Monk Barbarian Clarification

[carrdrivesyou]

If I were to take 6 Beastbarian and 4 sun soul monk, could I use my claws three times, then burn a ki point to flurry of blows for two more claw attacks? Or would they just count as "unarmed strikes" despite my hands being claws?

[RogueJK]

Flurry of Blows attacks have to be made with Unarmed Strikes.

Beast Barbarian claws/teeth/tails are specifically denoted as being Simple Weapons and Natural Weapons, but are not Unarmed Strikes.

So you cannot make Flurry attacks with Beast Barbarian claws. You'd be making non-claw Unarmed Strikes with your head/elbows/legs/etc. when you Flurry.

(There are some Natural Weapons that specifically can be used to make Unarmed Strikes, but they'll be called out in the text as being able to do so. For example, the Lizardfolk racial bite attack states "Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes". Same with Tabaxi/Tortle racial claws. But Beast Barbarian natural weapons are considered armed weapon attacks.)


However, since Beast Barbarian natural weapons are specifically classified as Simple Weapons, this does mean that they qualify as Monk Weapons. Monk Weapons are any Simple Weapon that lacks the Heavy/Two Handed property.

This means that a Beast Barbarian/Monk has the option to use DEX for their claw attacks, and the damage of the claws increases with Monk levels as your Martial Arts dice grows, and you can also utilize the claws for the Ki Fueled Attack ability.

[carrdrivesyou]

That all being said, if I played a tortle or aarakocra, or some race with natural claws, then by RAW, my natural weapons would morph into simple weapons and no longer qualify as what I'm using for flurry of blows?

[strangebloke]

That all being said, if I played a tortle or aarakocra, or some race with natural claws, then by RAW, my natural weapons would morph into simple weapons and no longer qualify as what I'm using for flurry of blows?

Logically speaking, yes, but only if you select the option that overrides the weapon you already have. If you are a lizardfolk and you select "bite" then it wouldn't make sense for you to have access to both bit attacks at the same time.

FWIW I don't really know why you would ever do this, lol.

[carrdrivesyou]

I had a strange theorycraft I was considering

[stoutstien]

You could use dedicated weapon on the claws if you wanted more monk levels to upgrade the damage die

[RogueJK]

You could use dedicated weapon on the claws if you wanted more monk levels to upgrade the damage die

No need. Beast Barbarian natural weapons are already simple melee weapons that lack the heavy and two-handed properties, so they already qualify as Monk weapons and therefore get their damage dice upgraded as you gain Monk levels.

Dedicated Weapon is only needed if you wanted to treat a simple ranged weapon or a martial weapon as a Monk weapon, which otherwise wouldn't qualify as Monk weapon without designating it as your Dedicated Weapon.

[stoutstien]

No need. Beast Barbarian natural weapons are already simple melee weapons that lack the heavy and two-handed properties, so they already qualify as Monk weapons and therefore get their damage dice upgraded as you gain Monk levels.

Dedicated Weapon is only needed if you wanted to treat a simple ranged weapon or a martial weapon as a Monk weapon, which otherwise wouldn't qualify as Monk weapon without designating it as your Dedicated Weapon.

Your right. For some reason I thought it was needed. Ah I got my combos backwards. That for the ranged AG barbarian/monk mix.

[Nefariis]

As a side note, even though it's not RAW, check with your DM - there are quite a few DM's (especially on here) that allow RAF claw attacks as unarmed strikes.

[Man_Over_Game]

As a side note, even though it's not RAW, check with your DM - there are quite a few DM's (especially on here) that allow RAF claw attacks as unarmed strikes.

Just to clarify, players are able to substitute claw attacks for unarmed strikes, they just don't count as unarmed strikes.

This means that a Moon Druid wildshaped into a bear with Multiattack can replace the two attacks with unarmed strikes, you'd just have to ignore the normal stats on the Claw and Bite attacks.

[ChaosStar]

Just to clarify, players are able to substitute claw attacks for unarmed strikes, they just don't count as unarmed strikes.

Unless it's Lizardman's Bite, Tabaxi/Tortle claws, or Aarakocra Talons, as those count as unarmed attacks.

[Nefariis]

Just to clarify, players are able to substitute claw attacks for unarmed strikes, they just don't count as unarmed strikes.

This means that a Moon Druid wildshaped into a bear with Multiattack can replace the two attacks with unarmed strikes, you'd just have to ignore the normal stats on the Claw and Bite attacks.

that's why I am saying check with your DM - RAF is that the bear claws counts as unarmed strikes like the tortle, tabaxi, and lizardman.