Saerileth's page

@Shinigami02: Thank you for explaining it with the weapon example, that makes total sense to me and you convinced me that this probably really is how natural weapons are supposed to work. This is the kind of response I was hoping for when posting here.

@KainPen: At no point ever did I say that I was halfing the dice. I merely pointed out that most claw attacks in the bestiary have about half the dice size of corresponding single bites (d3 vs. d6 in my example).

I'm probably reading way too much into this, but I'm a bit taken aback by how some of your responses make me look stupid for even asking such a thing. I did quite a lot of research on this particular question before posting, and people claiming you get both claw attacks come up more often than otherwise. And they are every bit as confident about it as you folks are. I'm not saying they're right (I already conceded to that), but this seems to indicate that it isn't such an obvious thing to everyone. Rules formulated in natural language are very rarely unambiguous, especially not in such a complex system. Also, rules can and often do contradict each other (it's just usually clear which ones take priority over the others).

I suspected as much, but the rules aren't as clear as they could be. The multiple attacks line you quote applies to characters - it does not state anywhere that the same is true for monsters.

Also, I'm wondering if the RAW are the RAI in this case, considering the fact that the doubled attacks usually have half the damage dice of the single ones (e.g. leopard: 1d6 bite, 1d3 claws). If you get two claw attacks on a standard action, it boils down to a decision of whether you'd rather have slightly more damage potential with two chances to miss (or hit, depending on your hit chance vs. enemy AC). If you have to choose a single attack, it's really a no-brainer to take the bite.

Hi all!

I'm starting a druid character designed around the Wild Shape ability, but I am very unclear about how natural weapons work. One question in particular:

When a creature has multiple natural attacks with the same name (e.g. "bite, 2 claws"), how many of those can it make as a standard action?

It's obvious that the creature can make all of its attacks as a full-round action. It's also clear that it must choose to either bite or claw on a standard action. But are the 2 claws treated as a single "type" of natural attack, simply rolled separately? Or does the player have to choose a single limb to claw with?

I have seen this issue pop up on a lot of different forums, and people seem very divided about it. I have seen about as many people claiming you get only 1 claw attack as people saying you get 2, and I can't find an official ruling that supports either. This is strange, because it doesn't just affect druids or other shapechangers - it makes a fundamental difference for the DM, since it applies to every monster with multiple attacks as well.