| 4 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
BACKGROUND: I came across a particular set of wording in the MotEH's section that struck me hard, while answering another, unrelated post in the Advice section involving this Archetype and Shuriken Flurry.
FAQ QUESTION: Are Natural Weapons considered "normal weapons" for the purpose of qualifying them as improvised light weapons for the Monk of the Empty Hand archetype's "Weapon and Armor Proficiency" class feature? If not, what is the official list of "normal weapons" that would qualify?
SPECIFIC SUPPORTING CONTEXT:
A monk of the empty hand treats normal weapons as improvised weapons with the following equivalencies (substituting all of their statistics for the listed weapon): a light weapon functions as a light hammer...
I don't think that anyone will argue that all Natural Weapons are considered "light weapons". So, could my Tengu Monk 1 use his claws and beak as light hammers and have them do 1d4 blunt damage apiece using this Archetype?
The only RAW reference I can find for "normal weapons" is under Masterwork. It is not referenced in the "improvised weapons" section.
A masterwork weapon is a finely crafted version of a normal weapon.
Was RAI for "normal weapons" in reference to this Archetype to mean anything that's not already an improvised weapon (for which natural weapons would qualify); or does it mean the weapons listed on the various rulebooks' weapons tables (for which natural weapons would not qualify) per the above precedent using Masterwork definition
Even Masterwork does not technically specify "normal weapons" as those listed on the weapons tables. That's simply a common sense, logical assumption on my part due to context.
If this FAQ is answered in the positive, it solves my natural/unarmed weaving with straight monk levels instead of having to dip in other classes to make it work by RAW. It may even give natural weapons an alternate way to be used with Flurry outside of Feral Combat Training.
If this FAQ is answered in the negative, I think we need clarification or a list of weapons that qualify as "normal weapons".
The logical take (and most of the rulings are illogical, captain) is that normal weapons are only in respect to "normal" weapon proficiencies. Natural Weapons (and Improved Unarmed Strikes) do not fall into this category since you are always proficient with your own natural weapons.
That said, marked as FAQ.
That's definitely an interesting way to look at it, thanks for the FAQ cosign.