Past Life: Disciple of the Fist.. what are the dice step increases ?

[humbleroller]

So i understand that monks start out with a 1d6 and then progress on to 3d6 by level 20.

I have 2 past monk lives and I was wondering what the past life feat Disciple of the Fist really does.

...deal increased unarmed damage (one step higher than normal on the unarmed combat chart)

what does 1 step higher mean ?
how many times can I take this feat ?

-thanks.

also, is Improved Critical: Bludgeoning worth it? Does it make handwraps go from critting on 20, to 19-20 ?

[Rusty_Can]

So i understand that monks start out with a 1d6 and then progress on to 3d6 by level 20.

3.5 [1d6] actually.

I have 2 past monk lives and I was wondering what the past life feat Disciple of the Fist really does.

Disciple of the Fist feat will add another 0.5 W; i.e. your unarmed attacks will deal 4[1d6] damage. It takes a feat slot and you can take it only once.

As for the passive past-life feat, you will gain +1 to damage rolls; it can be stacked up to 3 times and it doesn't require a feat slot.

Does it make handwraps go from critting on 20, to 19-20 ?

Yes.

also, is Improved Critical: Bludgeoning worth it?

It depends. However, it's a requirement for a couple of epic feats, such as Overwhelming Critical and Vorpal Strikes.

[humbleroller]

so instead of 1d6 for the first few levels I would have 1.5d6 ?

i heard (but took it as general /advice channel rubbish), that it went up a die step, so 1d6 became 1d8 and lev 20 was 3.5d8.

Im not sure if its worth it now. I guess I will take it when I have all the other feats i need.

[Qhualor]

so instead of 1d6 for the first few levels I would have 1.5d6 ?

i heard (but took it as general /advice channel rubbish), that it went up a die step, so 1d6 became 1d8 and lev 20 was 3.5d8.

Im not sure if its worth it now. I guess I will take it when I have all the other feats i need.

you can increase 1d6 to 1d8 if you level through Shintao and take the T5 Empty Hand Mastery.

[Rusty_Can]

i heard (but took it as general /advice channel rubbish), that it went up a die step, so 1d6 became 1d8 and lev 20 was 3.5d8.

Before Weapon dice multipliers, Unarmed Strike worked in a different way (1d6 --> 1d8 and so on).

As of today, the only ways to improve that 1d6 are:
- Empty Hand Mastery in the Shintao tree;
- Wild shapes, druid/monk builds, aka "drunks".

[humbleroller]

thankyou and thankyou.

so it seems the advice i got was correct for before the updates but not so correct now.