I came across this when I was building a Kata Master Monk. There is a Feat called Hamatulatsu that works as follows:
Hamatulatsu
You have mastered a deadly fighting form inspired by the hideous attacks of the barbed devil.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike).
Benefit: Your unarmed attacks can deal either bludgeoning or piercing damage. You decide which type of damage you deal whenever you attack a foe, but you may only choose one type at a time. If you critically hit a foe with your unarmed strike while doing piercing damage, the additional pain caused by the strike causes the foe to become sickened for 1 round (or staggered for 1 round if the target is already sickened). Multiple critical hits in a round against a single foe do not increase the duration of the sickened or staggered condition.
Special: Hamatulatsu may be selected as a substitute bonus feat at 6th level by a monk even if the monk does not otherwise meet the prerequisites. This fighting style is normally only taught to women of the Sisterhood of the Golden Erinyes.
Now, Since this causes your Unarmed Strikes to deal piercing damage, do they then count for Swashbuckler and Duelist abilities that require a piercing weapon? Feats like Slashing Grace and Dervish Dance are rather specific in this area, but this feat and others like Boar Ferocity and Snake Style which also allow unarmed strikes to deal piercing damage are not.
I... don't actually know. I want to say a piercing weapon is a weapon which does piercing damage natively. So a feat to allow you to alter the damage type doesn't alter the weapon's type... but I have nothing to back that up.
The term used in Swashbuckler, over and over, is "a light or one-handed piercing melee weapon". Elsewhere we see this "An unarmed strike is always considered a light weapon"; so far so good. I find no definition specifically for "piercing weapon" other than the grammatical expansion of the term to mean "a weapon that does piercing damage".
So... yes? I guess? There may be a FAQ of which I'm aware, but I think so? I don't like it, and wouldn't necessarily allow it in a game I was running, but that's not the same thing as RAW.
The other option I was considering is using an Emei Piercer, which states:
This weapon is used to augment unarmed martial techniques.
It consists of an 8- to 10-inch-long, dual-pointed steel spike
set on swivels and mounted on a ring, so that it can be spun
around at high speeds when slipped over the wielder’s ring
finger. The ring prevents the wielder from being disarmed and
turns unarmed strikes into piercing attacks.
Or a Cestus:
If you are proficient with a cestus, you can have your unarmed strikes deal bludgeoning or piercing damage. Monks are proficient with the cestus.
Since they are both a Monk weapon and a light weapons themselves that are piercing types.
This also brings up the Feat Weapon Versatility from the Undead Slayer's Handbook:
Weapon Versatility (Combat)
You can use your favored weapons in unconventional ways.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: When wielding a weapon with which you have Weapon Focus, you can shift your grip as a swift action so that your weapon deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage instead of the damage type normally dealt by that weapon. You may switch back to the weapon’s normal damage type or another damage type as a swift action. If your base attack bonus is +5 or higher, using this feat is a free action instead.
The way I read that, it basically means any light or one-handed weapon you have Weapon Focus with could be a piercing weapon. Though using a wooden club to deal piercing damage might be a little silly short of giving your foe splinters.
A piercing weapon is a weapon that does piercing damage. If you can change your US to do piercing damage, they are a piercing weapon.
So yeah. Besides, if you can overcome DR/piercing, there's no reason you shouldn't also be able to qualify for things that require you to be using a weapon that does piercing damage.
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An unarmed strike is a light bludgeoning weapon. Hamatulatsu, Snake Style, and Boar Ferocity make it a light piercing weapon. Light Piercing Weapons are eligible for any ability that requires a light or one handed piercing weapon, including all swashbuckler deeds.
This is both RAW, and intended.
Awesome, that's what I thought. I would still probably want to use Hamatulatsu in conjunction with a Cestus or Emei Piercer just because of the 19-20 crit range, but its nice to know I don't have to. Was interested in trying to play this Kata Master/Duelist mostly just because with Opportune Parry/Riposte, Parry, Riposte, Panther Parry and Snake Fang its going to be unfun to try and hit me :)