Another question about monks with natural attacks

[Urbannen]

Wyrd One:

As a human my natural attack would be my 2 fists. As a Thri-Kreen my natural attacks would be my 4 claws.

That's not technically so by D&D standards. If what you are saying were true, then an unarmed human could make two fist attacks during a full round action. A natural attack in D&D does not provoke an attack of opportunity and is used as a part of a set attack routine. Humans don't have natural attacks.

If I want to do a claw attack I point the pointy end of the claw at you and try to slash it across you. If I want to make an unarmed strike I can close my claw, or twist it and use the side, which would then functionally be just like using the side of a human hand. Why shouldn't the Thri-Kreen be able to apply the monk training he has spent his levels attaining? He would be taught how to deliver the unarmed strikes with the ends of his limbs, elbows, knees, legs, etc... Just because he happens to have a claw at the end of his arm doesn't mean he can't use it for something else, by common sense at least.

I think the issue here is that the "unarmed strike" attack of a monk or human with the Improved Unarmed Strike attack is a bludgeoning attack whose exact nature has not been specified - it could be a fist, an elbow, a foot, a knee, a head butt, etc. However, I don't think that it is any of the "natural" attacks listed in the MM, like claws, bites, slams, or tentacles.

I believe that a thri-keen monk would be trained to deliver bludgeoning attacks with its limbs, but that that is not the same thing as being taught to deliver its claw attacks in a different way. The fact that a thri-keen monk has 4 claws wouldn't necessarily change the number of unarmed strikes it could deliver per round - a human monk could deliver bludgeoning attacks from 5 different limbs (if you count head butts), but that doesn't change the number of attacks that he is limited to.

However, if the claw is treated as a monk special weapon, then the thri-keen would receive special training with its use. The response you got from CustServ treated the claw as a special monk weapon. Here is the SRD on flurry of blows and different weapons:

When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special monk weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a monk applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus x 1-1/2 or x1/2) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The monk can’t use any weapon other than a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows.

Upon further reflection, it seems that CustServ considers a natural attack the same as an unarmed strike. I'm just not sure that they can be considered the same - I agree with Camarath. The system is much cleaner if the "unarmed strike" is treated as having the characteristics of a manufactured weapon.

Camarath says that there is nothing in the rules to indicate that natural weapons and unarmed strikes are treated the same. I tend to agree. Is there anything that shows them to be the same? Obviously the person at CustServ thinks so.