Monks with the Rake ability.

[Synicism]

In a current game, I'm playing a weretiger monk. The weretiger's hybrid form has the Rake ability - if he hits with his two claw attacks, he can rake with his feet.

My question is, since the Monk's unarmed fighting ability describes blows with all parts of the body, can I use the Rake ability with the monk's normal unarmed attacks?

 

[Synicism]

C'mon, guys... 31 views and no ideas? <g>

 

[Deset Gled]

I'm not 100% sure what the issue is here, but here's my small insight:

I think that it's pretty straightforward: you only get to rake when you attack with both claws. It should be fairly obvious if you're using them, because (if I remember correctly) claws do different damage (slashing, and different dice than unarmed damage). I don't think there's any rule that the monk *has* to attack with various parts of their body; they can punch (or claw) a lot if they want to. Just choose for your attacks to be with the claws, and do everything normally.

Of course, if for some reason you couldn't attack with your claws, the monk's ability shouldn't allow you to make the rake without them. That would defeat the concept of the rake.

 

[Terramotus]

Well, to rake he has to use improved grab, which requires him to hit with a claw or bite attack. So, to me, it's clear that he can't rake if he uses his monk unarmed attacks. The question is, can he choose to use either his monk attacks or his claws? I would say yes, in hybrid form. In tiger form, he has to use his claws.

Also, I think in hybrid form I would treat the natural attacks like a monk using monk weapons, ie, give him his monk unarmed attack progression with them, but the damage stays the same as normal Though I have zero evidence in the books for that, it makes sense to me. In tiger form, though, I would rule that he wasn't close enough to being human to do that. The skills aren't applicable.

 

[Synicism]

Well, here's the thing. The monk's unarmed fighting ability describes his unarmed attacks as using all parts of his body. So why couldn't a monk's unarmed attacks be claw or bite attacks that would enable him to rake?

Or here's a different scenario for you. What if the character as the Improved Grab feat out of Oriental Adventures that works just like the weretiger's ability, except that it applies to any unarmed attack? If he could grab onto someone like that, could he rake?

 

[Terramotus]

Yeah, since the rake attack only requires "a hold", he would be able to do a rake if he used the improved grapple feat.