No. They can use Dexterity instead of Strength but that doesn't make them finesse weapons - and definitely doesn't allow things like the rogue's sneak attack to consider them as finesse weapons. Several monk weapons do have the finesse property though so those would work, just not the unarmed strikes.
Unarmed Strikes/Natural Weapons not being Finesse weapons consistently trips me up, because they were in 3.5. It's always tough to unlearn old rules when they're so similar to the new ones!
Ultimately, I also think it's ridiculous that Sneak Attack is so overly restricted as to only apply to attacks with Finesse weapons... the Barbarian applies rage bonus damage to "attacks using strength," other similar features like Sneak Attack should at the very least use similar structure and apply to "attacks using Dexterity" instead of an artificially narrow class of items when there are other weapons that functionally are identical. If you can sneak attack with a dagger, why wouldn't you be able to sneak attack with your paw full of dagger-sized claws? Really though, I'm more in favor of limiting "attacks using _____" requirements entirely, it's the sort of limitation that feels out of place in 5e given how flexible the rest of the system is designed to be for weird class combination concepts.
A strength-based Barbarian/Rogue wielding a Rapier gets sneak attack and rage damage applied to their attacks. A dex-based Barbarian/Rogue using Tabaxi Claws gets neither. That's whack.
"Finesse" is a specific property that a weapon is tagged with. If you don't have a specific ability that grants your unarmed strikes the Finesse property, then they aren't. The Martial Arts class feature for Monks grants the same effect as the Finesse property, but doesn't actually grant the property. Contrast it with the Sun Blade, a magic longsword. The description specifically grants it the Finesse property when the blade exists, so it works with things like Sneak Attack and the Defensive Duelist feat.
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can an unarmed strike from a monk / monk weapon be considered a fness weapon?
No. They can use Dexterity instead of Strength but that doesn't make them finesse weapons - and definitely doesn't allow things like the rogue's sneak attack to consider them as finesse weapons. Several monk weapons do have the finesse property though so those would work, just not the unarmed strikes.
Unarmed Strikes/Natural Weapons not being Finesse weapons consistently trips me up, because they were in 3.5. It's always tough to unlearn old rules when they're so similar to the new ones!
Ultimately, I also think it's ridiculous that Sneak Attack is so overly restricted as to only apply to attacks with Finesse weapons... the Barbarian applies rage bonus damage to "attacks using strength," other similar features like Sneak Attack should at the very least use similar structure and apply to "attacks using Dexterity" instead of an artificially narrow class of items when there are other weapons that functionally are identical. If you can sneak attack with a dagger, why wouldn't you be able to sneak attack with your paw full of dagger-sized claws? Really though, I'm more in favor of limiting "attacks using _____" requirements entirely, it's the sort of limitation that feels out of place in 5e given how flexible the rest of the system is designed to be for weird class combination concepts.
A strength-based Barbarian/Rogue wielding a Rapier gets sneak attack and rage damage applied to their attacks. A dex-based Barbarian/Rogue using Tabaxi Claws gets neither. That's whack.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
"Finesse" is a specific property that a weapon is tagged with. If you don't have a specific ability that grants your unarmed strikes the Finesse property, then they aren't. The Martial Arts class feature for Monks grants the same effect as the Finesse property, but doesn't actually grant the property. Contrast it with the Sun Blade, a magic longsword. The description specifically grants it the Finesse property when the blade exists, so it works with things like Sneak Attack and the Defensive Duelist feat.