Interactions Between Hammer Fist and Power Armor-clad Unarmed Strike

[jabberwoky]

This question may have been asked before, but I would like a ruling on these questions.

Assume for the moment I am playing as a level 5 Soldier with the Armor Storm fighting style chosen as my primary fighting style.

At level 1, I gain the Hammer Fist fighting technique from the Armor Storm fighting style, meaning my unarmed strikes are treated as if they are done by a level 1 battleglove, doing 1d4 bashing damage, plus one and a half times my strength bonus in damage as if I have the Melee Striker gear boost. At level 3, I gain Weapon Specialization, gaining specialization with all weapons I am proficient with. Also at level 3, I choose the Melee Striker gear boost, adding half of my strength score to all melee damage (and giving a further +2 bonus damage with my Hammer Fist). At level 5, I gain the Enhanced Tank fighting technique from the Armor Storm fighting style, giving me proficiency with Power Armor.

Assume for the moment that my soldier character acquires a set of power armor (for the example let's say, a Battle Harness) that gives my character a strength score of 18 (a +4 bonus), and makes his unarmed strikes deal 1d10 bashing damage.

Question 1: If my character is wearing the Battle Harness, does my character's unarmed strikes deal 1d4 damage plus bonuses, or 1d10 damage plus bonuses? Or do I get to choose which damage to do?

Question 2: If my character is wearing the Battle Harness, what specific bonuses to I get for damage with my unarmed strikes? And are these bonuses different if I choose one damage over the other? I have heard there is a ruling that the power armor-clad unarmed strike does not gain a weapon specialization bonus, but I could not get a source for this claim.

[Damanta]

This is something that's been on my mind as well, and here's what I have been coming up with:

At level 5 my armor storm has two option for unarmed strikes:
Hammer Fist for 1d4 + 5 (level) + 4 (strength) + 2 (melee striker) + 2 (hammer fist bonus) for a total of 1d4 + 13

Unarmed with battle harness for 1d10 + 5 (level) + 4 (strength) + 2 (melee striker) - 5 (archaic) for a total of 1d10 + 6 nonlethal.

This last bit may sound counterintuitive, but nothing in the powered armor entry states that the unarmed strike you make with it loses the archaic and non-lethal qualities, just that the damage dice changes and the armor's strength bonus is added.

So part of the answer to your question 2: unarmed strikes with powered armor still get weapon specialization bonus, because it's still an unarmed strike which by the rules falls under basic melee weapons.

[Pantshandshake]

I don’t recall if a consensus was reached last time the archaic property was brought up in relation to PA unarmed strikes.

Personally, I don’t believe archaic applies to PA unarmed strikes. The archaic property is called out as being on weapons that are made of primitive materials, such as wood or common steel. If the PA’s attack is archaic, then the PA itself would have to be archaic, and that certainly isn’t the case.

As far as using Hammer Fist vs the PA’s unarmed attack, Hammer fist says this:
You treat any unarmed attack you make while wearing heavy or powered armor as being made with a battleglove (see page 187) with an item level equal to or lower than your soldier level, and you calculate damage for these attacks as if you had the melee striker gear boost (see page 112). If you have the melee striker gear boost, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with your unarmed attacks when using this ability. These unarmed attacks don’t benefit from other abilities that apply specifically to unarmed attacks (such as the Improved Unarmed Strike feat).

So, technically, you don’t get a choice as to which attack mode you use. The way the ability is written, if you’re an armor storm soldier wearing heavy or PA, and you make an unarmed attack, you use hammerfist, and that’s it. Personally, I allow the choice, but if your table is heavy into RAW, then you probably don’t have to worry about choosing which one is better.