Here's what this feat says. But the description seems to be contrary to the Benefit description. How does bludgeoning "rip your foes open"?
"Your sharp teeth and nails rip your foes open.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Intimidate 3 ranks.
Benefit: You can deal bludgeoning damage or slashing damage with your unarmed strikes—changing damage type is a free action. While using this style, once per round when you hit a single foe with two or more unarmed strikes, you can tear flesh. When you do, you deal 2d6 extra points of damage with the attack."
Additionally, the lead in to this feat tree says the following:
"Boar Style: A tribe of orcs who disdained the use of weapons originally developed this savage unarmed fighting style. They preferred to slaughter their enemies with their bare hands and teeth. Over the centuries, a variety of races have adopted the Boar Style, most notably goblinoids, ogres, and trolls. The objective of the Boar Style is to attack with as much viciousness and cruelty as possible in order to break enemy morale. Fanatical followers of the style use herbal and alchemical reagents to harden their nails and teeth, sometimes performing self-mutilating procedures that result in clawlike nails and sharpened teeth. Feat Path: Boar Style, Boar Ferocity, Boar Shred."
"Clawlike nails and sharpened teeth" don't sound like they would cause additional bludgeoning damage.
So the question is, can a monk with this feat, switch as a free action between a bludgeoning attack that if the monk hits twice does an extra 2d6 damage and a slashing attack that if the monk hits twice also does an extra 2d6 damage. OR, can the monk only switch between a bludgeoning attack the feat does not apply to and a slashing attack that if it hits twice does the extra 2d6 damage.
We are trying to figure out if the Benefit language in the feat was poorly written and it meant to say something like this: "You can deal bludgeoning damage or slashing damage with your unarmed strikes—changing damage type is a free action. While using this style, once per round when you hit a single foe with two or more SLASHING unarmed strikes, you can tear flesh. When you do, you deal 2d6 extra points of damage with the attack."
OR did the rule authors really intend to allow up to an extra 2d6 bludgeoning damage with "Boar Style." It seems odd. The feat seems as if it's a kind of non-animal/monster equivalent of rending. Rending in a bludgeoning mode seems very odd.
Thanks for any help! Official Paizo help would be best.
yes it works for any and all types of unarmed strikes while the style is active.
Bludgeoning or slashing doesn't matter to the extra damage. If the monk hits with two or more unarmed strikes, the monk deals an extra 2d6 points of damage--once per round, as mentioned.
I'd assume that the 2d6 damage is added to the second hit's damage for purposes of damage reduction and the like, but the wording is admittedly not very clear on that point.
It says it hardens their nails and teeth too. Maybe harder teeth deliver more bite force?
Thanks, ToastedAmphibian. If the logic of what it says in all relevant parts of the Ultimate Combat book as to the feat matches up with the Benefits language, that would have to be the theory. But it's very strange. Bites do piercing damage and sharpening your teeth would make them do more bite/piercing damage but would tend to make them weaker at delivering bludgeoning damage because the teeth (or nails) would have less surface area to hit with if they're not breaking the opponent's skin.
Obviously, in the Kung Fu movies, there are fighters who harden their fists to deliver more bludgeoning damage but this feat's surrounding text doesn't read like that.
Re DR and the extra 2d6, I think it's clear that since that is "extra damage" it adds on to the second strike. To split the extra damage between strikes, it would need to say so explicitly. And it wouldn't make sense to add it to the first successful strike because to get the extra damage the monk has to hit twice. And it can't be stand-alone damage that a DR applies to separately because then it wouldn't say it's "extra damage."