Unarmed Combat
An unarmed strike is an attack with a fist, elbow, knee, foot, or headbutt. Anyone can make one, but without training it is an awkward option: an unarmed strike from a character without the Improved Unarmed Strike feat provokes an attack of opportunity, deals only nonlethal damage, and counts as an off-hand attack.
Improved Unarmed Strike
With this feat, your unarmed strikes no longer provoke, may deal lethal or nonlethal damage (your choice, no penalty), and are treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for spells and effects that improve either.
It does not raise the damage die — a Medium creature still deals 1d3. The die only grows with a class feature that says so (see below).
Base Unarmed Strike Damage
| Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|
| 1d2 | 1d3 | 1d4 |
Add your Strength modifier to unarmed damage (½ Str on an off-hand unarmed strike, ×1½ if it is your only attack and you strike two-handed — the same rules as any other light weapon).
Improved Unarmed Damage (Monk & Brawler)
The monk's Unarmed Strike and the brawler's Unarmed Strike both advance on this shared table (as do Sacred Fist, Martial Artist, and the unchained monk). Use your level in the class granting the feature; if two classes both grant improved unarmed damage, use the better table — the dice are not additive (a monk 5 / brawler 5 deals 1d8, not a monk 10's 1d10).
| Class Level | Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | 1d4 | 1d6 | 1d8 |
| 4–7 | 1d6 | 1d8 | 2d6 |
| 8–11 | 1d8 | 1d10 | 2d8 |
| 12–15 | 1d10 | 2d6 | 3d6 |
| 16–19 | 2d6 | 2d8 | 3d8 |
| 20 | 2d8 | 2d10 | 4d8 |
Weapon Damage by Size
When a weapon (or natural attack, or unarmed strike) changes size — a Small race's version, enlarge person, Improved Natural Attack — its damage die shifts along this ladder. It is not a clean "add a die" progression, so it is given as a table. Steps of more than one size category are applied one rung at a time.
| Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|
| — | 1d2 | 1d3 |
| 1d2 | 1d3 | 1d4 |
| 1d3 | 1d4 | 1d6 |
| 1d4 | 1d6 | 1d8 |
| 1d6 | 1d8 | 2d6 |
| 1d8 | 1d10 | 2d8 |
| 1d10 | 1d12 | 3d6 |
| 1d6 | 2d4 | 2d6 |
| 1d10 | 2d6 | 3d6 |
| 2d6 | 2d8 | 3d8 |
| 2d8 | 2d10 | 4d8 |
Related
- Combat Maneuvers — unarmed strikes can substitute disarm, sunder, and trip as part of a monk's or brawler's flurry.
- Combat Overview — attack rolls, two-weapon fighting, and how flurry sequences resolve.
- Feats — Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Feral Combat Training, and the rest.