Assisted esacpe - Grappling [Archive] - Wizards Community

Assisted esacpe - Grappling [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Silver.Lynx
03-22-06, 11:46 AM I recently had a game where the party's ranger (a halfling) was grabbed by an ankheg and couldn't escape it's jaws. The party's Barbarian (female elf)went over to assist him in escaping. I just winged it, because I couldn't recall rules for this scenario, but I looked later and I couldn't find anything to do with assisted escaping in a grapple (for example what happens when she pried it's jaws off the poor halfling, and how does she do it?).

Was there something I missed? or is there anything? what would you have done?

Slynx
equilibrium17
03-22-06, 12:02 PM Hm. Well, for starters, you could simply rule that the Barbrian is taking the action of "Aid Another", giving the halfling a +2 to attack rolls.

Seems a bit weak, though -- I would think the Barb would be able to help a bit more than that. . .

Alternative: Maybe the best way to handle this is to require the Barbarian to attempt to start a grapple. If successful, Barb is has taken hold and is grappling Ankheng's jaws. Perhaps apply an attack penalty to the intial touch attack roll, since the Barb is attempting to establish hold on a specific part of the Ankheng.

If Barb can successfully establishs hold, then make her attampt to establish a pin, if she can do that, I'd say that qualifies as enough control over the Grapple to pry the jaws loose.

Off the top of my head, that's how I'd do it, anyway. . . curious to see of others have better ideas.
nghtsngr
03-22-06, 12:37 PM There exist rules for breaking anothers pin, and I'd use those rules to break someone free of a grapple too. So, this is how I'd get it to work.

Step 1: Join the grapple. Works just like a regular grapple, but your target gets no attack of opportunity and the grab automatically hits.

Step 2: Perform the "Break Another’s Pin" Action. Described below as in SRD.

Step 3: Escape from Grapple. Ok, here's where you run into trouble. The halfling still has to escape from the grapple huddle.

My initial reaction is, if the target isn't pinned, you can use the "Break Another's Pin", and it would free the halfling from the grapple. But assuming that the halfling cannot win a grapple check against the Ankheg, you would either need an additional helper (one to break the pin, the other to break the grapple), or an additional ruling.

One way to adjust the rules would be to have each additional opposing member of the grapple impose a modifier to your grapple. Say -4, modified by size (0 for small, -8 for large). This is better then the results of an "assist another", but won't lead to dogpiles against really tough bad-guys. Combining the two rules leads to a semi-realistic situation where the more people involved against you, the harder you have it.

Hope that helps some.

"Break Another's Pin"
If you are grappling an opponent who has another character pinned, you can make an opposed grapple check in place of an attack. If you win, you break the hold that the opponent has over the other character. The character is still grappling, but is no longer pinned.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Silver.Lynx 03-22-06, 11:46 AM	I recently had a game where the party's ranger (a halfling) was grabbed by an ankheg and couldn't escape it's jaws. The party's Barbarian (female elf)went over to assist him in escaping. I just winged it, because I couldn't recall rules for this scenario, but I looked later and I couldn't find anything to do with assisted escaping in a grapple (for example what happens when she pried it's jaws off the poor halfling, and how does she do it?). Was there something I missed? or is there anything? what would you have done? Slynx
equilibrium17 03-22-06, 12:02 PM	Hm. Well, for starters, you could simply rule that the Barbrian is taking the action of "Aid Another", giving the halfling a +2 to attack rolls. Seems a bit weak, though -- I would think the Barb would be able to help a bit more than that. . . Alternative: Maybe the best way to handle this is to require the Barbarian to attempt to start a grapple. If successful, Barb is has taken hold and is grappling Ankheng's jaws. Perhaps apply an attack penalty to the intial touch attack roll, since the Barb is attempting to establish hold on a specific part of the Ankheng. If Barb can successfully establishs hold, then make her attampt to establish a pin, if she can do that, I'd say that qualifies as enough control over the Grapple to pry the jaws loose. Off the top of my head, that's how I'd do it, anyway. . . curious to see of others have better ideas.
nghtsngr 03-22-06, 12:37 PM	There exist rules for breaking anothers pin, and I'd use those rules to break someone free of a grapple too. So, this is how I'd get it to work. Step 1: Join the grapple. Works just like a regular grapple, but your target gets no attack of opportunity and the grab automatically hits. Step 2: Perform the "Break Another’s Pin" Action. Described below as in SRD. Step 3: Escape from Grapple. Ok, here's where you run into trouble. The halfling still has to escape from the grapple huddle. My initial reaction is, if the target isn't pinned, you can use the "Break Another's Pin", and it would free the halfling from the grapple. But assuming that the halfling cannot win a grapple check against the Ankheg, you would either need an additional helper (one to break the pin, the other to break the grapple), or an additional ruling. One way to adjust the rules would be to have each additional opposing member of the grapple impose a modifier to your grapple. Say -4, modified by size (0 for small, -8 for large). This is better then the results of an "assist another", but won't lead to dogpiles against really tough bad-guys. Combining the two rules leads to a semi-realistic situation where the more people involved against you, the harder you have it. Hope that helps some. "Break Another's Pin" If you are grappling an opponent who has another character pinned, you can make an opposed grapple check in place of an attack. If you win, you break the hold that the opponent has over the other character. The character is still grappling, but is no longer pinned.