DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
Interesting point (and very true!).It's like how wolves and dogs only have a bite attack. Yet I've had the sh-- scratched out of me by a dog, who supposedly lacks a claw attack.
All this shows is that the game designers are like "dogs tend to bite as their primary weapon" so didn't feel the need to stat up every possible way they could attack. A human can certainly bite someone, but we're not built to be as good at that sort of thing as a cat.
Apparently we're terrible at punching and kicking too, since we lack slam attacks...
I've been clawed by my dog as well (both of them, but one in particular the little scrapper). I think it is mostly about attack/weapon effectiveness. Although I believe for most dogs biting is a better weapon, it also puts the dog at more risk as they have to be extremely close to bite compared to scratching.
I can understand why the designers didn't want to list every attack possible for every creature, mostly because the system doesn't support the need to use any attack other than the most effective typically.
Unfortunately, the same is true for weapons in the PHB, most characters will use the most effective weapon they can afford or find, which leaves about 70% of weapons unused IME anyway.
And in truth, most people are terrible at punching and kicking, which is why we moved Unarmed Strike back to being a Simple Weapon. IMNSHO, sorcerers and wizards should not know (by default) how to use unarmed strikes.