2ed Animal affinity psionic and martial arts.

[Dagearg]

Hello everybody. How would you rule the following: in the Dark Sun setting, a psionic character with the Sensei kit and martial arts specialization uses the animal affinity psionic power, turning his hands into scorpion pincers. The martial arts bonus can be applied to the attacks he makes with them? If not, could any other type of unnarmed combat bonus be applied?

[Lord Torath]

I would tend to say "No, you can't combine scorpion pincers with martial arts."

Pincers are designed for grabbing and holding. Most martial arts are designed around hitting things. Those that revolve around grabbing and throwing require wrist and hand flexibility that scorpion-style claws simply don't possess.

Thri-kreen can make unarmed attacks, but they are usually more effective when they use their claws as intended instead of trying to box with them. Scorpion claws could be the same.

On the other hand, how much more damage do his regular claw attacks do compared to bare-handed attacks? Is it enough to make a substantial difference? If it's only a point or two more, you could allow it. Is there a thri-kreen PC in the group? Would you allow them to combine martial arts with their natural claw attacks? If yes, allow Scorpion Man^TM to do so. If not, no.

In general, martial arts do 1/4 "real" damage and 3/4 "temporary damage, right? You could allow the scorpion-claws to inflict the same damage as regular bare-handed attacks, but have it all be "real" damage when used with martial arts specialization. Or the player can choose to make regular claw attacks at regular claw damage.

[LibraryOgre]

"What kind of martial arts" would also be my question. Is it Fighter's Handbook? Gladiator's Handbook? Combat and Tactics? Complete Ninja? Because I could see SOME of those applying some of their effects, but not necessarily others, or all of them.

[SaurOps]

"What kind of martial arts" would also be my question. Is it Fighter's Handbook? Gladiator's Handbook? Combat and Tactics? Complete Ninja? Because I could see SOME of those applying some of their effects, but not necessarily others, or all of them.

The OP cited rules from The Will and the Way, which has a very stripped-down, Fighter's Handbook/PHB approach to Martial Arts where it's just maneuvers according to attack roll result. This can potentially be used to adjudicate whether the pincers apply - if the result is a hand strike, sure, use the pincers. If it says that you kicked, probably not so much (should have shapeshifted on a stinger tail instead!).

Other takes on martial arts might enable or disable things by style. A grappling style would probably benefit from them, a striking style focusing on punches might only gain slight benefit. Wrestling is probably still on if you want that, though.

[Dagearg]

Thank you for your replies. My main concern is the strike bonus he gets, not so much the damage he can do. He also gets the stinger tail (the psionic power states the character gets all the attacks of that creature).

With the martial arts bonus the player can change the dice roll result on the table, and he can always choose some kind of punch as a result due to the ammount of points he spent on the proficiency (or he can also choose to specialize in wrestling). However, I checked the Thri-Keen book and it states that natural weapons do not get strength bonus to hit, and that the specialization in natural weapons is an optional rule only available to gladiators and single class fighters.

So, unnarmed combat rules do not apply to player characters natural attacks (thanks for tip on the Thri-Keen).

My only question remaining is: does the psionc power turn the character unnarmed attacks into natural attacks?

[Lord Torath]

My only question remaining is: does the psionc power turn the character unarmed attacks into natural attacks?

BY the book, I would say the answer is "No, martial arts specialization does not stack with animal affinity." But that's not really the only thing to consider.

From the Rules for DMs thread:

It's ok for a PC to be powerful. The PC is supposed to be able to do amazing things.

With that said, here are a couple other 'rules' to consider:

3. What the players want today is a quick, easy victory. But what they will want tomorrow is to have faced insurmountable odds, finally defeating an enemy who they thought was about to kill them.

14. The players do not have the right to screw up the game. They do have the right to screw up your plot. Don’t confuse the two.

a. Do not give them a set of options that includes screwing up the game.

18. When the players ask for something - an item, a skill, a feat, whatever - they are not planning to use it for what it is intended for, they're planning the weirdest thing it could possibly be used for.

If letting the player apply his specialization bonuses would screw up the game (by making enemies too easy, by getting an ability other players with claws can't have, or for some other reason) tell him "no". If it won't screw up your game, allow it or go with a compromise.

How does the Sensei compare to the other PCs in terms of combat effectiveness? If he's lagging behind, I'd be more inclined to say "yes". If he's already the most powerful member of the party, that's a pretty firm "no". Could you let him have the ability on a trial basis, with the understanding that you will revoke or modify it if it proves too powerful?

I would certainly not permit the specialization benefits to extend to his tail, unless the player wants to spend a couple of weapon proficiencies learning a claw-and-tail martial arts style.