Natural weapons and unarmed attacks

[Paul Barczik]

I'm looking at building a catfolk monk. At the moment, I'm looking at taking a couple of feats and alterate racial traits that will give him claw attacks at 1d6.

I'm wondering, considering they're natural attacks; where the line between something like claws (or any other natural weapon, for that matter) and the monk's unarmed abilities is. Can I increase my claws' damage as I go up in level like a basic monk's unarmed strike?

[Talynonyx]

No, because claws are not unarmed strikes.

[Paul Barczik]

That's what I figured. The definition of unarmed strikes is somewhat vague in the core book, though. It mentions you can make an unarmed strike while holding something, because a monk can use their entire body to attack (hands, feet, etc.) So, say I've got a creature with a tail and a tail slap ability. Technically, the tail is a natural weapon. At the same time, it's a part of that creature's body. So by the vague wording, it could be both, no?

[Nefreet]

Nope. It's a natural attack.

[Kazaan]

Also keep in mind that unless you take the Feral Combat Training feat, you can't use Claws as part of a Flurry of Blows. If you do take FCT for your Claws, then they are treated as a weapon with the Monk special meaning they are used as iterative attacks rather than natural attacks.

[gourry187]

Yes ... to an extent. You should still be able to take improved natural attack feat as well as things like rending claws which can increase overall claw damage. That being said, they will never reach the potential of monk unarmed.

I'm guessing you are taking claws 1d4 + catfolk exemplar sharp claws to get 1d6 damage. Add improved natural attack to get 1d8.