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Suppose we have a BAB +6 character with a secondary natural attack and the feat Snap Kick. When the character makes a full attack, what are the restrictions on attack order?

There are four attacks, each with a -2 penalty from Snap Kick:

  • P1 - first primary attack, BAB +6;
  • P2 - second primary attack, BAB +1;
  • S - secondary natural attack, BAB +6, with an additional -5 penalty;
  • K - the snap kick, BAB +6.

The full attack rules say P1 > P2.

If you get multiple attacks because your base attack bonus is high enough, you must make the attacks in order from highest bonus to lowest. If you are using two weapons, you can strike with either weapon first. If you are using a double weapon, you can strike with either part of the weapon first.

The text for Snap Kick implies that a weapon attack must precede K, so either P1 > K or S > K.

When you make a melee attack with one or more melee weapons (including a standard attack, full attack, or even a strike maneuver), you can make an additional attack at your highest attack bonus. This attack is an unarmed attack that deals damage equal to your base unarmed attack damage + 1/2 your Str bonus. You take a -2 penalty on all attack rolls you make this round.

Are these the only two restrictions? In particular, are both S-K-P1-P2 and S-P1-P2-K valid attack orders?

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1 Answer 1

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Snap Kick could be worded better. The general consensus is that whenever you get to make one-or-more melee attacks, you get one more at your highest BAB that must be an unarmed strike, at the cost of a −2 penalty on all attack rolls for the round.

Which means you can’t choose to use Snap Kick after your last attack to avoid the −2 attack penalty on the preceding attacks. And the rule specifies that multiple attacks occur in order of descending BAB, so by that rule P1, S, and K can happen in any order so long as P2 is last. You could argue that K first is not really in keeping with the wording—which isn’t great but fine. Two-weapon fighting, itself, is kind of in a similar boat. So that would leave P1, K, S, P2 or P1, S, K, P2 as legal orderings.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you. It's not my intent to avoid the -2 penalty. I figure that it applies to all four attacks. But I do want to begin with the natural attack, as it might degrade an opponent's defenses. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sam Azon
    Nov 13, 2021 at 16:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't get the snap kick and secondary attack from a having a high BAB, so I don't think that the BAB-ordering rule applies to them. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sam Azon
    Nov 13, 2021 at 16:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ @SamAzon You can’t use a natural weapon with Snap Kick; you have to use an unarmed strike (I know, it says “unarmed attack,” but that phrase consistently refers to unarmed strike—nothing refers to natural weapons as “unarmed attacks”). Also, natural weapons use entirely different rules that add more complications here. But you are correct about the descending BAB thing being written for iteratives—that one is more of a pretty wide consensus extending it to extra attacks as well. But RAW, I suppose, P₂ after P₁ is probably the only “real” rule. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Nov 13, 2021 at 16:48

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