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I just want to make sure I have the rules-as-written right on one point. (I don’t care to discuss RAI.) From my understanding of the rules as written, natural attacks can’t deal non-lethal damage (even with a -4 attack penalty). Is that right?
My reasoning to get to that conclusion is that (a) natural attacks are attacks made without weapons, (b) you can’t deal non-lethal damage unless that possibility is specifically called out, and (c) that possibility is never called out for attacks without weapons in general.
Notice that (b) can be used to generate the conclusion that ranged weapons also cannot deal non-lethal damage, because (d) the possibility of dealing non-lethal damage is never called out for ranged weapons too. Does that seem right too?
Anyway, I suspect this is an oversight for natural attacks (but probably not for ranged weapons?), but again I’m just interested in RAW at this point, not RAI.
If I’m wrong, maybe it’s because (b) is false, and something like its opposite is true:
(Anti-b) you can always deal non-lethal damage with no penalty unless that possibility is specifically restricted.
If (anti-b) is correct, then both natural attacks and ranged weapons can deal non-lethal damage with no penalty.
Which one is correct, or do the written rules fail to cover this issue? Thanks!
