Unarmed Fighter Style Feat Chain


Rules Questions


I'm making an Unarmed Fighter that is going to take Crane Style as a feat at first level. However, do I need to take Dodge before selecting Crane Wing?

The PRD isn't exactly clear as the feat table says the prereqs are:

PRD wrote:
Crane Style, base attack bonus +5, or monk level 5

But if I scroll down to the feat, it says the prereqs are:

PRD wrote:
Prerequisites: Crane Style, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +5 or monk level 5th.

So which is it?

Shadow Lodge

Well, Improved Unarmed Strike is a prerequisite for Crane Style and Crane Style is a prerequisite for Crane Wing so technically it doesn't need to be listed in Crane Wing.


anthonydido wrote:
Well, Improved Unarmed Strike is a prerequisite for Crane Style and Crane Style is a prerequisite for Crane Wing so technically it doesn't need to be listed in Crane Wing.

Sorry, to be more clear the reason this is an issue is because of this from Unarmed fighter:

PRD wrote:
Unarmed Style: At 1st level, a unarmed fighter gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat and any single style feat (see Chapter 3) as a bonus feat. The unarmed fighter need not meet all the prerequisites of the style feat he chooses, but style feats that grant additional uses of the Elemental Fist feat cannot be taken until the unarmed fighter has that feat. This ability replaces the bonus feat at 1st level.

Which means I won't already have Dodge, but Unarmed Fighter grants me Improved Unarmed Strike. I'm wondering if I have to pick up Dodge before getting Crane Wing or if I can skip Dodge all together.

Shadow Lodge

Ah, I see. I would lean towards the actual feat verbage over what is listed on the table. The table is supposed to be just a quick reference tool anyway. It's probably just an oversight on the table.

Or, being as how Crane Wing was fairly recently changed, they may have altered the feat description and forgot about the table.


Crane Wing is not a style feat itself. It's only a combat feat that enhances the Crane Style style feat. You can see this by comparing the two:

Crane Style (Combat, Style)
Crane Wing wrote:
Crane Wing (Combat)

Thus it doesn't matter what the prerequisites are, you can't take it as your 1st level bonus feat.

Shadow Lodge

He's not trying to take Crane Wing as the free style feat. He's wondering what the prereqs for Crane Wing are aside from Crane Style since he will have that already as the free feat. He is wanting to take Crane Wing as a regular feat choice.

At least that's what I gather from his description.


anthonydido wrote:

Ah, I see. I would lean towards the actual feat verbage over what is listed on the table. The table is supposed to be just a quick reference tool anyway. It's probably just an oversight on the table.

Or, being as how Crane Wing was fairly recently changed, they may have altered the feat description and forgot about the table.

Yeah, I was leaning towards that. I'm not even that interested in Crane Wing, but really just the -1 penalty for fighting defensively from Crane Riposte. If I have to pay the Dodge feat tax, plus Crane Wing I'll probably just pass this over.

And Bobson, I'd be taking Crane Style at first level. I'm wondering if at 5th level will I need to have Dodge to get Crane Wing.


anthonydido wrote:
He's not trying to take Crane Wing as the free style feat. He's wondering what the prereqs for Crane Wing are aside from Crane Style since he will have that already as the free feat. He is wanting to take Crane Wing as a regular feat choice.

Whoops, my bad. Sorry, Ssyvan.

In that case, anthonydido's right. The text (of the feat, spell, class ability) always takes precedence over the summary on the table, simply because it's more detailed.


Thanks everyone! I appreciate the quick responses!

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