weapon group, when you look at the abilities the light blade group makes a bit more sense (which is ironic because unarmed strikes are not blades). Most of a rogues techniques are light blade techniques, and the fighter light blade techniques tend to allow multiple quick (if not powerful) strikes, and the light blade feats also focus on quick precise attacks. Mace abilities and feats tends to be slow, ponderous, and focus on doing lots of damage or knocking the enemy around.