Forums: Rules Discussion: Do Monk Stances and spells like Runic body stack? (2024)

Hi there! I'm about to start GMing my first PF2E campaign, and I have both a Summoner and a Monk in my party. Does a spell like Runic Body work with a Monk's unarmed attacks, specifically with regard to unarmed strikes and the benefits that stances grant them?

I can't find a solid answer on this, and it's entirely possible I've overlooked something major as I'm quite new, but the idea of a first level spell granting a monk 2d6+1 unarmed attacks, with an additional plus one to hit on top of whatever stance they're in for essentially the whole encounter seems too good to be true?

Thanks in advance for the help, and my apologies in advance if this question has been asked before. I tried to do some preliminary searching but came up empty.

Runic Body make all your unarmed attacks +1 striking. The unarmed attacks from monk stances have the unarmed trait, so they would be affected by Runic Body.

Keep in mind that Runic Weapon is also a rank 1 spell, so you could give a fighter or barbarian a 2d12 greatsword at level 1.

adelinefowlgames wrote:

Hi there! I'm about to start GMing my first PF2E campaign, and I have both a Summoner and a Monk in my party. Does a spell like Runic Body work with a Monk's unarmed attacks, specifically with regard to unarmed strikes and the benefits that stances grant them?

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I can't find a solid answer on this, and it's entirely possible I've overlooked something major as I'm quite new, but the idea of a first level spell granting a monk 2d6+1 unarmed attacks, with an additional plus one to hit on top of whatever stance they're in for essentially the whole encounter seems too good to be true?

Thanks in advance for the help, and my apologies in advance if this question has been asked before. I tried to do some preliminary searching but came up empty.

just a slight correction, a "+1 striking" in pathfinder 2e is +1 on attacks and 2 dices of damage.

The +1 doesn't get added to the damage.

so runic body will make the damage of the unarmed attacks "2d6" not "2d6+1"

adelinefowlgames wrote:

the idea of a first level spell granting a monk 2d6+1 unarmed attacks, with an additional plus one to hit on top of whatever stance they're in for essentially the whole encounter seems too good to be true?

It's an ok pick for a support spell at levels 1-3. A summoner taking it to put on their eidolon or a melee party member is pretty much exactly what it's for. By level 4 it's mostly obsolete, as the monk and summoner will likely have Handwraps of Mighty blows while the melee fighters will have striking weapons, and the two sources of bonuses effects - magical item, spell - don't stack.

Also as shroudb says, the spell gives +1 to attack and +one die to damage, not +one die+1 to damage.

shroudb wrote:

just a slight correction, a "+1 striking" in pathfinder 2e is +1 on attacks and 2 dices of damage.

The +1 doesn't get added to the damage.

so runic body will make the damage of the unarmed attacks "2d6" not "2d6+1"

I remember when PF2 first came out, how hard it was to get used to '+x weapons' not dealing that 'x' extra damage. Old habits die hard. :)