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Lizard Inquisitor wrote:

If you have Armor Storm combat style, can you deal the "hammer fist" damage with ALL unarmed strikes such as kicks etc. ?

"You treat ANY unarmed attack you make while wearing heavy or powered armor as being made with a battleglove with an item level equal to or lower than your soldier level, and you calculate damage for these attacks as if you had the melee striker gear boost. If you have the melee striker gear boost, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with your unarmed attacks when using this ability."

It is stated elsewhere in the book that unarmed attacks can be made with kicks etc.

So, if I am holding a rifle in both hands while wearing heavy/power armor, can I kick and deal improved damage using the battleglove dice/calculation?

Logically this would be the case, but the reason I ask is because the remaining wording of the ability is kind of strange and ambiguous: "These unarmed attacks don’t benefit from other abilities that apply specifically to unarmed attacks (such as the Improved Unarmed Strike feat)."

It would seem that the "Rules as Intended" interpretation of this line is that the Battleglove damage calculation does not allow you to also add damage dice from Improved Unarmed Strike and Vesk natural weapons etc. You have to pick one type of damage calculation and use it.

It would make sense that if you have Armor Storm/Hammer Fist and you're wearing heavy armor, you count as "armed" even if you are unarmed and you can basically fight "as if" you had Improved Unarmed Strike (threaten squares, deal good damage etc.) because the armor IS the weapon you are using to fight with.

Is this correct?

"kicking" while holding a two handed gun sounds like an abuse of the rules.

but that's just me.

but if you are a kasatha or someone whose got a spare hand... or two... then yeah. it sounds fair.

How so? You can kick if you have training in unarmed combat. Armor Storm training is fighting in armor. I don't see any kind of abuse there, especially if you have both Armor Storm and Improved unarmed strike. Why would a person with martial arts training AND armor combat training not be able to kick well in armor?

If you have Armor Storm combat style, can you deal the "hammer fist" damage with ALL unarmed strikes such as kicks etc. ?

"You treat ANY unarmed attack you make while wearing heavy or powered armor as being made with a battleglove with an item level equal to or lower than your soldier level, and you calculate damage for these attacks as if you had the melee striker gear boost. If you have the melee striker gear boost, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with your unarmed attacks when using this ability."

It is stated elsewhere in the book that unarmed attacks can be made with kicks etc.

So, if I am holding a rifle in both hands while wearing heavy/power armor, can I kick and deal improved damage using the battleglove dice/calculation?

Logically this would be the case, but the reason I ask is because the remaining wording of the ability is kind of strange and ambiguous: "These unarmed attacks don’t benefit from other abilities that apply specifically to unarmed attacks (such as the Improved Unarmed Strike feat)."

It would seem that the "Rules as Intended" interpretation of this line is that the Battleglove damage calculation does not allow you to also add damage dice from Improved Unarmed Strike and Vesk natural weapons etc. You have to pick one type of damage calculation and use it.

It would make sense that if you have Armor Storm/Hammer Fist and you're wearing heavy armor, you count as "armed" even if you are unarmed and you can basically fight "as if" you had Improved Unarmed Strike (threaten squares, deal good damage etc.) because the armor IS the weapon you are using to fight with.

Is this correct?

If you have improved unarmed strike as well, then yes, I believe so

Awesome. Can we get one of the devs to weigh in here? Any way to message them?

free hand needed, unless you have improved unarmed strike, which specifically states you can use knees, headbutts, etc.

That's my question: If you have Improved Unarmed Strike, can you deal hammer fist damage with kicks etc. ?

Logic would say yes, and it seems like the "rules as intended" for Hammer Fist means that you cannot combine damage dice from things like Unarmed Strike, Vesk natural weapons etc. with it.

It would make perfect sense if you could use the "Hammer Fist" damage calculation with kicks, headbutts etc. in heavy or powered armor, but the wording from the book doesn't specify.

It would make sense to me that if you have Armor Storm and Improved Unarmed Strike, that you threaten squares around you (per IUS) and can deal damage with kicks etc. as if you were using a Battle Glove of appropriate level (Armor Storm level 1 ability "Hammer Fist" damage calculation, not using IUS damage calc).

So, if you have Armor Storm/Hammer Fist and you are holding a rifle in both hands, you can kick and deal damage per the Hammer Fist ability.

Is this correct?

Now for the million-dollar question:

Does Armor Storm allow you to kick/headbutt/etc. as if you were armed?

For example, if I am using heavy armor or powered armor and I'm holding a rifle, can I kick someone and deal damage using the Hammer Fist calculation? Logic would say yes, and the ability says "Any unarmed strike you make..."

I don't see how roundhouse kicking someone would do less damage than decking them, or why power armored legs would not be as good as weapons as power armored hands, but I just want to make sure.

The ability also says that it doesn't interact with other abilities that improve unarmed abilities, like Improved Unarmed Strike and presumably the special Vesk natural weapon/unarmed strikes, but I think that the RAI is that you can only use one type of damage calculation so you don't go stacking Improved Unarmed Strike AND Hammer Fist/battleglove dice AND the static damage bonus from Vesk claws.

Am I correct in this?

So, can you kick/headbutt/threaten squares with your Armor Storm kicks, or does it require you to have a free hand to use at all?