If attacking with finesse weapon in primary hand can you make a clawed attack with modifier as bonus action. Claws would be 1d4 + ability modifier. I'm guessing by RAW technically no since two weapon fighting says melee weapon in off hand and n ability modifyer.
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand. You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.
Tabaxi claws state
your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes.
Because they are not light melee weapons (they're natural weapons), they cannot be used as part of two-weapon fighting
in earlier prints of the PHB it was said that unarmed strikes are counted as simple melee weapons
but fists for that matter are not weapons, but you can make melee weapon attacks with them,
and as mentioned earlier by davyd, natural wepaons don't have the light property,
But in my opinion for the rule of cool, I wouldnt see a problem if someone went into action unarmed, and started scratching about, seems almost unrealistic that you can only do 1 scratch attack with claws, since you have 2 hands, and thus 2 ways to attack but because the natural weapon isnt specified to have a property you cannot.
You can do it with the two weapon fighting feat, I think. If you want to get unarmed bonus action attacks, play a Monk.
TWF requires you to be using a weapon you're holding in one hand. The Dual Wielder feat refers to one-handed weapons. Claws are natural melee weapons, but not held in a hand or one-handed. They also don't have the Finesse property, for that matter. I've seen this houseruled, but by the rules it's a no-go.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
So far as I know, the only natural weapon that is defined as a Simple weapon is the Dhampir's Bite. Maybe someday they will make all natural weapons Simple enough for us to use them.
So far as I know, the only natural weapon that is defined as a Simple weapon is the Dhampir's Bite. Maybe someday they will make all natural weapons Simple enough for us to use them.
Everyone with a natural weapon is proficient with, to the best of my knowledge - there's al ways a rule spelling that out. Being designated Simple or not rarely makes a difference in practice, with the exception of natural weapons that can't be used for unarmed strikes and qualifying for Martial Arts. Merely getting the Simple designation won't allow them to qualify for TWF, at any rate.
One of the things people love to do with Tabaxi is play Monks. They have great synergy. The question really comes down to whether or not Monks can use Tabaxi claws as a Dedicated Weapon, and if so, can they fight with both hands?
Maybe the real question is whether tabaxi monks should be treated as not unarmed because they have a natural weapon, when that natural weapon can explicitly be used as an unarmed strike?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Maybe the real question is whether tabaxi monks should be treated as not unarmed because they have a natural weapon, when that natural weapon can explicitly be used as an unarmed strike?
Being unarmed isn't a prerequisite for making an unarmed attack. You can kick, headbutt, and so on. You can make an unarmed attack while holding a weapon. Even in both hands!
You can't make an unarmed attack *using* a weapon.
A natural weapon is a weapon.
But the tabaxi Cat's Claws explicitly allows you to use your natural weapons for unarmed attacks. Specific beats general.
Unless you're asking if it would be appropriate to alter the Cat's Claws feature?
One of the things people love to do with Tabaxi is play Monks. They have great synergy. The question really comes down to whether or not Monks can use Tabaxi claws as a Dedicated Weapon, and if so, can they fight with both hands?
They can't use Dedicated Weapon on it because it's not simple or martial. They don't really need to though. You can always use your unarmed attacks for your Attack action, and with Martial Arts you can use one as a bonus action too.
Greetings. RAW, which is mostly what you will find here, seem to lean towards no. However, Original D&D and in the spirit of the game, adaptation and creativity are always encouraged.
In our world, basically, if it makes sense, it would be allowed. It’s a discussion with your group and your DM.
Rewrite the “rules”, (guidelines really), as needed. Caution though, its easy to go way to far down this path.
If you play with several groups, I would advise to stick to RAW, as it makes for an easier transition and less confusion.
Hope you have a great game.
>with this the elderly traveler sits back into his chair in the corner, raises his mug to the room and after taking a long draw, sets it down and begins tapping his pipe. <
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Known in other realms as Ranxaeroth.
“Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and good with bar-b-que sauce.” ~Cheshire Dragon
”You can fool most of the people most of the time, but a Sphinx….never.” ~Torwyn Vantalion.
“When the DM smiles, its already to late.” ~many a player.
thats kinda what I said earlier, I see no reason why it cannot be overruled, RAW is just a concept for people to hold on to certain rules, D&D is made to be adapated and used in a certain way to entertain your players, and thus a DM can always overrule Any rule in there,
so If your dm sees fit in 2 attacks with your claws, just talk with the dm about it
Maybe the real question is whether tabaxi monks should be treated as not unarmed because they have a natural weapon, when that natural weapon can explicitly be used as an unarmed strike?
Being unarmed isn't a prerequisite for making an unarmed attack. You can kick, headbutt, and so on. You can make an unarmed attack while holding a weapon. Even in both hands!
You can't make an unarmed attack *using* a weapon.
A natural weapon is a weapon.
But the tabaxi Cat's Claws explicitly allows you to use your natural weapons for unarmed attacks. Specific beats general.
Unless you're asking if it would be appropriate to alter the Cat's Claws feature?
Not exactly what I was alluding at. By the rules, a monk must be unarmed or wielding only monk weapons (and no armor or shield, you know the drill) to get to benefit from their Martial Arts ability. A tabaxi is strictly speaking not unarmed as they have natural weapons, and those natural weapons are not monk weapons. Hence, by a strict reading of the rules tabaxi monks can't ever benefit from Martial Arts - doesn't matter which weapon they are actually attacking with. Now, I don't know any DM who goes with that (I certainly don't myself) and in that case a tabaxi monk doesn't need Dedicated Weapon applied to their claws in order to make them monk weapons - they can be used as unarmed strikes, which means they benefit from Martial Arts anyway. Same thing if they're merely holding a (non-monk) weapon too, of course.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
That's always been my problem with natural weapons. You can practice using them, but you can't become proficient in their use except under some very technical situations. You can't be dedicated about using them.
Why can't you use something that has been provided to you by nature as a weapon?
That was my point about the Dhampir Bite attack. It's defined as a simple weapon. That means all the rules about Simple weapons apply to it. You can be proficient in (Vampiric) Bite, and use it on someone as a weapon. Among the other cool features it has, that means you can get a critical hit with your Bite.
That's always been my problem with natural weapons. You can practice using them, but you can't become proficient in their use except under some very technical situations. You can't be dedicated about using them.
Why can't you use something that has been provided to you by nature as a weapon?
That was my point about the Dhampir Bite attack. It's defined as a simple weapon. That means all the rules about Simple weapons apply to it. You can be proficient in (Vampiric) Bite, and use it on someone as a weapon. Among the other cool features it has, that means you can get a critical hit with your Bite.
All creatures are proficient with unarmed strikes, so they're also proficient with natural weapons that can be used to make unarmed strikes with.
"Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon Attack, you can use an Unarmed Strike: a punch, kick, head--butt, or similar forceful blow (none of which count as weapons). On a hit, an Unarmed Strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes."
Maybe there are creatures with natural weapons that don't specify they can be used for unarmed strikes, but I can't recall any - and the tabaxi rules certainly do specify that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yay! My Monk can use them as a Dedicated Weapon! I rejoice!
I would suggest letting tabaxi who only use monk weapons and unarmed strikes (including their claws) count as unarmed and thus benefit from Martial Arts, in which case you don't even need to Dedicate yourself to your claws. If you don't, then technically a tabaxi monk who hasn't got his claws as dedicated weapon can't use Martial Arts period.
Maybe the real question is whether tabaxi monks should be treated as not unarmed because they have a natural weapon, when that natural weapon can explicitly be used as an unarmed strike?
Being unarmed isn't a prerequisite for making an unarmed attack. You can kick, headbutt, and so on. You can make an unarmed attack while holding a weapon. Even in both hands!
You can't make an unarmed attack *using* a weapon.
A natural weapon is a weapon.
But the tabaxi Cat's Claws explicitly allows you to use your natural weapons for unarmed attacks. Specific beats general.
Unless you're asking if it would be appropriate to alter the Cat's Claws feature?
Not exactly what I was alluding at. By the rules, a monk must be unarmed or wielding only monk weapons (and no armor or shield, you know the drill) to get to benefit from their Martial Arts ability. A tabaxi is strictly speaking not unarmed as they have natural weapons, and those natural weapons are not monk weapons. Hence, by a strict reading of the rules tabaxi monks can't ever benefit from Martial Arts - doesn't matter which weapon they are actually attacking with. Now, I don't know any DM who goes with that (I certainly don't myself) and in that case a tabaxi monk doesn't need Dedicated Weapon applied to their claws in order to make them monk weapons - they can be used as unarmed strikes, which means they benefit from Martial Arts anyway. Same thing if they're merely holding a (non-monk) weapon too, of course.
Ah, I see. If I didn't know better, I'd say they wrote some of these rules without consideration for future content!
If a DM actually house rules that natural weapons qualify as Monk Weapons, ...
What houserule?
"Any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property" qualifies as a monk weapon. That certainly applies to Form of the Beast: "When you enter your rage, you can transform, revealing the bestial power within you. Until the rage ends, you manifest a natural weapon. It counts as a simple melee weapon for you..."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Two Weapon fighting
If attacking with finesse weapon in primary hand can you make a clawed attack with modifier as bonus action. Claws would be 1d4 + ability modifier. I'm guessing by RAW technically no since two weapon fighting says melee weapon in off hand and n ability modifyer.
Two-Weapon Fighting says
Tabaxi claws state
Because they are not light melee weapons (they're natural weapons), they cannot be used as part of two-weapon fighting
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
in earlier prints of the PHB it was said that unarmed strikes are counted as simple melee weapons
but fists for that matter are not weapons, but you can make melee weapon attacks with them,
and as mentioned earlier by davyd, natural wepaons don't have the light property,
But in my opinion for the rule of cool, I wouldnt see a problem if someone went into action unarmed, and started scratching about, seems almost unrealistic that you can only do 1 scratch attack with claws, since you have 2 hands, and thus 2 ways to attack but because the natural weapon isnt specified to have a property you cannot.
You can do it with the two weapon fighting feat, I think. If you want to get unarmed bonus action attacks, play a Monk.
TWF requires you to be using a weapon you're holding in one hand. The Dual Wielder feat refers to one-handed weapons. Claws are natural melee weapons, but not held in a hand or one-handed. They also don't have the Finesse property, for that matter. I've seen this houseruled, but by the rules it's a no-go.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
So far as I know, the only natural weapon that is defined as a Simple weapon is the Dhampir's Bite. Maybe someday they will make all natural weapons Simple enough for us to use them.
<Insert clever signature here>
Everyone with a natural weapon is proficient with, to the best of my knowledge - there's al ways a rule spelling that out. Being designated Simple or not rarely makes a difference in practice, with the exception of natural weapons that can't be used for unarmed strikes and qualifying for Martial Arts. Merely getting the Simple designation won't allow them to qualify for TWF, at any rate.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
One of the things people love to do with Tabaxi is play Monks. They have great synergy. The question really comes down to whether or not Monks can use Tabaxi claws as a Dedicated Weapon, and if so, can they fight with both hands?
<Insert clever signature here>
Maybe the real question is whether tabaxi monks should be treated as not unarmed because they have a natural weapon, when that natural weapon can explicitly be used as an unarmed strike?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Being unarmed isn't a prerequisite for making an unarmed attack. You can kick, headbutt, and so on. You can make an unarmed attack while holding a weapon. Even in both hands!
You can't make an unarmed attack *using* a weapon.
A natural weapon is a weapon.
But the tabaxi Cat's Claws explicitly allows you to use your natural weapons for unarmed attacks. Specific beats general.
Unless you're asking if it would be appropriate to alter the Cat's Claws feature?
They can't use Dedicated Weapon on it because it's not simple or martial. They don't really need to though. You can always use your unarmed attacks for your Attack action, and with Martial Arts you can use one as a bonus action too.
Greetings. RAW, which is mostly what you will find here, seem to lean towards no. However, Original D&D and in the spirit of the game, adaptation and creativity are always encouraged.
In our world, basically, if it makes sense, it would be allowed. It’s a discussion with your group and your DM.
Rewrite the “rules”, (guidelines really), as needed. Caution though, its easy to go way to far down this path.
If you play with several groups, I would advise to stick to RAW, as it makes for an easier transition and less confusion.
Hope you have a great game.
>with this the elderly traveler sits back into his chair in the corner, raises his mug to the room and after taking a long draw, sets it down and begins tapping his pipe. <
Known in other realms as Ranxaeroth.
“Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and good with bar-b-que sauce.” ~Cheshire Dragon
”You can fool most of the people most of the time, but a Sphinx….never.” ~Torwyn Vantalion.
“When the DM smiles, its already to late.” ~many a player.
thats kinda what I said earlier, I see no reason why it cannot be overruled, RAW is just a concept for people to hold on to certain rules,
D&D is made to be adapated and used in a certain way to entertain your players, and thus a DM can always overrule Any rule in there,
so If your dm sees fit in 2 attacks with your claws, just talk with the dm about it
Not exactly what I was alluding at. By the rules, a monk must be unarmed or wielding only monk weapons (and no armor or shield, you know the drill) to get to benefit from their Martial Arts ability. A tabaxi is strictly speaking not unarmed as they have natural weapons, and those natural weapons are not monk weapons. Hence, by a strict reading of the rules tabaxi monks can't ever benefit from Martial Arts - doesn't matter which weapon they are actually attacking with. Now, I don't know any DM who goes with that (I certainly don't myself) and in that case a tabaxi monk doesn't need Dedicated Weapon applied to their claws in order to make them monk weapons - they can be used as unarmed strikes, which means they benefit from Martial Arts anyway. Same thing if they're merely holding a (non-monk) weapon too, of course.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
That's always been my problem with natural weapons. You can practice using them, but you can't become proficient in their use except under some very technical situations. You can't be dedicated about using them.
Why can't you use something that has been provided to you by nature as a weapon?
That was my point about the Dhampir Bite attack. It's defined as a simple weapon. That means all the rules about Simple weapons apply to it. You can be proficient in (Vampiric) Bite, and use it on someone as a weapon. Among the other cool features it has, that means you can get a critical hit with your Bite.
<Insert clever signature here>
All creatures are proficient with unarmed strikes, so they're also proficient with natural weapons that can be used to make unarmed strikes with.
"Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon Attack, you can use an Unarmed Strike: a punch, kick, head--butt, or similar forceful blow (none of which count as weapons). On a hit, an Unarmed Strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes."
Maybe there are creatures with natural weapons that don't specify they can be used for unarmed strikes, but I can't recall any - and the tabaxi rules certainly do specify that.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yay! My Monk can use them as a Dedicated Weapon! I rejoice!
<Insert clever signature here>
I would suggest letting tabaxi who only use monk weapons and unarmed strikes (including their claws) count as unarmed and thus benefit from Martial Arts, in which case you don't even need to Dedicate yourself to your claws. If you don't, then technically a tabaxi monk who hasn't got his claws as dedicated weapon can't use Martial Arts period.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Ah, I see. If I didn't know better, I'd say they wrote some of these rules without consideration for future content!
What a mess, lol.
What houserule?
"Any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property" qualifies as a monk weapon. That certainly applies to Form of the Beast: "When you enter your rage, you can transform, revealing the bestial power within you. Until the rage ends, you manifest a natural weapon. It counts as a simple melee weapon for you..."
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].