Unarmed Fighting style and Finger Guns Cantrip

Does this fighting style impact the damage from Finger Guns for the gunslinger class? The cantrip says your hand counts as a simple ranged weapon, but am I mistaken to interpret that you're still unarmed because you're not wielding a physical weapon  (for benefits of Unarmed Fighting style)?

Finger Guns

Evocation Cantrip (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard)

You extend your forefinger and thumb, a dangerous gesture mimicking a gun. For the duration, your hand counts as a Simple Ranged weapon with a range of 60/240 feet and the Slow mastery property. You can use your spellcasting ability instead of Dexterity for the attack rolls of this weapon. On a hit, the weapon deals 2d6 Force damage and doesn’t add your ability modifier to damage.

It does not because finger guns are NOT unarmed strikes.

Quote from Seattlebloke >>

Does this fighting style impact the damage from Finger Guns for the gunslinger class? The cantrip says your hand counts as a simple ranged weapon, but am I mistaken to interpret that you're still unarmed because you're not wielding a physical weapon  (for benefits of Unarmed Fighting style)? [...]

 The spell says "...your hand counts as a Simple Ranged weapon ...", so it wouldn't apply to Unarmed Fighting ("When you hit with your Unarmed Strike...") as Wysperra explained, but it would work with something like Archery.

i love the idea of this spell but i kind of wish it would scale in damage like a normal cantrip instead of starting off more powerful and NEVER getting stronger. and its not like Eldritch Blast which can get buffed by the Warlocks class abilities. well it gets a bit of a buff with the Spellslinger subclass but its not the same.

Quote from Angrypanda89 >>

i love the idea of this spell but i kind of wish it would scale in damage like a normal cantrip instead of starting off more powerful and NEVER getting stronger. and its not like Eldritch Blast which can get buffed by the Warlocks class abilities. well it gets a bit of a buff with the Spellslinger subclass but its not the same.

 Agreed. They should have structured it to start at 1d6 or 1d8 damage, then have both the damage and range scale up as you level. It's a bit of a missed opportunity, really.

There's something you're missing.

The Finger-gun counts as a simple weapon, which means it stacks with effects like True-Strike. This is WHY it doesn't scale. You can stack pretty gnarly buffs on this thing 

Quote from Nookleer39514 >>

There's something you're missing.

The Finger-gun counts as a simple weapon, which means it stacks with effects like True-Strike. This is WHY it doesn't scale. You can stack pretty gnarly buffs on this thing 

True Strike requires that the weapon used with it be worth at least 1 cp. Although some DMs might allow it, I think part of the intent of that is to prevent it from applying to things like this that aren't "real" weapons.

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Nookleer39514 >>

There's something you're missing.

The Finger-gun counts as a simple weapon, which means it stacks with effects like True-Strike. This is WHY it doesn't scale. You can stack pretty gnarly buffs on this thing 

True Strike requires that the weapon used with it be worth at least 1 cp. Although some DMs might allow it, I think part of the intent of that is to prevent it from applying to things like this that aren't "real" weapons.

 I'm pretty sure the intent was to prevent you from saying that you had whatever weapon in your spell component pouch whenever you needed a weapon.

I do have a stupid question though - it says it counts as a simple weapon, not that it is a simple weapon.  How do you ever access the slow mastery?  It doesn't give you the weapon mastery, and a weapon mastery has to choose simple or martial weapons, which it is not.

Quote from Squirrelloid >>

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Nookleer39514 >>

There's something you're missing.

The Finger-gun counts as a simple weapon, which means it stacks with effects like True-Strike. This is WHY it doesn't scale. You can stack pretty gnarly buffs on this thing 

True Strike requires that the weapon used with it be worth at least 1 cp. Although some DMs might allow it, I think part of the intent of that is to prevent it from applying to things like this that aren't "real" weapons.

 I'm pretty sure the intent was to prevent you from saying that you had whatever weapon in your spell component pouch whenever you needed a weapon.

Regardless, since it doesn't have an explicit value attached, under a strict reading of the rules it can't be used as the material component for True Strike.

Quote from Squirrelloid >>

I do have a stupid question though - it says it counts as a simple weapon, not that it is a simple weapon.  How do you ever access the slow mastery?  It doesn't give you the weapon mastery, and a weapon mastery has to choose simple or martial weapons, which it is not.

Drawing a mechanical distinction between "is a simple weapon" and "counts as a simple weapon" seems highly unreasonable and in direct opposition to the whole point of saying that something "counts as" something.

It seems very clear that the intent is for it to be treated as a Simple Ranged weapon for all intents and purposes, including being able to select it for features that say something like "choose a simple or martial weapon". 

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Squirrelloid >>

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Nookleer39514 >>

There's something you're missing.

The Finger-gun counts as a simple weapon, which means it stacks with effects like True-Strike. This is WHY it doesn't scale. You can stack pretty gnarly buffs on this thing 

True Strike requires that the weapon used with it be worth at least 1 cp. Although some DMs might allow it, I think part of the intent of that is to prevent it from applying to things like this that aren't "real" weapons.

 I'm pretty sure the intent was to prevent you from saying that you had whatever weapon in your spell component pouch whenever you needed a weapon.

Regardless, since it doesn't have an explicit value attached, under a strict reading of the rules it can't be used as the material component for True Strike.

Quote from Squirrelloid >>

I do have a stupid question though - it says it counts as a simple weapon, not that it is a simple weapon.  How do you ever access the slow mastery?  It doesn't give you the weapon mastery, and a weapon mastery has to choose simple or martial weapons, which it is not.

Drawing a mechanical distinction between "is a simple weapon" and "counts as a simple weapon" seems highly unreasonable and in direct opposition to the whole point of saying that something "counts as" something.

It seems very clear that the intent is for it to be treated as a Simple Ranged weapon for all intents and purposes, including being able to select it for features that say something like "choose a simple or martial weapon". 

 I guess why not just say it is a simple ranged weapon, rather than counts as one?  :shrug:

Quote from Squirrelloid >>

 I guess why not just say it is a simple ranged weapon, rather than counts as one?  :shrug:

Because it isn't a simple ranged weapon. It's your hand. But it counts as a simple ranged weapon for the purposes of rules that refer to simple ranged weapons.

The spell doesn't say that it only counts as a simple ranged weapon for the purposes of some rules but not others, so it counts as a simple ranged weapon for the purposes of all rules.

Quote from Squirrelloid >>

 I guess why not just say it is a simple ranged weapon, rather than counts as one?  :shrug:

There is quite a few rules that use the same wording of counting as something instead of being the thing, usually because (as @wagnarokkr points out) it actually isn't really the thing.