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Crimson_Concert]At-will attack powers are a terrible idea. If they're standard action attack powers, they become just as bad as the current Minotaur racial encounter power, channeling the race into a melee class and role or else have a useless racial power because your standard action is supposed to be what you use in order to fulfill your class and party role. If they're at-will minor action attack powers, then that's just overpowered.

For the most part I agree with this. An at-will natural attack power as part of a race's stat block would definitely not be the way to go (but see below*).

At-will attack powers are a terrible idea. If they're standard action attack powers, they become just as bad as the current Minotaur racial encounter power, channeling the race into a melee class and role or else have a useless racial power because your standard action is supposed to be what you use in order to fulfill your class and party role. If they're at-will minor action attack powers, then that's just overpowered.[/quote]
For the most part I agree with this. An at-will natural attack power as part of a race's stat block would definitely not be the way to go (but see below*).

Crimson_Concert]As for unarmed attack improvement, etc., they're usually completely useless because they can't be enchanted like other weapons can, and somebody allows unarmed attacks to be enchanted, then it's still inappropriate because it again becomes the kind of racial benefit like the Half-Orc's Swift Charge that's great for melee weapon classes and roles but completely useless to everybody else, and that's bad design.

But disagree with this. I think unarmed attack improvements are a good way of implementing natural weapons.

First, I see no reason why natural weapons can't be enchanted. I don't have a DDi account, but from what I hear, monks' unarmed strikes can be enchanted. I see no reason why other natural weapons cannot.

As for the universal usability issue, the answer to that is simple. Make natural weapons a racial feat instead of a default racial feature. Melee oriented members of the race can choose take it while non-melee members can take other feats.

This is, in fact, the approach I intend to take with a couple of my own races. I figure it will work if I make natural weapons a feat, and make said feat equivalent to a Superior Weapon feat so that in either case you're spending a feat to access to a new weapon that's worth the investment. And aside from the base cost of a manufactured weapon, they will cost the same as well.

*Though technically, with this approach, you are making natural weapons an at-will power. At the very least, your melee basic attack becomes a natural weapon attack, and if you're a melee character with melee at wills...

As for unarmed attack improvement, etc., they're usually completely useless because they can't be enchanted like other weapons can, and somebody allows unarmed attacks to be enchanted, then it's still inappropriate because it again becomes the kind of racial benefit like the Half-Orc's Swift Charge that's great for melee weapon classes and roles but completely useless to everybody else, and that's bad design.[/quote]
But disagree with this. I think unarmed attack improvements are a good way of implementing natural weapons.

First, I see no reason why natural weapons can't be enchanted. I don't have a DDi account, but from what I hear, monks' unarmed strikes can be enchanted. I see no reason why other natural weapons cannot.

As for the universal usability issue, the answer to that is simple. Make natural weapons a racial feat instead of a default racial feature. Melee oriented members of the race can choose take it while non-melee members can take other feats.

This is, in fact, the approach I intend to take with a couple of my own races. I figure it will work if I make natural weapons a feat, and make said feat equivalent to a Superior Weapon feat so that in either case you're spending a feat to access to a new weapon that's worth the investment. And aside from the base cost of a manufactured weapon, they will cost the same as well.

*Though technically, with this approach, you are making natural weapons an at-will power. At the very least, your melee basic attack becomes a natural weapon attack, and if you're a melee character with melee at wills...

And then of course you run into logical inconsistencies with existing races. Why exactly do you get an better unarmed attack than a Razor-Claw Shifter? Why do you get an at-will attack power when the Minotaur and his powerful horns do not? Why are your teeth significant enough for mechanical representation when the Dragonborn get nothing for their obviously superior dentures?

Such inconsistencies are a matter of flavor and willing to suspend disbelief. The simplest answer for why a race's claws are sharper than a Razor-Claw Shifter's or bites stronger than a Dragonborn's is because they simply are. Race's X claws really are sharper, stronger, and, perhaps most importantly, made of something that can endure repeated use as a weaponthat will be utilized against anything from as weak as flesh and as tough as metal without threat of causing self injury. A creature with a weaponized bite might not only have chomps strong enough to crunch through metal on a daily basis, but jaw muscles like a croc to exert enormous pressure for their size and perhaps their teeth replace themselves regularly like a sharks.

A second simple explanation is that they had to hone their existing appendages through training in order weaponize them, much in the same way monks have to hone their unarmed strikes. The amount of training my be reduced due to their natural appendages being almost tough enough to see serious combat use, but additional training is needed all the same.

You could always say that Race X's natural weapon are inherently magical. Plenty of critters in 3e had innately magical natural weapons for the purpose of defeating damage reduction. It's a simple matter of applying the same concept here, but instead of being magic enough to defeat DR, they're magic enough to be used as a weapon.

Or you could always suspend disbelief and simply ignore the flavor issue. Race X has a natural weapon because its cool; Dragonborn don't because they already have plenty of abilities as is and don't need any more.

But the exact explanation, along with addressing or ignoring whatever inconsistencies or breaks in verisimilitude crop up, is the responsibility of the race's creator (though such logical inconsistency need not exist at all if you let other theme-appropriate races acquire natural weapons as well).