Claws of the Beast and IUS

[zaei]

Are unarmed strikes natural weapons, manufactured weapons, both, or neither?

I don't think they can be natural, since you get iterative attacks with them. They don't SEEM to be manufactured, either. If this is the case, this clause from Claws of the Beast:


If you attack with a manufactured weapon or another natural attack, you can’t make any claw attacks in that round.


doesn't seem to apply. So it seems that a monk/psywar can claw/claw/flurry for a full attack.

[tyckspoon]

The monk's unarmed strikes, as well as those of any class that gets the monk's 'Unarmed Strike' feature, are both natural and manufactured weapons as per


A monk’s unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

Note that this isn't a part of the Improved Unarmed Strike feat; for most classes, that feat only allows their unarmed strikes to avoid drawing AoO's and to do lethal damage. The unarmed strike itself remains in the bizarre limbo weapon category of 'unarmed strike'.

That said, the answer to your question is: I don't know. Flurry gets kind of weird when you start trying to combine it with other alternate attack schemes.

[zaei]

The monk's unarmed strikes, as well as those of any class that gets the monk's 'Unarmed Strike' feature, are both natural and manufactured weapons as per



Note that this isn't a part of the Improved Unarmed Strike feat; for most classes, that feat only allows their unarmed strikes to avoid drawing AoO's and to do lethal damage. The unarmed strike itself remains in the bizarre limbo weapon category of 'unarmed strike'.

That said, the answer to your question is: I don't know. Flurry gets kind of weird when you start trying to combine it with other alternate attack schemes.

They are only both manufactured weapons and natural weapons for the purposes of spells or effects that enchance or improve manufactured or natural weapons, in the case of the monk.

Seems in this case I can flurry as normal, then claw/claw at full bab - flurry penalty.

[tyckspoon]

They are only both manufactured weapons and natural weapons for the purposes of spells or effects that enchance or improve manufactured or natural weapons, in the case of the monk.

Seems in this case I can flurry as normal, then claw/claw at full bab - flurry penalty.

Unless Flurry is considered part of the monk's 'normal attack routine', in which case Claws of the Beast overrides that to replace all your 'full attack' options with claw/claw. You could still make an unarmed attack in addition to the claws, but it would be subject to normal two-weapon fighting penalties (although at full strength bonus, since monks enjoy having no official off-hand and always strike at full strength bonus.) Or you could perhaps Flurry and then make a TWF attack with one claw, the same way a creature that is carrying both a natural and a manufactured weapon does. I don't think it is intended that you can use both Flurry and the claw attacks as primary weapons (ie, without any kind of twf'ing penalty), but I'm not sure where to check for an official or semi-official ruling on that.

[zaei]

Unless Flurry is considered part of the monk's 'normal attack routine', in which case Claws of the Beast overrides that to replace all your 'full attack' options with claw/claw. You could still make an unarmed attack in addition to the claws, but it would be subject to normal two-weapon fighting penalties (although at full strength bonus, since monks enjoy having no official off-hand and always strike at full strength bonus.) Or you could perhaps Flurry and then make a TWF attack with one claw, the same way a creature that is carrying both a natural and a manufactured weapon does. I don't think it is intended that you can use both Flurry and the claw attacks as primary weapons (ie, without any kind of twf'ing penalty), but I'm not sure where to check for an official or semi-official ruling on that.

Oops, looks like you're right, since both the flurry and the claw/claw are full attacks.

Claws of the Beast seems to be written so that it denies you the ability to use them in addition to other attack routines. Using unarmed strikes seems to get around this limitation, but it looks like you would only get a single additional claw attack.