Natural Attacks


Rules Questions


I am not sure I understand the rules on Natural Attacks.

Pg 17 of the Bestiary shows the Ape has 2 slams +3. Does this mean that he can attack twice in his turn both at +3? Is this a Full Round action to use both attacks in the same turn?

Pg 51 shows the Crocodile with +5 bite and +0 tail slap. Are these pluses if the Croc uses both in the same turn or do the modifiers change? Also I suspect this is another Full Round action to do both attacks in the same turn...correct?

Sovereign Court

As i read it, if a creature has 2 claw attacks a bite and a tail slap, if it does a full attack actions it can do all of these attacks at the attack bonus that is written in the stat block. On the other hand, if the creature wants to attack with a single natural attack, it still uses the same attack bonus that is written in the stat block.


Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

The reason that the croc's tail slap is listed at +0 is because tail slap is a secondary attack, this means that in a full attack action secondary attacks take a -5 to hit. So the bite (as well as claw/slam/sting) is a primary attack at +5 and any secondary attack like tail slap (as well as wing attack) is at +0. If the croc only takes a standard action attack they they only attack with bite at +5.


Any creature (barring special abilities that say otherwise) must make a full-round action to make a full-attack to use more than one attack.

In the case of the Crocodile, he has a bite (primary) attack at +5, and a tail-slap (secondary) at 5 less than the primary attack (total of +0). If for some reason as GM you wanted him to use the secondary attack only during an encounter (for descriptive reasons, say, or if he was making an AoO against an opponent while his mouth was tied shut) you would use the full +5 attack modifier.

The ape, on the other hand, has two slam attacks (both primary) for +3 each. He still only uses one after a move action, but uses both on a full attack.

Note that they do not get additional attacks for high BAB, as seen on critters like the T-Rex.


Purplefixer wrote:

Any creature (barring special abilities that say otherwise) must make a full-round action to make a full-attack to use more than one attack.

In the case of the Crocodile, he has a bite (primary) attack at +5, and a tail-slap (secondary) at 5 less than the primary attack (total of +0). If for some reason as GM you wanted him to use the secondary attack only during an encounter (for descriptive reasons, say, or if he was making an AoO against an opponent while his mouth was tied shut) you would use the full +5 attack modifier.

The ape, on the other hand, has two slam attacks (both primary) for +3 each. He still only uses one after a move action, but uses both on a full attack.

Note that they do not get additional attacks for high BAB, as seen on critters like the T-Rex.

Actually, secondary attacks always take the -5 penalty, even if they're the only attack made. Consider the Horse's Docile ability - it makes their hooves secondary attacks unless they're trained for combat. But since they only have hooves to attack with, under your logic they'd get promoted back up to the same bonus as a primary attack, making training them for war irrelevant.

Everything else you said I agree with.

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