Neko claws

This may be a short thread, but I need to ask. When I read the wiki, it says that Citas have semi-retractable claws. What about your run-of-the-mill neko? Are their nails always shaped like claws, or can they draw them in and out?

this pretty much depends of the species.

I image there would be about 2 or 3 types of hands found on Nekos.
I've worked out traits for two so far:

Human like hands with claws:

• Hand has same basic dimensions as a human's hand.
  
• No retraction or anything.
  
• Claws are larger than other types but not as sharp. (approximately the width of a human fingernail, but much thicker).
  
• Much straighter than other types.
  
• Best used for stabbing with stiffened fingers in combat.
  
• The more "civilised" nekos seem to have this, as when the claws are clipped the hands seem identical to a human's (except for the fur, if any).
  
• Dexterity is equal to a humans
  

Semi retractable:

• Less human like hands;
  
• Fingers are a bit thicker to accommodate retraction.
  
• Claws are much sharper and
  
• Claws are more catlike (curved).
  
• Claws are able to retract somewhat.
  
• Best used for slashing in combat.
  
• Due to thicker fingers dexerity is reduced a bit.
  

Anime-Junkie wrote:

I image there would be about 2 or 3 types of hands found on Nekos.
I've worked out traits for two so far:

Human like hands with claws:

• Hand has same basic dimensions as a human's hand.
  
• No retraction or anything.
  
• Claws are larger than other types but not as sharp. (approximately the width of a human fingernail, but much thicker).
  
• Much straighter than other types.
  
• Best used for stabbing with stiffened fingers in combat.
  
• The more "civilised" nekos seem to have this, as when the claws are clipped the hands seem identical to a human's (except for the fur, if any).
  
• Dexterity is equal to a humans
  

these could slash too if you used them with a chopping motion

EDIT: and if grown and filed down right they could slash too

Reptillian wrote:

Anime-Junkie wrote:

I image there would be about 2 or 3 types of hands found on Nekos.
I've worked out traits for two so far:

Human like hands with claws:

• Hand has same basic dimensions as a human's hand.
  
• No retraction or anything.
  
• Claws are larger than other types but not as sharp. (approximately the width of a human fingernail, but much thicker).
  
• Much straighter than other types.
  
• Best used for stabbing with stiffened fingers in combat.
  
• The more "civilised" nekos seem to have this, as when the claws are clipped the hands seem identical to a human's (except for the fur, if any).
  
• Dexterity is equal to a humans
  

these could slash too if you used them with a chopping motion

True, but it'd be like a spear. You can slash with a spear, but it's still more effective to jab and thrust.

Reptillian wrote:

EDIT: and if grown and filed down right they could slash too

True...

Anime-Junkie wrote:

Reptillian wrote:

Anime-Junkie wrote:

I image there would be about 2 or 3 types of hands found on Nekos.
I've worked out traits for two so far:

Human like hands with claws:

• Hand has same basic dimensions as a human's hand.
  
• No retraction or anything.
  
• Claws are larger than other types but not as sharp. (approximately the width of a human fingernail, but much thicker).
  
• Much straighter than other types.
  
• Best used for stabbing with stiffened fingers in combat.
  
• The more "civilised" nekos seem to have this, as when the claws are clipped the hands seem identical to a human's (except for the fur, if any).
  
• Dexterity is equal to a humans
  

these could slash too if you used them with a chopping motion

True, but it'd be like a spear. You can slash with a spear, but it's still more effective to jab and thrust.

aren't spears a weapon that focuses on penetrating deeply into and enemy or even piercing them all the way? the nails would have to be very long to function like a spear

Reptillian wrote:

Anime-Junkie wrote:

EDIT: and if grown and filed down right they could slash too

True...

i would imagine that Felarya has some kind of magic, potions or remedies that could make your nails stronger. strong nails are quite handy in the wilderness^^

Reptillian wrote:

aren't spears a weapon that focuses on penetrating deeply into and enemy or even piercing them all the way? the nails would have to be very long to function like a spear

It was an analogy.

K, while I like the idea of them having claws, there's no animal on the planet, and certainly not a cat that uses claws in a stabbing motion rather than slashing. Cat claws aren't that strong and are designed to make long, shallow scratches that don't break their claws but are still very painful. As well as that, the way cats can slash something at the speed of light is very iconic, if they just tried to use their claws to stab A: They'd end up with broken fingers and B: it would look very awkward and nothing like a cat at all.

Jew wrote:

K, while I like the idea of them having claws, there's no animal on the planet, and certainly not a cat that uses claws in a stabbing motion rather than slashing. Cat claws aren't that strong and are designed to make long, shallow scratches that don't break their claws but are still very painful. As well as that, the way cats can slash something at the speed of light is very iconic, if they just tried to use their claws to stab A: They'd end up with broken fingers and B: it would look very awkward and nothing like a cat at all.

Who says they end up with broken fingers? If you try to stab a stone wall, yeah you might. Anyway, I was looking at it from the most logical standpoint. Remember, Nekos are not animals, (We are NOT starting that debate however); they have reason, logic and intelligence. Therefore they can go against nature.

When I was thinking about these, I designed the ones that are best for stabbing to be the host humanlike hands, as human fingernails are better used to jab than to slash. These claws are the least catlike of all, followed by the humanlike hands with curved claws and the semi-retractable claws.

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Edit:
I've redone the traits and renamed with more appropriate names. Also I've added the 3rd Type.

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Straight Claw:

• Hand has same basic dimensions as a human's hand.
  
• No retraction.
  
• Claws are larger than other types but not as sharp. (approximately the width of a human fingernail, but much thicker).
  
• Much straighter than other types.
  
• Best used for stabbing with stiffened fingers in combat.
  
• The more "civilised" nekos seem to have this, as when the claws are clipped the hands are very similar to a human's (except for the fur, if any).
  
• Dexterity is about equal to a humans
  

Curved Claws:

• Claws are obviously curved.
  
• Dimensions are dissimilar to a human's hand, however not to the extent of a Semi-retractable's hands.
  
• No retraction.
  
• Claws are not as wide than Straight-claws but much sharper.
  
• Claws are usually kept a bit shorter than a Semi-retractable Clawed Neko's, as they can get too long and curve over the finger, giving them better slashing ability but interfering with dexterity.
  
• Best used for slashing.
  
• Dexterity is (slightly?) less than a human's.
  

Semi retractable Claw:

• Curved Claws
  
• Less human like hands;
  
• Fingers are a bit thicker to accommodate retraction.
  
• Claws are much sharper
  
• Claws are able to retract.
  
• Best used for slashing in combat.
  
• Due to thicker fingers dexterity is reduced a bit.
  
• Claws can be grown longer than a normal Curved Claw's without interfering with dexterity as their retraction means that there's no problem with the claws protudin over the finger's width and getting in the way.
  

Fingers are suprisingly delicate, and jabbing at anything with them out like that is begging for trouble. There's a reason no-one on the planet made weapons like the metal claw things you see in some fantasy, because even with armour on your hand, your fingers will snap like twigs if you put too much force behind them. And also while I never said nekos were animals, they're based on cats, obviously. They are agile like cats, playful like cats, hiss and spit like cats, and IMO they should fight like cats, not an enraged prom queen.

Jew wrote:

Fingers are suprisingly delicate, and jabbing at anything with them out like that is begging for trouble. There's a reason no-one on the planet made weapons like the metal claw things you see in some fantasy, because even with armour on your hand, your fingers will snap like twigs if you put too much force behind them. And also while I never said nekos were animals, they're based on cats, obviously. They are agile like cats, playful like cats, hiss and spit like cats, and IMO they should fight like cats, not an enraged prom queen.

Yes fingers are easilly jarred or broken however if the claw's hardness and sharpness allows it to easily penetrate the surface which you are striking, the majority of the kinetic energy will be despersed in the act of penetration rather than rebounding back into the fingers and damaging them. It all depends on the properties of the claw and of the surface you are striking, if the resistance proves greater than the exerted force you apply expect some broken fingers.

CauldronBorn24 wrote:

Yes fingers are easilly jarred or broken however if the claw's hardness and sharpness allows it to easily penetrate the surface which you are striking, the majority of the kinetic energy will be despersed in the act of penetration rather than rebounding back into the fingers and damaging them. It all depends on the properties of the claw and of the surface you are striking, if the resistance proves greater than the exerted force you apply expect some broken fingers.

The problem is that it's really unreliable that you won't break your fingers. If the person moves and you strike an area with bone just under the skin, or armour or something, or even if they tensed their muscles, you've probably fucked up your hand quite a bit. They could also just grab your fingers and bend them back really hard too, because the way people jab with fingers is pretty easy to predict. If you slash at something and meet something too hard, the worst you can expect is some torn nails.

That is very true; no one said it would be a dominanting fighting style or the most effective one, however you have to work with what you got.

Just adding my two cents, I can't imagine any type of claws to be useful in a stabbing motion, lest they're a foot long and as hard as rock.

Sean Okotami wrote:

Just adding my two cents, I can't imagine any type of claws to be useful in a stabbing motion, lest they're a foot long and as hard as rock.

That doesn't work for one good reason: The skin connecting them.

Hey,

Regarding the hand type, I imagine a sort of slightly longer, sharper and slightly-hooked nail-claw. Perhaps an individual neko sharpens and trims and maybe even decorates them to suit their taste. Thinking about how humans fight we may either choose to poke someone's eyes out (stabbing-type attack) or claw their eyes out (slashing/digging type attack). I think a generalist human-like (nekos are cat-people, where 'people' means 'humans' after all) approach which allows a range of fighting instincts and trained techniques is more realistic. Further, it offers more opportunity for artists and writers to follow their vision of how nekos with this hand type should fight. Reading this thread, it seems there are some quite strong ideas about stabbing or slashing, so it'd be good to accommodate both if it can be sensibly done.

Setting that debate aside, I really like the idea of the more cat-like 'paw-hands'. At first it seemed contradictory that they're less dexterous, but after some thought of course that makes perfect sense, even if the nekos themselves are much more dexterous than humans generally. A footnote - heh - all neko feet should probably be of this type, more than the 'hand type'.

Yours,

Ambrose,

What about a neko with fur-covered hands, kind of like if they were wearing gloves? The claws could be shaped and retract just like a real cat's could, yes? Would that be plausible?