Post/Author/DateTime	Post
pmurray@bigpond.com 12-05-07, 10:52 PM	Can a Giant Octopus grapple with one tentacle and still attack with it's others? If a Giant Octopus uses two tentacles to grapple an opponen, does each do constrict damage? Are there explicit rules for this? I don't want my players to be able to fairly claim "If it's grappling, then it can't make other attacks". It seems a lot - but it's balanced by the fact that you can sunder tentacles. By rights, it ought to have DR (slashing or piercing)/5, but the fact that bludgeoning attacks do 1/2 damage underwater helps things a bit.
TwiddleStootch 12-05-07, 10:57 PM	Grappling Consequences While you’re grappling, your ability to attack others and defend yourself is limited. No Threatened Squares You don’t threaten any squares while grappling. No threatened squares, no attacks. And constrict is a special attack, it is not modified by the number of attacks you have. Home that helps :D
pmurray@bigpond.com 12-06-07, 01:12 AM	Well, that's not consistent with the SRD: An opponent can attack a giant octopus’s tentacles with a sunder attempt as if they were weapons. A giant octopus’s tentacles have 10 hit points each. If a giant octopus is currently grappling a target with the tentacle that is being attacked, it usually uses another limb to make its attack of opportunity against the opponent making the sunder attempt. It does seem that each tentacle needs to be treated as a separate creature with 1 attack per round that can independently grapple etc. Or something - an octopus doesn't seem to follow the usual rules.
Marcus Majarra 12-06-07, 01:23 AM	Giant octopi have the Improved Grab ability with their tentacles, which allows them to use the tentacles for grappling without being considered grappling themselves, assuming they take a -20 penalty on grapple checks with that tentacle.
Phrennzy 12-06-07, 10:05 AM	The title of this thread is misleading. I thought we would be discussing just how cool Giant Octopus is. He is really cool.
Finarin Panjoro 12-06-07, 12:10 PM	So then a giant octopus could grapple with mulitple tentacles since it takes a -20 penalty only with the grappling tentacle. That is the -20 penalty doesn't stack if its grappling more than one target. So it could grapple four targets (-20 on each), constrict them, and attack those four targets with the other four tentacles. Right? That could be quite nasty on a huge giant octopus.
TwiddleStootch 12-06-07, 12:16 PM	Ahh, my bad. I didn't check the Giant Octopus entry or the Improved Grab entry (I thought about it, but then figured it didn't matter, go figure :rolleyes: )
Marcus Majarra 12-06-07, 05:51 PM	That could be quite nasty on a huge giant octopus. Or on a kraken (or, gasp, a steel kraken!)
pmurray@bigpond.com 12-07-07, 11:40 PM	Ok. So: The giant octopus can grapple normally if it concentrates on one foe. That's 8 tentacles doing tentacle and constrict damage - but it loses it's dex bonus etc etc etc. If the giant octopus uses "improved grab", then it can take a -20 to hold an opponent with the individual body part involved. (ie, one tentacle). Successful grapple checks (at -20) do normal tentacle damage. If the octopus uses "constrict", it also does constrict damage. Nice. A lot of damage, with the caveat that the grapple checks are at -20. It's base grapple is +15, with a +5 Str bonus. Underwater, too.
Marcus Majarra 12-08-07, 01:50 AM	Actually, if the giant octopus concentrates on the opponent (in other words, if it doesn't use Improved Grab), it can only use one of its tentacles against that opponent.