I remember this being omitted from 3.5 edition as well. I think someone at my gaming table once told me that an unarmed attack, is a form of a natural attack, and that natural attacks do all 3 types of damage (bashing/piercing/slashing).
I'm still not sure what the official rule is, but if Paizo's clarification on this could be included under the Unarmed Attack section on page 134, I would be most appreciative.
an unarmed strike is NOT a natural attack, the mechanism for both work quite differently. an unarmed strike deals non-lethal bludgeoning damage, unless you have the improved unarmed strike feat in which case you can choose to deal lethal damage.
A natural attack can be any of those three damage types depending on the type of natural attack, a claw is slashing while a gore attack is piercing, a bite is both slashing and piercing, while a slam or hoof attack is bludgeoning.
I remember this being omitted from 3.5 edition as well. I think someone at my gaming table once told me that an unarmed attack, is a form of a natural attack, and that natural attacks do all 3 types of damage (bashing/piercing/slashing).
I'm still not sure what the official rule is, but if Paizo's clarification on this could be included under the Unarmed Attack section on page 134, I would be most appreciative.
It wasn't omitted so much as it wasn't where you might expect to find it and the rules were spread out. Whoever told you that was incorrect, the rules (if you look at the feat, the unarmed weapon entry, the monks unarmed strike entry and probably the monster manual under natural weapons) state that an "unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons." Now a strict reading of the rules in the SRD, only grant that to monks (where it is stated) but I think that WotC did an article saying that it applied across the board. That is the only thing I think Paizo would need to clear up, if a fighter takes the feat does he get the same benefits that a monk would. If so, it is a simple editing fix. Move the information from the monk entry to the feat.
an unarmed strike is NOT a natural attack, the mechanism for both work quite differently. an unarmed strike deals non-lethal bludgeoning damage, unless you have the improved unarmed strike feat in which case you can choose to deal lethal damage.
True and true. Also there were feats that allowed a character to inflict some other types of damage when making unarmed strikes so there were exceptions.
A natural attack can be any of those three damage types depending on the type of natural attack, a claw is slashing while a gore attack is piercing, a bite is both slashing and piercing, while a slam or hoof attack is bludgeoning.
False, true, false, true on the types of damage.
From the SRD:
Natural weapons have types just as other weapons do. The most common are summarized below.
Bite
The creature attacks with its mouth, dealing piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage.
Claw or Talon
The creature rips with a sharp appendage, dealing piercing and slashing damage.
Gore
The creature spears the opponent with an antler, horn, or similar appendage, dealing piercing damage.
Slap or Slam
The creature batters opponents with an appendage, dealing bludgeoning damage.
Sting
The creature stabs with a stinger, dealing piercing damage. Sting attacks usually deal damage from poison in addition to hit point damage.
Tentacle
The creature flails at opponents with a powerful tentacle, dealing bludgeoning (and sometimes slashing) damage.
Correct. The best place to find the type of damage an unarmed strike does is to simply look at the list of weapons; unarmed strike is listed under the category "Unarmed Attacks" in Simple Weapons, and does bludgeoning damage.
Hrmm... okay... so you went and hid that in the Weapons listing. I'm now looking at my 3.5 PHB, and I notice its also listed there. Hrmm... well I guess after 10 years of playing the game, there are still a few things I don't know :)
Thanks all for the clarifications on unarmed strike vs. natural attacks.