1

I got an idea to build a lizardfolk sun soul monk for some cool RP with praise the sun, sunrays from reptile jaws and stuff. But then I see bite can be used as unarmed attack. From this point I have several questions about Martial Arts and Bite's interaction:

  1. Can I use Bite instead of any unarmed attack? For example two additional bites in flurry of blows.
  2. How does it work with Martial Arts dice? Will bite dice be similar to MA dice? If yes, its means both sides (downgrade to d4 on low levels and get d8 later)?
  3. How does this affect the Hungry Jaws Trait?
  4. Can I bite with Dex?
  5. Is it possible to use Bite as a bonus action?
V2Blast
  • 49,864
  • 10
  • 220
  • 304
Gorock
  • 325
  • 2
  • 4
  • 7
  • 2
    This question has a lot of crossover with the one linked by @tox123 If you want to avoid it getting closed as duplicate you should [edit] to focus on the parts of your question not answered in the other one. – linksassin Jan 09 '19 at 03:04

2 Answers2

4

Bite. Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

  1. No, you cannot use it instead of an unarmed strike because your bite is an unarmed strike - you can choose to make any unarmed strike with your bite for piercing damage or any other part of your body for bludgeoning damage. Flurry of blows requires unarmed strike - your bite is an unarmed strike.

You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon.

  1. A bite is an unarmed strike so you can choose to use your Martial Arts dice or not. For levels 1-4 you probably won't for levels 11+ you probably will and for levels 5-10 it doesn't matter.

  2. Apart from what's stated above, it doesn't affect the Hungry Jaws trait.

  3. "You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes" - like your bite.

  4. You can only use a bonus action when the conditions for it are satisfied. If you have some sort of bonus action that you meet the prerequisites of that allows an attack, then you can bite (e.g. Flurry of Blows, Hungry Jaws, etc.)

V2Blast
  • 49,864
  • 10
  • 220
  • 304
Dale M
  • 210,673
  • 42
  • 528
  • 889
  • 3
    Your point #1 starts with "no", but reads like a yes. I think you are saying that you can use your bite with flurry of blows but that the question was about using a bite, which IS an unarmed strike, IN PLACE OF an unarmed strike, and that your "no" is meant to indicate that you don't use it IN PLACE OF an unarmed strike, you use it AS an unarmed strike, because it is. Which might be a funny joke, but confuses your answer. Or I'm completely misreading it, but in either case, I'm left confused by it. – cpcodes Jan 09 '19 at 01:02
4

You can Bite for all of your Unarmed Strikes.

The above question reasons that an unarmed strike is defined as:

"Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an un­armed strike: a punch, kick, head-butt, or similar forceful blow (PHB 195, errata v1.0)

The Lizardfolk's Bite attack is defined as:

Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. (VGtM 113)

Emphasis mine, notice the plural. Additionally,

When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. (PHB 78)

Therefore, you can supplement it in lieu of any type of unarmed strike, not just your fists, kicks, headbutts, ect.

To further answer your question:

You can use the D6 damage die until it is weaker than your standard Monk damage die; you can even bite with Dex, but you must use your Monk's damage die, since at this point you're simply biting as flair. You can also use Str, as the Martial Arts feature says

You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons. (PHB 78).

Emphasis mine. It does not say that you must use Dexterity to gain the benefits of Martial Arts. As such, your bite effectively becomes a flavor feat at 5th level, since you can deal 1d6+Str (or +Dex) with any unarmed strike.

TL;DR

  1. Yes
  2. Either or; you choose which one. If it's Martial Arts, it must be Monk Dice + Dex or Monk Dice + Str. If it's Bite, it must be a D6 + Str.
  3. It's a separate feature, but should work with any Bite you do, as long as you have a free Bonus Action.
  4. Yes, but only using Martial Arts, aka Monk Dice.
  5. Yes.
Community
  • 1
Nicbobo
  • 6,648
  • 7
  • 39
  • 72