Unarmed strikes: How to become an unarmed master in D&D 2024

Go from ‘armless to ‘armful!

How do unarmed strikes work?

An unarmed strike basically means striking with a body part rather than a weapon. This isn’t just limited to your hands though, you can strike with things like your legs or head too.

Unarmed strikes are typically weak though, dealing 1 + your strength modifier in damage. This is poor compared to weapon attacks which deal the following average damage per hit:

• 1d4 – 2.5
• 1d6 – 3.5
• 1d8 – 4.5
• 1d10 – 5.5
• 1d12 – 6.5

Alternatively, when you make an unarmed strike, you can choose to attempt a grapple or a shove. Both of these are contested by the target by making a strength or dexterity saving throw against your DC which is 8 + strength modifier + proficiency bonus.

A successful grapple will impose the grappled condition while a successful shove can either push the target 5ft away or knock them prone.

Making any kind of unarmed strike only uses one of your attacks from the attack action, so if you have 2 attacks, you can perform a shove and a grapple for instance.

For the full rules, check out p377 of the 2024 Player’s Handbook.

Why would I choose unarmed combat instead of weapons?

Great question! Unarmed strikes are clearly inferior at a basic level. Weapons will do more damage while weapon mastery properties cause similar effects while also dealing damage.

However, grappling is a powerful ability and this is accomplished through unarmed strikes, and pushing and toppling complement it well, and are great for hit and run specialists.

On top of this, there are feats and class features that enhance unarmed strikes considerably beyond the basic effects explained above. In fact, without these, I wouldn’t bother with unarmed combat (unless you have no weapons), but with them, they can be a powerful tool.

Unarmed combat tactics

Below are some tactics you can use to make unarmed combat effective:

• Boost your strength – Unless you’re a monk or dance bard, you’ll need good strength to make your unarmed strikes effective.
• Fall damage – Drag/push enemies off ledges for fall damage.
• Move enemies into danger – Drag/push enemies into AoE spells and hazards.
• Prone grappling – Shove an enemy so they’re prone then grapple them so they can’t get up. This gives melee attacks advantage against the target and the target disadvantage on attacks.
• Hit and run – Push enemies away so you can leave their reach without provoking opportunity attacks. Good for hit and run specialists like monks and dance bards.
• Pure damage – As you’ll see in the next sections, unarmed combat can cause reasonable damage with the right feats and class features so you can just hit your opponents (or do both damage and effects).
• Don’t take a small species for grappling – You can grapple if you’re small, but only medium or smaller creatures. Medium characters can grapple creatures up to large in size making them a superior option. If you want to grapple something huge, have a friendly spellcaster cast enlarge on you.
• Be a Human or fighter for extra feats – To properly make use of unarmed fighting, you’ll need to invest in the right feats. Humans get an extra feat at level 1 and fighters get more ability score increases than any other class making it easier for these types of characters to invest in unarmed combat.

Classes good at unarmed combat

Some classes include features that enhance their unarmed strikes. This is the case for the monk and the dance bard.

Monks

Monks have a feature called martial arts which enhances their unarmed strikes in 3 ways:

• Can make an additional unarmed strike as a bonus action
• Unarmed strikes deal 1d6 damage which scales upwards as the monk gains levels (to 1d12 damage)
• You can use your dexterity instead of strength for unarmed strikes (including grapples and shoves).

There are still weapons at low levels that will deal more damage then unarmed strikes, but by the time a monk is at level 5, each strike deals 1d8 damage which equals what they can manage with a weapon.

But hang on, there’s more! Monks can enhance their unarmed strikes further as they gain levels. You get:

• Monk’s focus – At level 2, you can make a flurry of blows to make 2 unarmed strikes with your bonus action. This increases to 3 at level 10
• Stunning strike – At level 5, you can hit so hard with weapons or your unarmed strikes, that you can stun your enemies
• Empowered strikes – At level 6, you can choose to make your unarmed strikes cause force damage (effectively allowing you to bypass damage resistances)

Certain monk subclasses can also enhance their unarmed strikes:

• Warrior of mercy: Can cause extra damage or healing with their unarmed strikes.
• Warrior of the elements: Gain extra reach, damage and push enemies when making unarmed strikes.
• Warrior of the open hand: Some unarmed strikes cause additional effects like preventing opportunity attacks, pushing or knocking prone. Quivering palm can be used to cause devastating damage.

Dance bards

Dance bards have a feature called dazzling footwork which enhances their unarmed strikes granting you the following:

• Unarmed strikes deal 1d6 damage + your dexterity modifier. This increases in damage as you gain levels eventually reaching a d12.
• You can also make an unarmed strike when making a use of your bardic inspiration.

Feats for unarmed combat

Perhaps you want to play an unarmed warrior, but don’t want to play a monk or dance bard. Or maybe you want to enhance your monk/dance bard’s unarmed attacks. Well, there are some feats you can take to help with this.

Unarmed fighting style

If you’re a fighter, ranger or paladin, you can take a fighting style. One of these is unarmed fighting. It has the following rules:

“When you you hit with your unarmed strike and deal damage, you can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 plus your strength modifier instead of the normal damage of an unarmed strike. If you aren’t holding any weapons or a shield when you make the attack roll, the d6 becomes a d8.

At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you.“

Player’s Handbook 2024 p210

This is an interesting one as it essentially brings your attacks up to standard weapon attack levels (1d6/1d8), but there are drawbacks.

To get 1d8 damage, you need to not be holding a weapon or a shield. This limits your defence and means no option of weapon mastery properties being used. The problem for grappling or shoving is you have to sacrifice causing damage instead of using these.

However, there are additional feats that can help you here…

Tavern brawler origin feat

At level 1, you can pick up tavern brawler as an origin feat if you take the sailor background. It does the following:

“You gain the following benefits.

Enhanced unarmed strike. When you hit with your unarmed strike and deal damage, you can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 plus your strength modifier instead of the normal damage of an unarmed strike.

Damage rerolls. Whenever you roll a damage die for your unarmed strike, you can reroll the die if it rolls a 1, and you must use the new roll.

Improvised weaponry. You have proficiency with improvised weapons.

Push. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike as part of the attack action on your turn, you can deal damage to the target and also push it 5 feet away from you. You can use this benefit only once per turn.“

Player’s Handbook 2024 p202

1d4 damage is no good for monks, dance bards or those with the unarmed fighting style.

However, now you can push and deal damage (so essentially a weapon mastery property) which is ideal for hit and run characters (like monks and dance bards). Damage rerolls on a 1 is solid too, especially for high attack classes like monks and fighters where you might get a lot of rerolls.

Grappler general feat

From level 4, you can grab the grappler feat:

“You gain the following benefits.

Ability score increase. Increase your strength or dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Punch and grab. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike as part of the attack action on your turn, you can use both the damage and the grapple option. You can use this benefit only once per turn.

Attack advantage. You have advantage on attack rolls against a creature grappled by you.

Fast wrestler. Your speed isn’t halved when you move a creature grappled by you if the creature is your size or smaller.“

Player’s Handbook 2024 p204

If you take this feat, you essentially want to be grappling as much as possible so you can get advantage on attacks rolls and make use of your grapple and damage attacks.

The fact that you can move at normal speed when you grapple makes dumping enemies in nasty spots considerably easier (and if you’re monk, you can dash as a bonus action too, and you move fast as standard). Dump your enemies off of ledges or into AoE effects for maximum damage.

How do all these feats and properties combine?

You get some nice combos of effects when you combine the various features and properties together. In fact, I’d recommend combining these if you intended on playing an unarmed combatant. Below is a summary of how different combinations work together:

Unarmed fighting + tavern brawler

• Damage: 1d6-1d8
• Effects while damaging: Push
• Other effects: Reroll 1s for damage, deal damage while grappling

Tavern brawler + grappler

• Damage: 1d4
• Effects while damaging: Push, grapple
• Other effects: Reroll 1s for damage, advantage against grappled target, normal speed when grappling

Unarmed fighting + grappler

• Damage: 1d6-1d8
• Effects while damaging: Grapple
• Other effects: Deal damage while grappling, advantage against grappled target, normal speed when grappling

Unarmed fighting + tavern brawler + grappler

• Damage: 1d6-1d8
• Effects while damaging: Push, grapple
• Other effects: Reroll 1s for damage, deal damage while grappling, advantage against grappled target, normal speed when grappling

If you’re a monk or dance bard, your damage will scale between 1d6-1d12 with or without these feats. Also note that monks can grapple using dexterity but dance bards can’t (or anyone else for that matter) meaning a grappling character will need to invest in strength unless they’re a monk.

Best classes for unarmed combat

Some classes just work better for unarmed combat. This is either because they have features built around it (like monks) or because they can easily enhance their strength (like fighters).

Below are all the best class options for unarmed combat as well as advice on how to use them:

• Monk – Strong option with or without feats, but is enhanced by tavern brawler and grappler. I’d definitely take tavern brawler for easier hit and run tactics.
• Dance bard – The only good way to fight with a dance bard is with unarmed strikes. They get better with tavern brawler, especially to enable hit and run tactics. Grappler is no good unless you can give yourself a decent strength which can be tricky.
• Fighter – You’ll need unarmed fighting style as a minimum here for decent damage, but I’d take tavern brawler and grappler for weapon mastery like effects. Fighters are mainly taking unarmed combat for grappling tactics.
• Paladin – Similar to a fighter, you really want to be taking all 3 feats to give you solid damage and allow damage with grapples and shoves. Smites work with unarmed strikes now too so make unarmed combat viable for a paladin.
• Ranger – It’s possible to make this work, but quite challenging. You’ll need all 3 feats to make this work and you’ll need a strength build, which on its own is quite challenging for a ranger. Hunter’s mark will work with unarmed strikes, but the fey wanderer, gloom stalker and hunter subclasses all have features that enhance your weapon attacks but not unarmed strikes. This means the only viable ranger subclass for unarmed combat is the beast master. Even then, this is an awkward build to make work, but can work if you need it to.
• Barbarian – Without the option of unarmed fighting, your attacks will be weaker. You can take tavern brawler and grappler to help here and give you weapon mastery-like effects. And while this doesn’t work as well as a fighter, grappling is a powerful tool meaning this can work for a barbarian.

Unarmed combat doesn’t really work for any other classes as they lack the strength, durability or features to make this style of fighting work.

Changes from D&D 2014

There are some important changes to be aware of between the 2014 and 2024 revisions of the rules. These changes make unarmed combat more effective In D&D 2024 and making your attacks more equivalent to weapon attacks with weapon mastery properties:

• Grapple checks – In 2014, grapples were contested by 2 checks by each character involved, now the target simply needs to equal or exceed the grappler’s DC to avoid a grapple.
• Monk damage – Monks now do more damage with unarmed strikes, with this starting at 1d6 instead of 1d4.
• Grappler feat – You used to be able to restrain a grappled creature, now you can damage when making a grapple and move faster while grappling.
• Tavern brawler – This no longer lets you grapple as a bonus action (as this is available and bettered in the grappler feat). Instead you can push and damage when you make an unarmed strike. Also, this is now an origin feat.

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That’s how you can use unarmed strikes in combat in D&D 2024. Got any tips you’d like to add? Just share them in the comments below.

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