Martial Arts and Claws

[RyanW]

And there's nothing in the rules that says Claws has to be literal "claws." Claws could be knuckle spikes, for instance. If you really see a problem, maybe say the damage is the better of the Claws bonus and the skill bonus (Karate is about overcoming the limitations of barehanded strikes?).

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by RyanW

And there's nothing in the rules that says Claws has to be literal "claws." Claws could be knuckle spikes, for instance. If you really see a problem, maybe say the damage is the better of the Claws bonus and the skill bonus (Karate is about overcoming the limitations of barehanded strikes?).

Those are a pretty good points. Realistically, the damage bonuses of Brawling, Boxing, and Karate would have two components - one being making your fist/foot/whatever into a more efficient striking surface, the other being training to get the most power into your strikes from your muscles. The former would be a straight bonus to damage and wouldn't stack with Claws and the like (which already serve as efficient striking surfaces), while the latter would be treated like Trained ST from Technical Grappling and would. If just using current rules, however, it would arguably be most balanced to have Brawling work as-is and have Boxing/Karate have +1 of their total damage bonus not stack with Claws and the like. So, take a character with thr 2d and some Claws that do thr+1. Maximized Brawling, he can punch for 2d+1, claw for 2d+3/3d-1. Maximized Boxing/Karate, he can punch for 2d+3/3d-1, claw for 2d+4/3d (so he's at -1 damage when clawing relative to MA RAW).

[Kromm]

Honestly, I'd just have unarmed fighting skills modify punching and kicking damage completely blind to whether the damage they're modifying comes from ST, Claws, Striking ST, or something else. That is:

1. Start with ST.
2. Add any specialized ST (Arm ST, Striking ST, or anything weirder) that affects the unarmed attack in question.
3. Find thrust for that ST total.
4. Modify thrust as necessary for the basic attack type or technique (e.g., bite and punch are thrust-1).
5. Add any damage modifiers for Claws.
6. Add any damage modifiers for skills.

The most important principle to bear in mind is that you can count only a single modifier at each of the last three steps. You can't "stack" Exotic Hand Strike with Uppercut, Claws with Striker, or Boxing with Karate . . . and if you stick a claw-like fist weapon on your hand, you can't apply both its effects and those of natural Claws, or treat it as a weapon that gets Weapon Master bonuses and still claim Karate bonuses. You receive at most one attack-type effect, one striking-surface effect, and one skill effect.

[DouglasCole]

The only difference I'd look to use is to make the stuff modify ST, and look up the last.

[Kalzazz]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Unarmed Master from Pyramid 61 for stacking claws and strikers for superior hitting like a truck

[Anthony]

Multiple per-die bonuses can be problematic, so there might be balance issues to them all stacking, but ST-based damage in general has issues.

[Kalzazz]

I made a character once with claws, 19 ST, karate and Unarmed Master. Nifty, but could have done better with say a Sword for the most part