Pummeling Style and other feat / weapon interactions

[Spencer Peloquin]

Hey I was wondering if there was anyway to make a katana work with Pummeling style (assuming you can already flurry with the katana such as having the Crusader's flurry feat)

1) Could I use the feat Martial Versatility as a human to changed the unarmed strike requirment into a katana> (Knowing this is a fighter feat)

2) Would Blade of the Sword Saint being able to allow attacks to be treated as Ki Strike as though they were unarmed mean that weilding it allows Pummeling Style with attack that count as unarmed strikes coming from the blade?

3) Any other technique that would change the unarmed requirement to allow the use of a katana or other weapon.

I am not asking this to abuse it (which probably doesn't matter), I was trying to find a technique to make a unarmored katana samurai style character (Which I currently plan on Monk and a dip into Crusader cleric with the Crusader's flurry feat) and I saw some questions over this area.

First time on the forums posting and thank you for any feedback! ;)

[Chess Pwn]

pummeling style is only with unarmed attacks and there's no way to do with with other weapons*. (maybe natural attacks with Feral Combat Training). But you could always try to talk to your GM about letting you do it.

[BadBird]

By RAW you could argue for Martial Versatility or the Blade of the Sword Saint working, though it might not be well received; when they came out and said "Pummeling Style is intended to only work with Unarmed Strikes" they made the general intent pretty clear. If your GM doesn't want to go that road, the Crane Style chain is very thematic for a Katana master, since you can switch to a one-hand grip to defend yourself and make counter-attacks.

I actually spent a lot of time on Cleric/Monk stuff...

As far as your Katana Cleric/Monk goes, I would assume you're looking at Shizuru. Consider the Gentle Rest power of the Repose Domain and the possibility of Domain Strike if you want a really cool bit of combat magic - at level 10 you can pick up Medusa's Wrath as a bonus feat and unleash multiple extra unarmed strikes as part of a (proper) full attack. You can also still use Pummeling Style to make unarmed charges even if normally you full-attack with your Katana; this also works well with Domain Strike.

Also, the Kata Master will let you use Opportune Parry and Riposte with a Katana once Crusader's Flurry makes it a Monk Weapon. If you were to use Crane Riposte and Opportune Parry and Riposte together, you could double-counter-attack anyone who dared to attack you...

[Pink Dragon]

Pummeling style only works with unarmed strike.

FAQ

[Soulboundx]

I know about the FAQ but the post was about whether there were RAW work around such as those feats and the blade.

Ok, thanks for the domain idea. Yeah, my character would worship Shizuru. I may do Unchained Monk but the Kata master idea is intriguing. Crane Style was my second choice too! I'll also discuss this more with my GM but a solid ruling from someone or and FAQ would be awesome. The Blade itself is also hard to decipher whether it is in fact an unarmed strike when it comes to rulings that it can act as a Ki Strike/Unarmed.

(I am Spencer forgot to change my forum title until now XD)