I'm a grapplin' man

[Sunwolfe]

Hail, BRPians:

We had a hella marathon game Saturday night; we hooked up about noon and played until sometime around 1:00 am Too much fun.

Anyway, we came to grips with (no pun intended) the grapple rules-engine during the game when a demon and an npc went at it in a ritual challenge. What I'd like to do here is recount the process round by round, which we hope was understood and enacted correctly. I then, my dearest friends, ladies and gentlemen, angels and demonata, hope to gain from you confirmation that we did indeed proceed correctly or, if not, check out my questions below, offer your advice and return us to the "...wonted way again, to both [our] honors."

Round one:

A. Having the higher DEX rank, the NPC moved first and failed his grapple attack.

B. The demon moved in and made a successful grapple attack.

C. The NPC tried to use a grapple parry and failed, thus, the demon rolled a random hit-location to see what he’d grappled on to… the left arm.

End of round one.

Round two:

A. The NPC began to “attack” the demon by using a brawl punch which was successful…huzzah…an EASY action at clinch range, and inflicted 1D3 +db on the head of the demon.

B. The demon enacted his grapple effect, in this case “CHANGE HOLD (61),” exchanging the arm for a head.

C. In the DEX : DEX resistance roll in which the demon was active and the NPC passive the demon won.

D. A grapple check was done by the demon to see if he’d held on.

End of round two.

Round three:

A. The DEX edged NPC opts not to try a grapple but to continue to bludgeon his demonic opponent with his fist unsympathetically about the head, again rolling the above damage.

B. The demon then proceeds on to the “grapple effect”…in this case “STRANGLE THE TARGET”.

C. After a contest of STR : STR which the NPC loses the pain begins.

D. A grapple check is made to again see if the demon held on.

End of round three.

Round four:

A. The NPC goes for his CON X 1% roll and fails

B. The NPC takes 1D3 damage to his hp

C. A second STR : STR fails for the NPC

D. A grapple check is made to see if the demon looses his grip.

End of round four.

Round five:

A. The NPC goes for second CON X 1% and fails taking more damage.

B. The STR : STR rolls this time in favor of the NPC who breaks the hold and scrambles away.

C. Circling each other warily the round ends.

Have we done this correctly?

Could the NPC have made another brawl attack at the beginning of round four or is he too busy with the CON x 1% roll?

Is it my imagination or does the grapple round have less symmetry than the combat round?

Should the grapple checks come at the beginning of each round?

Should the NPC have been able to go for a grapple parry during round three when the demon went for the STRANGLE THE TARGET effect or was that taken up by his brawl attack?

PS...the NPC had lost their left hand sometime back and we ruled that he could not therefore, "...attempt to Grapple back."

Thanks for the look-see! :thumb:

[soltakss]

It looks reasonable to me. I'd allow a grapple counter if the character has a free action, so a punch attack and grapple counter would be fine. Even without a hand, he should be able to counter some actions with a grapple roll, perhaps at -20%, simply by putting his arm in the way.

I'd also allow things like body checks (SIZ vs SIZ) to barge the opponent out of the way.

Above all, ensure that if flows well and doesn't get stalled by discussions about why the PC can't do such and such.

[vagabond]

It looks pretty sound to me except for this:

PS...the NPC had lost their left hand sometime back and we ruled that he could not therefore, "...attempt to Grapple back."

Thanks for the look-see! :thumb:

Why not? There are more than a few instances of wrestlers who are

missing a hand or even most of an arm. While their may be some penalty

associated with it, depending on how long ago the hand was lost, and

how good at grappling the NPC is, it should have been possible.

-V

[Jason D]

Why not? There are more than a few instances of wrestlers who are missing a hand or even most of an arm. While their may be some penalty associated with it, depending on how long ago the hand was lost, and how good at grappling the NPC is, it should have been possible.

Agreed. I'd allow the NPC the attempt, though at a penalty.

[Sunwolfe]

Thanks for the heads-up.

Yeah, we debated over the lost hand bit and in retrospect I'd play it with some sort of percental disadvantage and thus give the poor NPC more of a chance. At the time, trying to get the procedure down RAW before we tinkered with it and the phrase, "If two hands are free, the target can attempt to Grapple back" (61) held us off from making adjustments. Now that I know we did it *right*, we'll play it more from the gut as we usually do. Thanks again :thumb:

Cheers,

Sunwolfe

[Simlasa]

so... just curious... who won the wrestling match... hero or demon?

[Sunwolfe]

...but on points the match went to the NPC.

The deck was truly stacked against the poor guy. A very powerful sorcerer sent a demon of combat as a warning to the PCs who had a magical artifact in their possession the sorcerer wanted but which they were unwilling to give up. The demon was instructed to challenge a particular NPC to ritual combat according to the NPC’s cultural norms and in the NPC's own language. The sorcerer knew this NPC was without a hand, that he had lost a suit of demon-armor in an earlier encounter and that the NPC would be honor bound to accept the challenge.

This type of ritual combat had strict rules that dictated how the participants would fight and with what natural weapons. In the course of the long bout (a couple turns worth of combat rounds) in which the grappling was but a small part, both combatants whittled each other down pretty close to zero hp. The demon, however had the ability to Regenerate, so, though he was close to being defeated at least three times, he recovered enough that the PCs felt like the NPC was starting over each time the two would break and reengage.

In the end the demon killed the NPC, but because he had fought so well, the demon allowed the PCs to enter the ritual battle ground immediately and heal the dead NPC to positive hp before the following round was over. In turn, one of the PCs offered to heal the demon of his great wounds, “…in recognition of the greater battle you have fought.” The demon who admired bravery and scorned cowardice (an “attitude” the PCs picked up as the result of earlier circumstances during the combat), was amazed that the party would treat an enemy with such honor. Though bound to perform his mission, he was nonetheless moved to offer them a final gift—a warning:

“I am the least of those he [the sorcerer] will now send,” he said. “Weigh your choices carefully.”