Hi, I want to make a spiritualist whose phantom is a martial artist. Looking through the feats, the only effective style that a phantom (given their static unchangable stats) would qualify for would be Scorpion style.
However,
Under the description for a phantom, it says their attacks are always considered slams, even if they appear to be armed.
Does this mean that even if it takes the "Improved Unarmed Strikes" feat, its attacks are NOT "unarmed Strikes" and thus cannot trigger things like Scorpion Strike, Gorgon Strike, Medusa's wrath, etc?
Often, an individual phantom manifests in a form that makes it appear as if it had weapons or other natural attacks. Regardless of their apparent forms, the phantom’s attacks still deal the slam attack damage listed
I think you are reading to much into this , it just a fluff line.
You can make your phantom appear to be using pretty much anything to atk , in the end it will always be using just slam natural atks.
Even assuming your GM doesnt accept that , you can just make the phantom actually hit with its bare hands , nothing changes anyway , it will be 2 slam natural atks.
That wasn't quite the OP's question.
It seems the spirit has to use slam attacks, and therefore cannot benefit from those kinds of feats. I could be wrong though, as I'm not super familiar with the occult classes yet.
the spirit can use Unarmed strikes.
The line says it can look like it's wielding a greatsword, but when it attacks with it's greatswords it's actually a slam attack. But an Unarmed strike is different from it's normal attacks.
Chess Pwn, I believe unarmed strikes are different from slam attacks, although I do admit that this is a weak point in my knowledge of the rules.
That is what I said.
The spirit can look like whatever you want, but regardless of what it looks like it has 2 slam attacks. You could have it look like a little dragon and use a slam attack that looks like the dragon is biting them.
Unarmed attacks can be "added" or done by any creature and isn't listed unless it's the primary form of attacks.
Ah yes i agree , he cant perform unarmed strikes since all he got are slam natural atks.
I assume the OP will go for Feral Combat Training to use the style feats.
ALL creatures can use Unarmed strikes. Tigers, bears, dragons, demons, eagles, turtles, etc. Every creature can do unarmed attacks. For most it would provoke and do non-lethal damage. But they can do them.
Ah yes i agree , he cant perform unarmed strikes since all he got are slam natural atks.
I assume the OP will go for Feral Combat Training to use the style feats.
OK, so my Phantom will need to take:
Improved Unarmed Strike (Useless until later)
Weapon Focus ("Natural Slam attacks") (+1 to hit)
Feral combat training (Does nothing until he gets...)
Scorpion Style (enemies hit slowed to 5 feet)- Finally, IUS and FCT do something.
So until 9th level, the phantom gains nothing but a +1 to hit. Is that a correct interpretation?
Yes, and even if you did do this plan, at ninth level when you finally use Scorpion Style, you halve the number of attacks you can make, and a phantom has a low wisdom core, so the DC will be pathetically low.
This is a bad plan.
How would it halve its attacks? it would still get two, like all phantoms. The feats change the NATURE of its attacks, not the number. I don't see any way to increase that number beyond 2 or decrease it to 1...
(Ah, OK, using SS requires it to make a single attack...well guess a martial artist phantom is completely undoable, since styles won't work.)
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(Ah, OK, using SS requires it to make a single attack...well guess a martial artist phantom is completely undoable, since styles won't work.)
Well, you can easily have a phantom that looks like a martial artist and uses "unarmed strikes" as it's slams. Also, not all style feats require the use of unarmed strikes. Crane Style in particular would work with slams and is very thematic.