Does the bash of Tuotilo's Palm benefit from Confident Aim?

[Uni]

I guess the question is also about shield bashes in general.

Unarmed attacks are affected by Confident Aim and the bash of Tuotilo's Palm benefits from things that affect unarmed attacks. Or at least the wording on it's upgrades make that seem to be the case.

If the item can proc Confident Aim, does it need small shield proficiency or does it use the automatic unarmed one?

[2MuchWatching]

Proficiency allows one to use the associated modal ability of a given weapon or shield type. With unarmed main hand and Tuotilo's Palm in off-hand, the wielder can benefit from either or both Binding Block and/or Haymaker abilities. Haymaker modal confers +2 penetration to attacks with Tuotilo's Palm in off-hand and fist main hand.   

I didn't specifically test Confident Aim with the shield but it is treated as an unarmed attack and everybody gets unarmed attack proficiency automatically (Haymaker modal ability).

Edited May 22, 2020 by 2MuchWatching
Clarity

[thelee]

I'm actually going to hazard a guess that it doesn't benefit from confident aim.

The fact that it gets a +2 PEN from haymaker I think is just an artifact of an implementation detail that also lets it benefit from Monastic Unarmed Training. (I think it's just a bit or keyword that gets set) I suspect it would function more like Rot Skulls or druid spiritshift claws, which have no explicit weapon type, and therefore wouldn't benefit from confident aim.