Catfolk Monk character

[King_Namazu]

so one of my players wants to be a catfolk monk and use his claws, I had read feral combat training before it got edited so I allowed him to use his claws with monk unarmed damage. I don't want to ruin his build before he gets a chance to use it but at the same time I can't comprehend what the benefit of this feat is considering monk unarmed damaged is higher than claw damage even at 1st level and even with heavy investment they would never be as good as fists so I really can't figure out why anyone would use them over fists when playing a monk. some build suggestions and general advice on how feral combat training should be used would be appreciated.

[Imbicatus]

Feral combat training is best used when not making a flurry of blows. So if you go with master of many styles, you can have your extra claw attacks trigger jabbing style exra damage or dragon style 1.5 damage.

[King_Namazu]

Still doing that with fists is 3x more effective

[graystone]

First, a benefit of claws is that he can use claw blades. You can use special materials and enchant them so that's a plus. This makes it a viable alternative to unarmed. You could even have different enchants for right and left set of claws.

He could also take the Adherent of Ancient Osirion trait: you treat "tekko-kagi as if it were a set of claw blades". so it would give him a physical weapon that is treated as a claw attack.

[nicholas storm]

From blood of the beast, the FCB can add to claw damage and will prevent needing FCT.

Monk: Add 1/2 to the monk’s damage rolls with claw
attacks and claw blades. A monk who selects this bonus
at 1st level also treats claw blades as a monk weapon. If
he is an unchained monk, he can use his style strikes with
unarmed strike or claw blade attacks.

[graystone]

nicholas storm wrote:

From blood of the beast, the FCB can add to claw damage and will prevent needing FCT.

Monk: Add 1/2 to the monk’s damage rolls with claw
attacks and claw blades. A monk who selects this bonus
at 1st level also treats claw blades as a monk weapon. If
he is an unchained monk, he can use his style strikes with
unarmed strike or claw blade attacks.

Thank you! I was just looking for that. I was thinking there was something like that. The important part there is that it allows claw blades to be used with style strikes. No need to kick, headbutt, ect and can instead claw with all of them.

EDIT: There is also the Scaled Fist archetype for monks that use Cha instead if Wis so it'd be a much better fit than the ordinary monk for a catfolk.

[toastedamphibian]

Build Advice: Be a Brawler. Get GM to rule that Claw Blades are close weapons. Profit.

[King_Namazu]

Ok I see, so basically the main benefit of using monk weapons over fist is magic weapons, would someone tell me what FCB stands for?

[King_Namazu]

As well as do claw blades still count as natural attacks? I know back when people still added monk unarmed damage to natural attacks with FCT that it wouldn't work with claw blades as they are weapons

[Saldiven]

King_Namazu wrote:

Ok I see, so basically the main benefit of using monk weapons over fist is magic weapons, would someone tell me what FCB stands for?

Favored Class Bonus.

[King_Namazu]

Mkay I see, I'm not using unchained rules so he'd still need feral combat training to use dragon style and dragon ferocity as well as his other feats thst effect his unsrmed attacks

[toastedamphibian]

Correct. Also, no, claw blades do not count as natural weapons. They still count as "Claws" so anything dealing specifically with claws still tends to work, but things that require "Natural Weapons" (AKA FCT) will not. Or maybe it would, depending on the order you stack the effects. Your the DM, it's arguably workable, and won't break anything.

Edit: The part about unchained monks is referring to the class feature they receive, "Style Strikes", not combat style feats. You would need Feral Combat Training to use Dragon Ferocity either way.

Ascetic style gives a similar option. Take Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike), Ascetic Style (Unarmed Strike), and the Favored Class Bonus at first level. At 5th level, Ascetic Style will apply to all "Monk" weapons, and the FCB makes the claws a Monk Weapon, so he can apply all feats that affect his Unarmed Strikes to his claws. Including Weapon Focus.

[Derklord]

King_Namazu wrote:

I'm not using unchained rules

Why not? Unless the Monk in question has the Nimble Guardian or a different specific archetype like Master of Many Styles, you should.

[serithal]

and with the catfolk exemplar feat you can increase the claws base damage from 1d4 to 1d6 so even at level one you are still doing the same max damage as a monks unarmed strikes and a higher average with the FCB until level 16 where your max damage is only 2 lower but still a higher average

[Derklord]

A feat for a mere +1 average damage increase is really not worth it.