If I have the tiger pounce style feat, pushing assault, power attack, and a two handed weapon in hand. Would this allow me to apply the penalty from PA to my AC with the weapon in hand?
I use my full BAB on ALL attacks and take a penalty to AC after I use power attack, because the penalty last until your next turn.
If I also have the pushing assault Feat and a two handed weapon. When I attack after the attack roll but before damage is dealt I can choose to push them 5ft back. If I crit I can push them 10 ft back. And still deal all of my weapon damage with the attack. Is this correct?
The regional trait snow stride. Would I be able to now trip and bulrush huge sized creatures? Would this work with pushing assault or because of the language in the feat "my size or smaller" still apply.
If I bulrush someone into a wall what happens?
If I also have greater bulrush would it provoke an AOO? From who? Can I hit them again?
Once I hit someone and bulrush can I use the swift action (tiger pounce) to move 1/2 my move speed back to someone I bull rushed last round? What if I already moved up to my movement speed that round? Can I still move?
Side question
Step up and strike if I use this feat is my immediate action/swift action still spent? It says " using this action dose not count toward the number of actions you can usually take each round."
Am I still able to use my still able to use my swift action?
If you have Tiger Pounce, you can choose not to have any penalty to your attack rolls, incurring it to your AC instead. It isn't limited to attacks with unarmed strikes, so using it with a two handed weapon and Pushing Assault is legal.
There is no penalty if your opponent hits the wall as part of their movement, either from bull rush or from Pushing Assault, they simply stop moving.
If you have Greater Bull Rush, your opponent provokes attacks of opportunity from others when you push them with a bull rush. You do not get to take an attack of opportunity, and this doesn't apply to the pushing from Pushing Assault.
Using the swift action to move works so long as you hit them with an unarmed strike or bull rush. (Again, note that Pushing Assault doesn't qualify.) This isn't a five-foot step, and doesn't limit your movement for the turn.
For Step Up and Strike, that one is still disputed. I do not think it was meant to let you ignore the immediate action though.
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If you have Tiger Pounce, you can choose not to have any penalty to your attack rolls, incurring it to your AC instead. It isn't limited to attacks with unarmed strikes, so using it with a two handed weapon and Pushing Assault is legal.
Considering the wording in it and the other two style feats, both mechanical and flavor, I'm going to disagree that Tiger Pounce can be use with something other than unarmed strikes.
I understand that it is a violation of flavor, but Tiger Pounce simply says "while using Tiger Style", and Tiger Style has an effect even when not using unarmed strikes.
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I understand that it is a violation of flavor, but Tiger Pounce simply says "while using Tiger Style", and Tiger Style has an effect even when not using unarmed strikes.
Fair point, but my interpretation is this would just too much against the spirit, intent, and the flavor text of the feats which call out unarmed strikes.
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No argument here on those points. I wouldn't personally allow it, either; it's clearly RAI a unarmed style.
I don't see the problem of it not working. Applying restrictions just because it has specific benefits for unarmed strikes, or is primarily intended to be used with unarmed strikes, doesn't mean the feat only works with unarmed strikes. You have to prove that the text specifies that the benefit applies solely to unarmed strikes in order to say that the feat only works with unarmed strikes. Let's take the base Tiger Style feat.
While using this style, you gain a +2 bonus to your CMD against bull rush, overrun, and trip maneuvers. You can also deal slashing damage with your unarmed strikes. Whenever you score a critical hit with your slashing unarmed strike, your opponent also takes 1d4 points of bleed damage at the start of his next two turns.
So, you can activate the feat as a Swift Action on Round 1 (or even a surprise round) of combat, and when you do, you gain +2 to bull rush, overrun, and trip maneuvers, flat out. It can be with unarmed strikes, it can be with a weapon that has special qualities, and so on, because there is no qualifier that says something along the lines of "with your unarmed strikes."
Of course, the benefit of transmuting your damage to slashing, or applying the bleed effect, only works with Unarmed Strikes (or Slashing Unarmed Strikes, respectively), as it possesses the restriction above. Thankfully, the OP isn't presuming that he gets those benefits, so he's golden there.
Next, we have Tiger Claws.
While you are using the Tiger Style feat and have both hands free, you can use a full-round action to make a single unarmed strike with both hands. Use your highest base attack bonus, rolling unarmed strike damage for each hand separately and multiplying both if you score a critical hit. If you use Power Attack in conjunction with this attack, increase your Strength bonus on one of the damage rolls by an additional one-half your Strength bonus. If you hit, you can attempt a bull rush maneuver with a +2 bonus on the combat maneuver check. This bull rush attempt provokes no attack of opportunity from your opponent, but you cannot move with that opponent if your bull rush is successful.
The text here is wholly restricted to unarmed strike usage, meaning if he tries to make use of this feat with anything except unarmed strikes, it won't work. Again, thankfully, he's not proposing he gets this stuff, so again, he's good.
Lastly, Tiger Pounce, which is what he is questioning about taking:
While using the Tiger Style feat, you can apply the penalty from Power Attack to your AC instead of attack rolls. Additionally, once per round as a swift action, you can move up to half your speed closer to a target you hit with an unarmed strike or made a successful combat maneuver against on this turn or your last turn.
The first sentence of the text only requires that the style feat is employed; as long as he has a Swift Action spent to activate the style, he gains the benefit of applying Power Attack penalties to AC instead of to-hit.
The second sentence has two qualifiers, and if either qualifier is met, the benefit applies. This means that, as long as he makes a successful combat maneuver (could be anything, such as Grapple, Bull Rush, Trip, Steal, Dirty Tricks, whatever he wants to employ as a combat maneuver), he qualifies for the benefit.
So the ideal that Style Feats MUST use Unarmed Strikes, no matter what, is bogus. Are they primarily used with Unarmed Strikes? Yes, as noted in the style feat general description, they're most commonly unarmed fighting styles. But are they a requirement? Only when the text says they are, since certain benefits apply regardless of when you're using unarmed strikes or not, meaning unarmed strikes being a requirement when several benefits of style feats would not otherwise apply to unarmed strikes, is false.
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And I disagree.
Your unarmed fighting style emulates the strength and ferocity of a tiger.Prerequisite: Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +3 or monk level 3rd.
Benefit: While using this style, you gain a +2 bonus to your CMD against bull rush, overrun, and trip maneuvers. You can also deal slashing damage with your unarmed strikes. Whenever you score a critical hit with your slashing unarmed strike, your opponent also takes 1d4 points of bleed damage at the start of his next two turns.
Normal: Unarmed strikes deal bludgeoning damage.
You can sacrifice multiple attacks to make a single devastating strike.Prerequisite: Improved Unarmed Strike, Tiger Style, base attack bonus +6 or monk level 5th.
Benefit: While you are using the Tiger Style feat and have both hands free, you can use a full-round action to make a single unarmed strike with both hands.
Use your highest base attack bonus, rolling unarmed strike damage for each hand separately and multiplying both if you score a critical hit.
If you use Power Attack in conjunction with this attack,
increase your Strength bonus on one of the damage rolls
by an additional one-half your Strength bonus.If you hit, you can attempt a bull rush maneuver with a +2 bonus on the combat maneuver check. This bull rush attempt provokes no attack of opportunity from your opponent, but you cannot move with that opponent if your bull rush is successful.
Your unarmed strikes are as precise as they are powerful, but they leave you open and you can pursue foes with blinding speed.Prerequisite: Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Tiger Claws, Tiger Style, base attack bonus +9 or monk level 8th.
Benefit: While using the Tiger Style feat, you can apply the penalty from Power Attack to your AC instead of attack rolls. Additionally, once per round as a swift action, you can move up to half your speed closer to a target you hit with an unarmed strike or made a successful combat maneuver against on this turn or your last turn.
When the majority of the abilties for the feats apply to Unarmed Strikes it is not an assumption that the other abilities must as well, that they can be used for other things must be called out, rather than assumed.
Tiger Style requires you to use US for the offensive abilities.
Tiger Claws requires you to US for the offensive abilities.
Tiger Pounce says when using Tiger Style, and nothing in Tiger Style or Tiger Claws says anything about using weapons other than US, so why would TP all of sudden apply to everything in contrast to its prerequisite feats?
Anyway, @ Arcanine (The Pokemon is strong with this one), to your questions.
1. As long as the Style Feat is activated before your attacks (AKA you spent a swift action to activate it during the surprise round or round 1 of combat, before your other actions), the penalty to attack would apply to your AC.
2. Yes, the damage you would deal with the attack that causes the knockback would apply, though as the trade off for Pushing Assault, you lose your Power Attack damage bonus. Keep in mind that when you do hit them and push them back, if they fall out of reach of your attacks, you would not be able to follow up with your remaining iteratives.
3. That's a GM FIAT call. Some GMs would rule that the force would knock them prone. Others would say that they'd take falling damage equal to the distance you effectively pushed them back (so if you got a really good check and pushed them an effective 20 feet, that's 2D6 falling damage). Some might do some other weird rules, it's tough to say; the rules don't necessarily give any guidance here, so always ask your GM as to how he would run it, and treat that as the rule you'd follow for that given table.
4. The Greater Bull Rush feat has your answer:
Whenever you bull rush an opponent, his movement provokes attacks of opportunity from all of your allies (but not you).
So, if the enemy's forced movement pushes him out from an ally's threatened square, the ally makes an attack of opportunity. The ally only gets one, as you only provoke once ever for movement (even if you take multiple move actions, or movements over the course of a round).
5. The extra movement from Tiger Pounce isn't restricted by whatever movement you may have committed to, in either the current round or the previous round, meaning you could, for example, take a move action and then a standard to Bull Rush (or simply perform the Charge action with a Bull Rush attempt), and then use a swift action (which can occur after your Bull Rush attempt, I might add,) to use the Tiger Pounce ability.
The only thing I'd be careful of is that if you activated Tiger Style and then tried to use the ability in the same round, you wouldn't be able to, as activating the Style Feat is a Swift Action, which you only get 1/round, and activating the Tiger Pounce movement is likewise a Swift Action.
6. Immediate Actions consume your next turn's Swift Action if you already spent a Swift Action and it hasn't become your turn again in the following round. So you could, for example, do the above combination in Point #5, and then if they tried to 5-foot away from you, you could, as an Immediate Action, follow them and take a free attack (but means you couldn't use a Swift Action the following turn).
Remember that Step Up and Strike only works if they take a 5-foot step directly away from your position. If they side-step your position, or are moved involuntarily from yourself, the conditions required for Step Up (and Strike) aren't met, meaning you couldn't use the effects of those feats.
@ Rysky: Flavor text is flavor text is flavor text. If the feat requires that you use unarmed strikes for everything, it'd say so in the description. It does, but only for certain things, and the ideal that you're presenting simply doesn't have the support. It is as I've said, that Style feats are primarily for those who focus in unarmed strikes but that doesn't exclude the use of other weapons, either.
That's why we have, for example, Pummeling Style, working exclusively with unarmed strikes, because the language of the feat description says it only works with unarmed strikes, and nothing else.
Again, if the assumption is that every Style feat uses unarmed strikes, then they did a very bang-up job to make that actually be the case, since as written, several Style feats, at best, require Improved Unarmed Strike, which is essentially as much of a feat tax as Combat Expertise if you aren't specialized in unarmed strikes.
**EDIT**
Tiger Style only affects unarmed strikes for the slashing damage transmutation, and the bleed damage effect. No such limitation is said for the combat maneuver stuff (which, by the way, you can't use Unarmed Strikes for Bull Rush or Overrun, meaning your ideal of that being solely applicable to unarmed strikes is debunked simply due to how those combat maneuvers function).
Tiger Claws are exclusive to unarmed strikes, but because the benefits listed only apply when performing an unarmed strike. Lacking that text, it could apply to any attack you make.
Tiger Pounce has both a flat benefit regardless of what attack you employ, and a dual qualifier benefit on top of it, and if either qualifier is met (which, by the way, several combat maneuvers cannot be executed with unarmed strikes, or any sort of weapon), then the benefit applies. The OP isn't proposing that he's meeting the qualification because he's performing unarmed strikes, he's meeting it by doing Bull Rushing, which is a combat maneuver, which cannot be performed with any weapon whatsoever (or maybe there's a Bull Rush weapon quality that I don't know about, but I know Unarmed Strikes don't have that).
**EDIT #2**
Capitalization consistency is hard...
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I actually put some stock into flavor text, rather then writing it off just because it doesn't have any + or - in it.
Tiger Style requires you to be using unarmed strikes. Tiger Claws requires you to be using unarmed strikes. Tiger Pounce requires you to use Tiger Style*, which requires you to use unarmed strikes.
There's nothing to suggest you can all of sudden you the ability with anything as opposed to the other feats.
*I'm also beginning to believe that was typo, and they meant to say Tiger Claws.
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**EDIT**
Tiger Style only affects unarmed strikes for the slashing damage transmutation, and the bleed damage effect. No such limitation is said for the combat maneuver stuff (which, by the way, you can't use Unarmed Strikes for Bull Rush or Overrun, meaning your ideal of that being solely applicable to unarmed strikes is debunked simply due to how those combat maneuvers function).
Tiger Claws are exclusive to unarmed strikes, but because the benefits listed only apply when performing an unarmed strike. Lacking that text, it could apply to any attack you make.
Tiger Pounce has both a flat benefit regardless of what attack you employ, and a dual qualifier benefit on top of it, and if either qualifier is met (which, by the way, several combat maneuvers cannot be executed with unarmed strikes, or any sort of weapon), then the benefit applies. The OP isn't proposing that he's meeting the qualification because he's performing unarmed strikes, he's meeting it by doing Bull Rushing, which is a combat maneuver, which cannot be performed with any weapon whatsoever (or maybe there's a Bull Rush weapon quality that I don't know about, but I know Unarmed Strikes don't have that).
**EDIT #2**
Capitalization consistency is hard..
Tiger Style gives you a bonus to CMD, not CMs.
I actually put some stock into flavor text, rather then writing it off just because it doesn't have any + or - in it.
Tiger Style requires you to be using unarmed strikes. Tiger Claws requires you to be using unarmed strikes. Tiger Pounce requires you to use Tiger Style*, which requires you to use unarmed strikes.
There's nothing to suggest you can all of sudden you the ability with anything as opposed to the other feats.
*I'm also beginning to believe that was typo, and they meant to say Tiger Claws.
I'm not writing it off because of it giving bonuses or penalties to a game term effect. I'm writing it off because there's nothing in the "benefit" section that says X or Y applies solely to unarmed strikes, as you're proposing. It says "While using the style feat, you get X or Y." That's it.
There's no text whatsoever in the sentence that says "with unarmed strikes." I mean, you have Tiger Style, and Tiger Pounce, which have sentences which mention "with unarmed strikes" and sentences that don't mention "with unarmed strikes." If the default assumption is "Style Feats = Unarmed Only", then there is no need to mention "with unarmed strikes" in any of the Style feats sentences, because the general description of Style Feats would say something along the lines of "Style Feats benefit solely unarmed strikes," meaning redundant statements are redundant.
But it doesn't say that, does it?
In fact, you have Tiger Style, which benefits more than simply effects with unarmed strikes, it benefits combat maneuvers too, several of which cannot employ any weapons whatsoever, such as Grapple, Bull Rush, Overrun, Steal...all of these types of maneuvers, which cannot benefit or be used with weapons (at least, unless they have special weapon qualities, which Unarmed Strikes don't have), receive benefits from style feats.
Explain that one to me.
Tiger Style gives you a bonus to CMD, not CMs.**EDIT**
Tiger Style only affects unarmed strikes for the slashing damage transmutation, and the bleed damage effect. No such limitation is said for the combat maneuver stuff (which, by the way, you can't use Unarmed Strikes for Bull Rush or Overrun, meaning your ideal of that being solely applicable to unarmed strikes is debunked simply due to how those combat maneuvers function).
Tiger Claws are exclusive to unarmed strikes, but because the benefits listed only apply when performing an unarmed strike. Lacking that text, it could apply to any attack you make.
Tiger Pounce has both a flat benefit regardless of what attack you employ, and a dual qualifier benefit on top of it, and if either qualifier is met (which, by the way, several combat maneuvers cannot be executed with unarmed strikes, or any sort of weapon), then the benefit applies. The OP isn't proposing that he's meeting the qualification because he's performing unarmed strikes, he's meeting it by doing Bull Rushing, which is a combat maneuver, which cannot be performed with any weapon whatsoever (or maybe there's a Bull Rush weapon quality that I don't know about, but I know Unarmed Strikes don't have that).
**EDIT #2**
Capitalization consistency is hard..
Fair point. Still doesn't change the factor that Unarmed Strikes have nothing to do with it.
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Tiger Style does not benefit Combat Maneuvers, it gives you a bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense.
The first two feats set the groundwork, which is why they call it out, the third one doesn't need to. It says when you use Tiger Style, which requires you to use US, you get these benefits.
Positing that Tiger Pounce works with everything instead of only US simple because it refers back to Tiger Style is just spurious.
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Fair point. Still doesn't change the factor that Unarmed Strikes have nothing to do with it.Tiger Style gives you a bonus to CMD, not CMs.**EDIT**
Tiger Style only affects unarmed strikes for the slashing damage transmutation, and the bleed damage effect. No such limitation is said for the combat maneuver stuff (which, by the way, you can't use Unarmed Strikes for Bull Rush or Overrun, meaning your ideal of that being solely applicable to unarmed strikes is debunked simply due to how those combat maneuvers function).
Tiger Claws are exclusive to unarmed strikes, but because the benefits listed only apply when performing an unarmed strike. Lacking that text, it could apply to any attack you make.
Tiger Pounce has both a flat benefit regardless of what attack you employ, and a dual qualifier benefit on top of it, and if either qualifier is met (which, by the way, several combat maneuvers cannot be executed with unarmed strikes, or any sort of weapon), then the benefit applies. The OP isn't proposing that he's meeting the qualification because he's performing unarmed strikes, he's meeting it by doing Bull Rushing, which is a combat maneuver, which cannot be performed with any weapon whatsoever (or maybe there's a Bull Rush weapon quality that I don't know about, but I know Unarmed Strikes don't have that).
**EDIT #2**
Capitalization consistency is hard..
Saying that TP should work with everything since TS gives you a bonus to CMD is also completely spurious.
Tiger Style does not benefit Combat Maneuvers, it gives you a bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense.
The first two feats set the groundwork, which is why they call it out, the third one doesn't need to. It says when you use Tiger Style, which requires you to use US, you get these benefits.
Positing that Tiger Pounce works with everything instead of only US simple because it refers back to Tiger Style is just spurious.
Not every benefit says it's reliant on unarmed strike usage, and there's no generic clause or asterisk that says "only with unarmed strikes." So again, you're applying a restriction that you want to have exist, but isn't actually there.
After all, you posited the point that "Style Feats only apply for unarmed combat," so it's up to you to prove that point. All you've proven so far is that certain aspects of Style Feats require the use of unarmed strikes. I never claimed that wasn't the case, several abilities alter or require the use of unarmed strikes. I simply said that the style feats themselves aren't exclusive to unarmed combat, meaning the concept of all style feats being exclusive to unarmed combat is a misnomer, especially when the text doesn't nothing to support it outside of flavor, which can easily be misconstrued or even not remotely apply.
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Your unarmed fighting style emulates the strength and ferocity of a tiger.Prerequisite: Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +3 or monk level 3rd.
Benefit: While using this style, you gain a +2 bonus to your CMD against bull rush, overrun, and trip maneuvers. You can also deal slashing damage with your unarmed strikes. Whenever you score a critical hit with your slashing unarmed strike, your opponent also takes 1d4 points of bleed damage at the start of his next two turns.
Normal: Unarmed strikes deal bludgeoning damage.
You can sacrifice multiple attacks to make a single devastating strike.Prerequisite: Improved Unarmed Strike, Tiger Style, base attack bonus +6 or monk level 5th.
Benefit: While you are using the Tiger Style feat and have both hands free, you can use a full-round action to make a single unarmed strike with both hands.
Use your highest base attack bonus, rolling unarmed strike damage for each hand separately and multiplying both if you score a critical hit.
If you use Power Attack in conjunction with this attack,
increase your Strength bonus on one of the damage rolls
by an additional one-half your Strength bonus.If you hit, you can attempt a bull rush maneuver with a +2 bonus on the combat maneuver check. This bull rush attempt provokes no attack of opportunity from your opponent, but you cannot move with that opponent if your bull rush is successful.
Your unarmed strikes are as precise as they are powerful, but they leave you open and you can pursue foes with blinding speed.Prerequisite: Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Tiger Claws, Tiger Style, base attack bonus +9 or monk level 8th.
Benefit: While using the Tiger Style feat, you can apply the penalty from Power Attack to your AC instead of attack rolls. Additionally, once per round as a swift action, you can move up to half your speed closer to a target you hit with an unarmed strike or made a successful combat maneuver against on this turn or your last turn.
Nothing in the feats themselves say they can be used with anything other than unarmed strikes, in fact they explicitly state "unarmed strike". If you want to use them for things other than US you'll need to provide proof of that, not the other way around.
Saying that TP should work with everything since TS gives you a bonus to CMD is also completely spurious.Fair point. Still doesn't change the factor that Unarmed Strikes have nothing to do with it.Tiger Style gives you a bonus to CMD, not CMs.**EDIT**
Tiger Style only affects unarmed strikes for the slashing damage transmutation, and the bleed damage effect. No such limitation is said for the combat maneuver stuff (which, by the way, you can't use Unarmed Strikes for Bull Rush or Overrun, meaning your ideal of that being solely applicable to unarmed strikes is debunked simply due to how those combat maneuvers function).
Tiger Claws are exclusive to unarmed strikes, but because the benefits listed only apply when performing an unarmed strike. Lacking that text, it could apply to any attack you make.
Tiger Pounce has both a flat benefit regardless of what attack you employ, and a dual qualifier benefit on top of it, and if either qualifier is met (which, by the way, several combat maneuvers cannot be executed with unarmed strikes, or any sort of weapon), then the benefit applies. The OP isn't proposing that he's meeting the qualification because he's performing unarmed strikes, he's meeting it by doing Bull Rushing, which is a combat maneuver, which cannot be performed with any weapon whatsoever (or maybe there's a Bull Rush weapon quality that I don't know about, but I know Unarmed Strikes don't have that).
**EDIT #2**
Capitalization consistency is hard..
The Power Attack clause of Tiger Pounce doesn't have the "with unarmed strikes" restriction that you're proposing it has. It has "When using Tiger Style." So, how do you "use" a style? Let's look at the general description. It says:
As a swift action, you can enter the stance employed by the fighting style a style feat embodies. Although you cannot use a style feat before combat begins, the style you are in persists until you spend a swift action to switch to a different combat style. You can use a feat that has a style feat as a prerequisite only while in the stance of the associated style. For example, if you have feats associated with Mantis Style and Tiger Style, you can use a swift action to adopt Tiger Style at the start of one turn, and then can use other feats that have Tiger Style as a prerequisite. By using another swift action at the start of your next turn, you could adopt Mantis Style and use other feats that have Mantis Style as a prerequisite.
So, it says that in order to use the benefits of related Style Feats (such as Tiger Pounce), you must be in the proper style to use them, which means you must spend a Swift Action to employ Tiger Style to use Tiger Pounce. That's it. Do you see unarmed strikes or unarmed combat anywhere in that description? No. It's not there, in any relation to using a style feat, meaning you're applying a restriction that simply is not there.
This isn't the Defending weapon property, where you have to attack with the weapon to receive its benefits, in the same vein that in order to use the Tiger Style or any other Tiger-related feats, you have to use unarmed strikes.
As long as the style feat is activated (which requires spending a swift action), you're using the style, which means you can employ the effects of the related Style feats. Them's the breaks. That's what the rules are telling us, and gives us a concise example.
Not liking the rule doesn't mean it is no longer the rule.
I don't like how Crane Style currently functions, because I thought it was just fine before, and the same goes for other rule aspects, such as the Jingasa, but that doesn't mean I won't acknowledge the current iterations as being the actual rules.
The same applies here. Should the style feats be solely for unarmed combat? Probably. The description regarding Style Feats as a whole gives that impression.
But as written, they aren't solely for unarmed combat unless the feat descriptions (read: benefits and/or special sections) say so, as there is no catch-all for style feats in place. At best, you can say that certain options only apply to unarmed combat, which they do, and I acknowledge that; however, in the instances where there is no specification listed, stating that it's solely meant for unarmed strikes is merely speculation supported by an ideal that may or may not be there.
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Everyone is allowed to disagree and agree. However, the true answer to this question is very fast. I crack myself up sometimes. But the technical answer is yes, and the flavor answer is no. Both answers are correct. Just depends on your DM. Like if your DM only used the short blurbs for spells, and they said your animate dead creates undead out of nothing. That's a flavor trumps mechanics moment.
Flavor text is flavor text is flavor textDo you have a rules citation to back that up?
It'd most likely be best represented under the Feat Descriptions section, since we are talking about Feats, after all. The most prevalent one is this:
Benefit: What the feat enables the character ("you" in the feat description) to do. If a character has the same feat more than once, its benefits do not stack unless indicated otherwise in the description.
Based on the rules text there, the "Benefit" section of the feat would apply in relation to what the character can accomplish, meaning the precursor text (AKA, what I call "flavor text"), which isn't under this formatting, doesn't serve as telling what the feat enables you to do.
Of course, I'm not saying it's the sole aspect that governs what the feat does for your character, there are other aspects, such as the "Normal" section, the "Special" section, and the "Pre-Requisites" section, which further tells us about the aspects of the feat; however, in some feats, those sections are absent, meaning their reliability of telling us how a feat works isn't as stable as the main header description I cited.
Unfortunately, since the flavor text of "Your unarmed fighting style emulates the strength and ferocity of a tiger," for example, falls under none of those headers, it doesn't particularly serve as a means to (properly) describe what the feat enables us, as a character, to do, which is what we're arguing about (whether the feat allows us to apply its benefits to weapons other than unarmed strikes).
@ Rysky: Perhaps it is. As I've said, it's possible that style feats are meant solely for unarmed combat, as you claim. But as they're currently written, it does nothing to adhere to that interpretation except for where it says it does (which I do acknowledge in my own claim).
So by all means, if you feel the text should better reflect the intent of "unarmed combat only," make a FAQ thread, and we'll see if the PDT feels the same way (in that the current rules iteration of style feats poorly represents the unarmed combat concept, and should be errata'd to better reflect it).
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I was aiming for "Depends on your DM" to mean whether or not they lean into flavor or not at all. Like if you brought up that unarmed styles can only be used with unarmed attacks, and the DM pointed out (And the DM was mechanics, mechanics only) that it doesn't in fact say that in the benefits section ergo doesn't exist as a probable answer.
Then there's the flavor DM, who, when you ask him about the feat, will look at the flavor text, "Well obviously, it emulates the strength of a tiger. What's a tiger's strength? How ferocious is a tiger?" Both are easily answered questions. The strength of a tiger is 23, so naturally, anyone using this feat will have their strength increased or decreased to 23.
And not only that, but he'll look at the tiger's flavor text too.
"Tigers are usually the top animal predators in their territories, and have been known to kill bears, crocodiles, giant snakes, wolves, and even other great cats. Even humanoids are far from safe, especially in cases where a tiger has developed a taste for humanoid flesh. Tigers prefer terrain with plenty of cover and proximity to water as their hunting grounds."
So he might give the Tiger Style user Favored Enemy bears, crocodiles, giant snakes, wolves, and great cats. And Favored Terrain Near Water.
Most DMs are a blend of both, thankfully.
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When you bring up one part of the flavor text, you must consider -all- of the flavor text. My points are valid, I would never speak just to entertain myself.
"Your unarmed fighting style emulates the strength and ferocity of a tiger." In the same words, but different, your unarmed fighting style matches or surpasses the strength of a tiger. You argue because it says unarmed, that you must not be wielding a weapon. I argue that because it says I emulate the strength of a tiger, that my strength matches the tiger's.
We are both arguing for the flavor text to be true, even though the feat benefits say nothing about either.
"Benefit: While using this style, you gain a +2 bonus to your CMD against bull rush, overrun, and trip maneuvers. You can also deal slashing damage with your unarmed strikes. Whenever you score a critical hit with your slashing unarmed strike, your opponent also takes 1d4 points of bleed damage at the start of his next two turns."
It doesn't really benefit CMB use, but it also has nothing to do with tigers or using unarmed strikes only. It only benefits unarmed strikes and the guy's CMD, but that's it.
The Tiger Pounce seems to be very straight forward. As long as you use the Tiger Style feat, its benefits apply to the character. As long as a character has the required feats, and uses the style, then they can power attack all day long and move and stuff.
"Benefit: While using the Tiger Style feat, you can apply the penalty from Power Attack to your AC instead of attack rolls. Additionally, once per round as a swift action, you can move up to half your speed closer to a target you hit with an unarmed strike or made a successful combat maneuver against on this turn or your last turn."