4EMOD: Monster Damage.

It didn't take me very long to notice just how low the damage in the first two Monster Manuals are. It's not a very big secret, and the designers don't contest it. Well, before the days of MM3 I'd made my own damage table. This is only the second tweaking I've ever done to the damage. There's nothing to stop you from using the MM3 damage, but I prefer the older style, and I already wrote in my books, so I figured I'd share what I had come up with. Here are the tables:

Normal Monster Damage Expressions

1-3: 1d6+4, 1d10+4, 2d8+4
4-6: 1d6+7, 1d10+7, 2d8+7
7-9: 1d8+7, 1d10+7, 2d10+7
10-12: 1d8+10, 2d6+10, 2d10+10
13-15: 1d10+10, 2d8+10, 3d10+10
16-18: 1d10+14, 2d8+14, 3d10+14
19-21: 1d12+14, 2d10+14, 3d12+14
22-24: 1d12+17, 2d10+17, 3d12+17
25-27: 2d6+17, 2d12+17, 6d6+17
28-30: 2d6+20, 2d12+20, 6d6+20

Add +2 damage per level beyond 30

I haven't done a ton of fact-checking, but I believe this is comparable to MM3's damage values.

Limited Monster Damage Expressions

1-3: 2d6+7, 2d10+7, 3d8+7
4-6: 3d6+10, 3d8+10, 3d10+10
7-9: 3d8+10, 3d10+10, 4d8+10
10-12: 3d8+13, 4d8+13, 4d10+13
13-15: 3d10+16, 4d8+16, 4d10+16
16-18: 3d10+16, 4d10+16, 4d12+16
19-21: 4d8+19, 4d10+19, 4d12+19
22-24: 4d8+22, 4d10+22, 5d12+22
25-27: 4d10+22, 5d10+22, 6d12+22
28-30: 4d10+25, 5d10+25, 6d12+25

Add +4 damage per level beyond 30

Having tested most of these numbers, I can attest to how deadly combat gets. Be careful with these damage values: people will learn to fear combat. But since that's how I prefer combat to begin, I think that's a good thing.  Test them out, and (most importantly) have fun!