[3.5] Question About Claws and Slams.

[Aldhissla]

Hello again, Giants (and Pixies.)

This time I have a more technical question than my last aimless inquiry.

I understand that natural weapons sharing a limb with manufactured weapons are mutually exclusive. No problem. I know that trying to combine natural attacks with a monk is messy and I will never ever stray over to that build (unless it were a Tashalatora...)

But. Can two natural weapons be mutually exclusive with one another? I don't mean when there's the issue of range, or if a winged creature is grounded or flying.

I'm currently working on a wild shape ranger build for a Feral Gargun (Races of Stone) that goes into Stonespeaker Guardian (RoS) with Stone Form (also RoS,) which is required for the PrC and also gives you a Slam attack while in this augmented but still humanoid form for one use of Wild Shape.

But Feral Garguns, one of the only two races permitted to take the PrC, have two natural Claw attacks.

So would the rules support this Gargun bashing someone with a shoulder or a knee after raking with its claws? Or does he/she have to use one arm or the other, and always sacrifice something?

Thanks in advance.

[Psyren]

Slam is dealt with an appendage or limb, so you can use your legs to do that while your arms/hands use the claws, or vice-versa depending on fluff. So long as you have appendages other than your hands you can both claw and slam.

[Aldhissla]

I was hoping so, thanks for the input. I'll explain it that way and see what the DM's ruling is (once I have a DM.)

Now to find a way to qualify earlier than 9th level...

[Urpriest]

In general there's a lot of ambiguity about Slams specifically. There's a pretty thorough analysis by Person Man (I think), which concludes that in general, if you have only one Slam it's a body slam and doesn't need to use your arm, but if you have two it's because they're fist slams and they do use your arms.

[Aldhissla]

Holy cow, it's an Urpriest!

Yep, the ambiguity of limbs/appendages allowable was throwing me off. And yep, it's just a single slam attack, I assume in keeping with the theme of being like the weaker Earth Elementals.

[Psyren]

Legs are appendages though so you can slam with them by RAW, even if your hands are occupied.