Tengu claws


Advice


So I am fairly certain I am simply misreading this since I have not been able to find any forum questions about it.

The Tengu Claw Attack alternate racial trait states:
Tengus with this racial trait have learned to use their claws as natural weapons. They gain two claw attacks as primary natural attacks that deal 1d3 points of damage, and are treated as having the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for the purpose of qualifying for other feats.

Feral Combat Training states:
Choose one of your natural weapons. While using the selected natural weapon, you can apply the effects of feats that have Improved Unarmed Strike as a prerequisite.

My question is does the line "are treated as having the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for the purpose of qualifying for other feats" mean that you can "apply the effects of feats that have Improved Unarmed Strike as a prerequisite" without needing to take Feral Combat Training for the claws?


I guess it comes down to the syntax of the Claw Attack sentence and what the psuedo IUS is applied to, the character or the claws.

Is it supposed to be read as "They (the Tengu) gain claws and are treated as having IUS..." or is it "two claw attacks that deal dmg and are treated as having IUS..."

Hope that clarified my question a bit.


They (the tengu) are treated as having Improved Unarmed Strike. Their claws ARE NOT treated as (improved) unarmed strike(s). You must still select Feral Combat Training if you want to use feats that require improved unarmed strike with your claws. Essentially, you are just getting claws and a free feat out of the mix (IUS).

Grand Lodge

You can only take Feral Combat Training once, meaning you can choose between your claws or your bite for FCT. And yes, you can make the FCT requirement go to any other natural attack you may have, such as your bite.

For Tengus to really get full use out of that, they do end up needing FCT, as most of the feats that require having IUS (Especially Style feats) also require you to use unarmed strikes to benefit from said feat.


That's what I figured. It's a great little bonus anyway.

This just brought to mind the interaction of FCT and Monk flurry. As long as you have FCT (claws) would Rending Claws be able to be applied to the flurry? If so, would you get to use it up to 3x when the flurry hits 6 attacks or would only the first two consecutive claw attacks rend?

@Syries - I have not come across anything saying FCT could only be taken once. Where did this ruling come from?


The default rule is that a feat can only be taken once. There has to be an exception in the "Special" section or elsewhere for a character to take the feat more than once.


One way that comes to mind if your wanting to apply it to all of them is the Weapon Specialist advanced combat training.

Weapon Specialist:
(Ex) The fighter selects a number of combat feats that he knows equal to his weapon training bonus with the associated weapon group. The selected feats must be ones that require the fighter to choose a type of weapon (such as Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization), and the fighter must have chosen weapons that belong to the associated fighter weapon group. The fighter is treated as having the selected feats for all the weapons in the associated weapon group that are legal choices for those feats. The fighter is also considered to have those feats with these weapons for the purpose of meeting prerequisites.


Wow...somehow I've never noticed that. My brain just kind of glossed over that "special" section in Weapon Focus, Improved Natural Attack, etc. I've always thought of it when a feat or class ability (Rogue Talents and the like) points out that it cannot be taken/applied more than once, but never when it's simply left off.


Talonhawke wrote:

One way that comes to mind if your wanting to apply it to all of them is the Weapon Specialist advanced combat training.

** spoiler omitted **

That's a really cool approach. I had looked at that for a different build, but never thought of applying it to a natural attack build. Would really help with ones that have 6+ nat attacks that are different.

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