Horn of the Criosphinx, Monks, and Pummeling Charge

[Tyoooo]

Hello!

So, I'm making a build about being a dragon monk. Lizardfolk monk/sorc/dragon disciple. I'm basically building to be able to charge around the map, full attacking as I go. I found this feat (Horn of the Criosphinx, that is) recently and wanted other perspectives for how it interacts with this build I'm cooking up.

First off, this build is about using natural attacks inherent in lizardfolk and dragons, so I've picked up weapon focus feats and Feral Combat Training several times. I plan to pick up pummeling charge later to allow me to full attack on these charges, using my flurry of blows and my natural attacks (claws, bite, wings, ect).

Then we come to Horn of the Criosphinx. As written, you need both hands free to be able to use this as a monk. Under this build, I read this as meaning I can forgo my claw attacks, use my legs in my flurry, and pile on the rest of my naturals, all at 2x strength. I wanted to get opinions on two things:

Does it seem like I'm doing this correctly as written?
Does it seem like I'm stretching the use of Horn of the Criosphinx as intended?

As a disclaimer of sorts, I'm not *trying* to break the game here, I just wanted to build something cool (a kung-fu fighting dragon) and keep it effective. That's why I'm trying to verify if my build makes sense within the context of pathfinder's rules. Thanks!

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

I believe the line

Pummeling Style wrote:

This ability works only with unarmed strikes, no matter what other abilities you might possess.

precludes using natural attacks with it, even with Feral Combat Training.

Tyoooo wrote:

Then we come to Horn of the Criosphinx. As written, you need both hands free to be able to use this as a monk. Under this build, I read this as meaning I can forgo my claw attacks, use my legs in my flurry, and pile on the rest of my naturals, all at 2x strength. I wanted to get opinions on two things:

Does it seem like I'm doing this correctly as written?

I assume your "pile on the rest of my naturals" means as part of the flurry, via FCT, since you normally can't flurry and use naturals at the same time. That said, yes, I think you're within RAW on this part---it relies on having pounce from somewhere since Pummeling Charge won't work with natural attacks.

Tyoooo wrote:

Does it seem like I'm stretching the use of Horn of the Criosphinx as intended?

No, that seems within RAI too (given pounce).

[Wolventad]

Issue is, I believe Feral Combat Training allows you to use your natural weapons in place of your unarmed strike — you still cannot flurry AND use natural attacks, your natural attacks become your flurry (You don't get the extra natural attacks when you flurry even if you have Feral Combat Training)

Additionally, even with pounce or a similar ability, only the first attack in a pounce routine gains the benefits of effects relating to your charge, such as the bonus to hit or the Horn of the Criosphinx feat.

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

Wolventad wrote:

Issue is, I believe Feral Combat Training allows you to use your natural weapons in place of your unarmed strike — you still cannot flurry AND use natural attacks, your natural attacks become your flurry (You don't get the extra natural attacks when you flurry even if you have Feral Combat Training)

Additionally, even with pounce or a similar ability, only the first attack in a pounce routine gains the benefits of effects relating to your charge, such as the bonus to hit or the Horn of the Criosphinx feat.

Whoops, my bads. Disregard my answers on those bits.

[Kaboogy]

In addition to the above issues, pummeling style explicitly states that only unarmed strikes can be made at the end of the charge. FCT doesn’t override that.

[Tyoooo]

Hm, well, guess that idea's scrapped. Though that kinda makes special monk text of FCT pretty useless, doesn't it? I suppose it's no matter, though. Thanks for the responses!

edit:
For the record, I was talking about FCT as it relates to the flurry - everyone's responses as it relates to pummeling style makes sense.

[Wolventad]

FCT is still quite useful if, say, you manage to have a larger damage dice or additional effect (such as poison or trip) on your natural attack. So not entirely useless, just not there for combining flurry with multiple natural attacks.

[Kaboogy]

I’ve heard of FCT being used on multiclassed cave druid monks for some impressive results.