Coming back soon; planning awesome new character

[07paul87]

Hello all! I should be back on this awesome server within a couple of months. Since I've little else to do, I thought I'd start planning my new character. I've got a rough plan formulated, brace yourselves:

Grappler.

A pure melee build who prefers to finish fights by hugging the enemy to death. I'm thinking some kind of recently freed/escaped gladiator, or from a strong warrior culture that highly values 'rasslin. I'd greatly appreciate some tips/ideas/feedback for the background, if anyone is willing to chime in.

Now, onto the mechanics. I've been in Afghanistan for about a year; my memory of the grappling rules are a little rusty. It works like this, right?

1. Attempt melee touch attack (ignores armor AC), roll d20+AB vs. DC of defender's AC+Escape Artist

2. If successful, defender is grappled. At this point both parties may only use small/tiny weapons, and there's some kind of spell casting failure, right?

3. May attempt to pin the defender, by performing a STR check. I think it works like d20+STR vs. DC d20+Escape Artist+STR.

4. If pinned, defender receives a penalty to AB, AC, and a huge penalty to casting. Attacker gets a bonus to attack?

That's what I remember. I did a quick search in the wiki, but found nothing about the specifics of grappling. If anyone could provide the exact mechanics, again, I'd appreciate it.

tl;dr--I'm coming back. New character is going to be a grappler. How does grappling work? Please help with background/lore of new PC.

Thanks!

[07paul87]

I've got a few ideas, the character is starting to shape up rather nicely in my head. I'm thinking a dwarven thug with a drug and hygiene problems (because what's worse than getting a sweaty man-hug? Getting a sweaty man-hug from a filthy little person).

Speaking of drug problem, is the drug system still in play? I saw some older threads about the system, and am very interested in it. Are the drugs findable without DM interaction?

I'm so pumped to be back in the States and able to play here again!

[Saulus]

Drug system is still in place and being used, no doubt about that.

And you can never have too many dwarves...

[07paul87]

Great, thanks!

[roguethree]

I'm not sure that the grappling system is still in.

[07paul87]

Wait, what?! Why?! I loved grappling, especially because (back when I was playing, at least) it was one of the few tools available to melee warriors to have a decent chance to defeat casters. I don't suppose someone would mind checking it out IG, would they?

I hope you're trolling me, roguethree, but if not, I suppose I could focus on the Goretusks again.

[OnyxTigress]

There is a grappling feat, but it is incredibly buggy.

[07paul87]

Really? I remember it working pretty well a year ago. It wasn't pretty, but it seemed to work to me. I recall frequently being confused about whether or not the opponent was pinned, but nothing too wonky, from my end at least. I guess I'll just have to wait until I can login again.

My biggest beef with it was the fact that there was a skill to defend against grappling (escape artist), but no skill to improve offensive abilities.

[OnyxTigress]

Yes, I remember quite a few times a dm needed to help someone who was stuck because of grapple. Don't remember what exactly happened to them, but they ended up getting really screwed up because of it.

[07paul87]

Oh. Goddamnit.

Well, I greatly appreciate the heads-up. I used to grapple a little with Hraligar, but that was usually only in response to scary caster-types, and it wasn't that often.

On a related note, do you know the weapon size that can be used while grappling? I know tiny weapons can be used, but what about small (for medium-sized creatures)?

I'm going through the forums now to dig up everything I can on grappling. It's going kind of slow.

[OnyxTigress]

I just looked at the description of the feat on my character sheet, and it says only small and tiny weapons can be used in your main hand.

[07paul87]

Sweet, thanks! I've got a pretty solid foundation for my character's backstory and personality, now I'm just trying to work out the mechanical/feat/skill stuff.

[07paul87]

I *finally* found the detailed info for grapple. I'll see if I can make wiki additions for all of the custom general combat feats later.

Grapple
Type of Feat: Combat (Free)

Specifics: As a standard action, you may attempt to grapple your opponent. In a grapple, both you and your target cannot move, are denied your dodge bonus to AC, reduced to a single attack per round and are subject to a 50% chance of spell failure. You also cannot turn invisible and any active invisibility effects will be removed. Lastly, any items in your offhand as well as weapons larger than small size in your main hand will be unequipped. As long as you're grappling, you are prohibited from equipping anything in your hands other than small and tiny melee weapons.

Before a grapple succeeds, a number of conditions apply. Your target gets to make an attack roll (d20 + BAB + primary ability modifier for increasing AB (Str or Dex with Weapon Finesse). This attack does no damage, but if it hits your grapple fails. Secondly, you make a melee touch attack against the target which must hit, else the grapple attempt will fail. Finally, you make an opposed grapple check (d20 + BAB + Strength Mod + Size Mod). If this succeeds also, you will have your target grappled.

When in a grapple, the grappler gets to either release or pin his victim once per round. The pinned target is silenced, gains an additional -4 penalty to AC and a -10 penalty to his attack rolls (not opposed grapple checks).

The grappled target gets the opportunity to try and escape the grapple once each round. This is done through an opposed grapple check, or an escape artist check vs the grappler's grapple check. Whichever is more favorable to the grappled individual. If pinned, the grappled individual first has to escape the pin before he can attempt to escape a grapple. In case multiple grapplers are holding the same individual down, he will only be able to escape the grapple of one grappler per round, starting with the first who initiated the grapple.

[07paul87]

I didn't realize more than two people could grapple. I'd love to see three/four goblins at a time hold PCs down

[Root]

Yeah. Don't try grappling. More often than not you just kind of stand in front of them for two rounds, then make a bugged check, then you're dead if they're any real threat.

I made the mistake twice of trying it in PvP rather than just attacking once and sitting back with popcorn. First time it caused me to lock up and stand there until I died, second time the wasted time cost me the (close) fight.

I use it more as a social tool than anything else. Grabbing someone before a fight has started.