Fighter bonus damage

[llenlleawg]

I know that fighting men are just fine as they are, but for those who would like to give a little "kick" to their fighters above what they already have, consider giving fighters a bonus of +1 to damage for every two levels. Basically, I stole this from the monk class, but it also pairs nicely with rangers (if you use them) who get a +1 per level, but only against "giant class" foes. In fact, I think it would be a nice balance to give fighters a +1 damage per two levels against all foes, rangers a +1 damage per level against giant class, and paladins a +1 damage per level against undead, demons, and evil enchanted monsters.

[waysoftheearth]

House rules are one of the best things about D&D.

The key thing, IMHO, is to know exactly what a house rule means in the context of the other rules you're using before going with it.

(I'm not saying you don't already know this, but just to repeat my thoughts on it...)

+1 damage is approximately equivalent to +2 to hit in terms of damage caused over time, so +1 damage per two levels is approximately equivalent to +1 to hit per level in terms of damage caused over time. This might be a good thing for a game played principally around levels 1-4, say. It might not seem quite so reasonable at levels 8-12, or higher...

Fighters (and the other fighter types mentioned) are already getting up on the attack matrix by level 8-12, and they may well have the advantage of magical weaponry in addition. If you're using multiple attacks as well, this could multiply the fighter's advantage dramatically.


I tried a similar system a while back (+1 damage every other level for fighters on foot in melee, cavaliers mounted in melee, rangers with missiles), but I dropped it later when it was getting to be too much. I think it could work if you don't use multiple attacks per round, or if you applied the bonus damage only once per round, rather than once per successful attack roll.

Let us know how you go

[Deleted]

I did something similar, allowing heroes to do double damage and superheroes to do triple damage. No extra attacks, just rolling more dice with each hit. This is in place of the multiple attack rule which I feel doesn't scale very well (and is too time consuming). Non-fighters get the extra damage as well depending on their hit dice.