@JeremyECrawford Are Tabaxi claws considered finesse weapons?
— Klaumbaz (@Klaumbaz) November 6, 2016
Nothing is a finesse weapon unless it explicitly has the finesse property. Tabaxi claws don't have that property. #DnD https://t.co/ALnizC2dEt
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 6, 2016
@JeremyECrawford Thats weird, because a lot of monsters in the DMG use claws, and use DEX to calcular their attacks
— Oniguma (@Oniguma) November 6, 2016
Using Dexterity with a weapon doesn't make it a finesse weapon. Having the finesse property makes it a finesse weapon. #DnD https://t.co/iNEVhw9SjG
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 6, 2016
@wetsailIf nothing else, just give it the option to be STR/DEX in the eventual Volo errata. Wouldn’t break balance. It currently works as intended.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 6, 2016
@RhysMandrake @wetsailA tabaxi is a lot more like a puma than a housecat. Pumas would more reasonably use Strength, I think. Bingo!
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 7, 2016
Jeremy Crawford you’re being the most hardcore raw lawyer I’ve ever seen. Claws should be versatile depending on character. If a character is based on dex don’t you think that the character would have found a way to use his own body efficiently.
Yeah, if Tabaxi are like Pumas which should rely on strength and dexterity together, they should have had a bonus to strength in dexterity. They have a bonus to charisma and dexterity, yet their claws are not meant to be used with dexterity. It does seem inconsistent. If you argue that claws need power to be effective, then why would a dagger be finesse but claws are not? Claws are more blunt than daggers, maybe. Unless, the dagger is blunt and the claws are sharpened. Yeah I think this ruling is straight up wrong. No offense, just my opinion.
This doesn’t make any sense; if you want the race to have an attack boosting stat, AND give them a natural attack, why would you make the attack not feed off of the stat? You’re forcing the player to choose between the classes/attacks that focus on dexterity and a race feature. It’s at best a dagger, why punish the rogues/dex fighters?
I disagree with this ruling. It may be technically correct from a RAW perspective but it makes no sense thematically. The player should be able to choose considering they are at worst considered to be permanently armed with a dagger in each hand. Tabaxi gain a +2 bonus to dexterity. The implications are that they have somehow not adapted to actually make use of that bonus with the weapons that are literally part of their physiology?
To the best of my knowledge the 5e rule is that only piercing weopons can be finesse weapons because they are basically aimed and rely less on brute force. The problem as I see it is a misunderstanding of the feline anatomy. Cats aren’t trying to rend flesh (not even pumas) they are trying to pierce flesh, grab hold and then go for the throat with their bite.
The damage type should be piercing ( 1d2, half the length of a dagger) and finesse should be allowed.