An animal companion gains Multiattack as a bonus feat if it has three or more natural attacks and does not already have that feat. If it does not have the requisite three or more natural attacks, the animal companion instead gains a second attack with one of its natural weapons, albeit at a –5 penalty.
If a creature has only one natural attack, it is always made using the creature's full base attack bonus and adds 1-1/2 times the creature's Strength bonus on damage rolls... If a creature has only one type of attack, but has multiple attacks per round, that attack is treated as a primary attack, regardless of its type.
Does this mean that when my animal companion (who has only one natural attack) gains the multiattack ability, his Strength bonus to damage loses the 1.5 multiplier?
I'm unclear on this, too, as this rule doesn't follow any of the standard conventions. Typically an animal with two of the same natural attacks (two claws, two slams) will make them at the same BAB. This rule simply says they get another attack with the same natural weapon.
I suspect that it still loses the 1.5x Strength bonus and gets the usual 1x on the first attack, and probably 0.5x on the second attack, but in some cases this may actually be a pretty bad trade.
Yes, it loses the 1.5x Str modifier once it gains its second attack. It's not clear if the second attack is a secondary weapon or not; I would probably rule that it isn't, so that both attacks would get 1x Str modifier to damage.
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No, it doesn't lose the 1.5x strength bonus.
The rule is referring to the number of attack TYPES not number of attacks.
A creature who only has a bite attack gets the bonus even if it can bite 100 times a round. A creature who has a Bite attack and a Claw/Slam/Wingslap/etc whoever does not get this bonus.
No, it doesn't lose the 1.5x strength bonus.
The rule is referring to the number of attack TYPES not number of attacks.
A creature who only has a bite attack gets the bonus even if it can bite 100 times a round. A creature who has a Bite attack and a Claw/Slam/Wingslap/etc whoever does not get this bonus.
For a counterexample, look at the difference between a Medium earth elemental (1 slam with +1.5x Str bonus) and a Large earth elemental (2 slams with +1x Str bonus).
No, it doesn't lose the 1.5x strength bonus.
The rule is referring to the number of attack TYPES not number of attacks.
A creature who only has a bite attack gets the bonus even if it can bite 100 times a round.
As much as I'd like to agree with you, the bit on natural attacks says "if a creature has only one natural attack," not only one natural weapon, or only one type of attack.
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For an example, look at the difference between a Medium earth elemental (1 slam with +1.5x Str bonus) and a Large earth elemental (2 slams with +1x Str bonus).No, it doesn't lose the 1.5x strength bonus.
The rule is referring to the number of attack TYPES not number of attacks.
A creature who only has a bite attack gets the bonus even if it can bite 100 times a round. A creature who has a Bite attack and a Claw/Slam/Wingslap/etc whoever does not get this bonus.
Right, it has 2 separate slam attacks so it loses the bonus. A creature who only has one attack type that it can use more than once keeps the 1.5x bonus.
Are you suggesting that this ability is more like Haste than another natural weapon attack? That's not my interpretation, but it's not impossible, I suppose.
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Not like haste, it's the ability that allows natural attack wielders function as iterative attacks. Once they get this feat they get a second attack at -5, exactly lie with manufactured weapons.
This addition was badly worded and the latest update from SKR has actually made it even more difficult to understand how it works.
It's hard to look at comparisons with other creatures with one or two natural attacks because the rule in question here does not follow typical natural attack conventions. There are no creatures in the bestiary which have two bites or two gores or two claws where one bite is primary and the other is secondary. Even the chimera, which has two entirely different bites, takes them at the same bonus.
So I think this is open to interpretation, and honestly I have no idea what the intention was. If anything, I get the impression that the original intention was just to hand out multiattack as a bonus feat, until someone pointed out that this would be somewhat unfair to animals that only have one or two natural attacks. And so this weird little rule was invented as an afterthought, and not properly fleshed out.