I'm thinking about making a Suli unchained monk (Scaled Fist archetype from the new Legacy of Dragons book). The archetype adds the Dragon Style chain (Dragon Style/Ferocity/Roar) to the list of monk bonus feats. But I'm unclear about what happens if I take Dragon Ferocity as my level 6 bonus feat. Aside from its usual effects (increased STR bonus & shaken enemies), the DFerocity feat allows me to take the Elemental Fist feat. But that feat specifically references using Elemental Strike. Does that mean that Elemental Fist does nothing if you don't have Elemental Strike? Further, Elemental Strike is a race-limited feat, so even if I want to spend a feat on it I'm not eligible. A) Any insight on how this is all supposed to work?
B) Also, am I correct in thinking that if it does work, it will still only apply to one attack/round, not to all unarmed strikes?
Dragon Ferocity:
Prerequisites: Str 15, Improved Unarmed Strike, Dragon Style, Stunning Fist, Acrobatics 5 ranks.
Benefit: While using Dragon Style, increase your Strength bonus on unarmed strike damage rolls by an additional one-half your Strength bonus, to a total of double your Strength bonus on the first attack and 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus on the other attacks. When you score a critical hit or a successful Stunning Fist attempt against an opponent while using this style, that opponent is also shaken for a number of rounds equal to 1d4 + your Strength bonus.
Special: Taking this feat allows you to qualify for the Elemental Fist feat even if you do not meet that feat’s prerequisites. If you do not meet that feat’s prerequisites, you must choose one of the damage types that feat offers, and you can use only that damage type with your Elemental Fist attacks until you meet the feat’s normal prerequisites. A monk with this feat can use Elemental Fist as if he were a monk of the four winds.
Elemental Fist:
Prerequisites: Con 13, Wis 13, Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +8.
Benefit: When you use Elemental Strike pick one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. On a successful hit, the attack deals damage normally plus 1d6 points of damage of the chosen type. You must declare that you are using this feat before you make your attack roll (thus a failed attack roll ruins the attempt). You may attempt an Elemental Fist attack once per day for every four levels you have attained (see Special), and no more than once per round.
Special: A monk of the four winds receives Elemental Fist as a bonus feat at 1st level, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. A monk may attempt an Elemental Fist attack a number of times per day equal to his monk level, plus one more time per day for every four levels he has in classes other than monk.
Elemental Strike:
Prerequisite(s): Ifrit, oread, sylph, or undine.
Benefit(s): As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with elemental energy. For 1 round, your weapons deal an additional 1 point of energy damage. The type of energy damage depends on your race: acid for oread, electricity for sylph, fire for ifrit, or cold for undine. For every 5 levels you possess, this bonus increases by 1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
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Elemental Fist refers to itself as 'elemental strike' in its text, which was a typo they never fixed. When the text for Elemental Fist says 'elemental strike', just read Elemental Fist. It has absolutely no link to the racial feature of that name, and was created before it.
As to how it functions, you invoke it once per round to add the damage to one attack, regardless of the type of attack. It's potentially very powerful with Shaitan Style/Skin.
One interesting combo for a weapon-using Unchained Monk is to take Shaitan Style and Combat Style Master; with those, you can invoke Dragon Style/Ferocity unarmed bonus on your style strike, and then free-switch style to drop a Shaitan Style Elemental Fist strike with your weapon in two hands.