Vesk Natural Melee Attack Bonus


Rules Questions


Hello i am in quarell with my friend for some time now over Bonus from Vesk Nat. Melee Attack.

Question is: Can he use Gloves(Gauntlets) and still proffit from his bonus that he adds 1.5 of his level to Unarmed strikes?
I think that when someone uses gloves that got their own Dmg Dice then he doesnt use his natural melee weapon and uses Gloves so he lose bonus from Vesk.

Thx for answer.

Sincerely Aralan


If you use a weapon, like battle gloves you're not making an unarmed strike.

So you either get glove damage which includes their damage dice + weapon specialization damage or you use unarmed strike which gets their damage dice (usually lower) + 1.5 level (as weapon specialization).

It's one or the other.


It should also be noted that the Armor Storm soldier's Hammer Fist attack is essentially a Battle Glove attack, and is NOT considered unarmed for the purposes of the Vesk racial (or anything else).

My Armor Storm vesk alternates between unarmed and Hammer Fist based on which does the most damage at his given level.

Sczarni

It's an easy thing to argue over, because mechanically, you pick one weapon and roll for it, but conceptually, you're punching while wearing a spiky glove.


Ok so you cannot actually have anything on your hands when you are using vesk natural melee attack yea? No gloves, no powerarmor.
So its only boostable through abilities that gives bonuses to unarmed attacks?


Aralan wrote:

Ok so you cannot actually have anything on your hands when you are using vesk natural melee attack yea? No gloves, no powerarmor.

So its only boostable through abilities that gives bonuses to unarmed attacks?

Er, yes and no.

You can be wearing a battle glove or holding a sword and still use an unarmed attack. The description for Unarmed Strike in the weapons section details kicks, headbutts, etc. Vesk like to tail slap (which is why I think their vesk natural attack still does Bashing damage).

Natural Weapons, per the dev clarification, do not require one free hand, though normal unarmed strikes generally do without the Improved Unarmed Strike feat. Requiring a free hand doesn't mean that you are using that hand for the attack, though, just that you have it free when you make the attack.

Unarmed Strikes can be boosted by anything that enhances all melee attacks, unarmed attacks, or attacks that apply to one of the strike's designators (such as archaic, for non-natural weapons races).

Side note, some shields allow you to make unarmed strikes; they can be made of special materials, have fusions, AND benefit from unarmed strike buffs.


I was much more askin about vesk natural melee attack if he can somehow boost it


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

The most basic way of increasing the damage would be Improved Unarmed Strike


Improved Unarmed Strike will increase the damage.

The soldiers Melee Striker Gear boost will increase the damage.

But if you mean, is there some special thing that only increases natural attack damage...no.

But things that generally boost melee damage will also affect it.


Ia it even viable to use vesk racial later in game? What i saw on most fotums they say that much more any later weapon is gonna outdmg it

Sczarni

If this isn't for Society, they can pick up a Ring of Fangs, which will increase the Vesk's specialization bonus from x1.5 to x2.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

This depends on what you mean by "later". It's not until around level 12-13 that weapon damage starts accelerating rapidly, so that it will leave unarmed strikes with increased specialization damage behind. And at that point you have an excellent backup option that can't be taken away for the cost of 1 feat (improved unarmed strike).

In the case of using the Ring of Fangs, your bite attack wouldn't stop being useful exactly at 12, that's just the range where it stops being more damaging per hit than everything you can buy.

In the case of a vest using unarmed strikes with a solar shield, and upgrading their crystal, it never gets significantly outclassed by anything.

There are also some soldier feat boost options that add extra utility onto an unarmed strike, and keeps them a somewhat worthwhile option, situationally, even when weapons deal more damage.


Aralan wrote:
Ia it even viable to use vesk racial later in game? What i saw on most fotums they say that much more any later weapon is gonna outdmg it

I think you have to reframe this idea.

It's not supposed to replace using weapons. If so it'd be a class features. Honestly it's just a small part of being a Vesk. If you want to see an example of a class that replaces weapon use, look at the Vanguard.

The idea is that the Vesk always has a decent backup weapon. With improved unarmed strike the vesk can use a ranged weapon to attack with and use his natural attack if someone gets close. They also have it in case the get disarmed.

It's a decent option to have, but it's not supposed to be a case where you build around only using your natural attack.

And, as pointed out by Hammerjack the increased weapon specialization will have it deal more damage from level 3 to around 11 or 12.


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Ok thx for help guys, gonna propably come again cause of some confusion about rulebook, we wanna start SF campaign in few months. Thx again stay healthy

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