Outmaneuvered II: Revenge of the Grappled

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

About a month ago I was punished... er.., I mean rewarded with the task of answering questions about combat maneuvers in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The blog was so well received that I quickly promised to do another one in short order. Well, projects flew by, and I got pulled away, and short order dragged out into weeks, but now I'm back, and here to answer more pressing questions about combat maneuvers.

Ready?

Illustration by Tyler Walpole

Question: What kind of attacks can you make while you are being grappled? Specifically, if I'm being grappled, can I forgo escaping the grapple to make a full-attack action with a natural, unarmed attack, or attack with light weapon, getting any and all iterative attacks if possible with that action?

Yes. Furthermore, you don't even have to make these attacks against the creature grappling you. While do suffer the normal –2 penalties on attack rolls while grappled, and you are limited in the types of attacks you can make, you gain all the normal attack rolls such an action would normally give you against any creature within your reach.

If you're the one grappling the creature, you can also make your normal attacks, but realize that this ends the grapple. Most of the time you're better off selecting the grapple option that allows you to deal damage to your target as a single unarmed attack, natural attack, or an attack with a light weapon. While you do not get more damage potential based on any iterative attacks, you do not have to make an attack roll. The damage is automatic with the successful grapple check. And let's face it; if you're performing this maneuver, chances are you're pretty good at it.

Lastly, while it should go without saying, keep in mind that attacks of opportunity are not possible while you are grappled, unless you have some feat or other effect that specifically allows them in that condition.

Question: Both the bull rush and drag combat maneuvers say that you have to move the foe in a straight line either forward or backward, depending on the combat maneuver you are performing. What exactly does that mean if the person performing the maneuver is moving diagonally?

When one of these maneuvers tells you to move a foe forward or backward in a straight line, start by placing a point in the middle of your space and make a line to the center of your target's space. Then extend that line in the direction you are trying to move your foe. If you succeed in performing the maneuver you can move your foe into any square that line crosses, depending on how much movement your check grants you.

In the case of a bull rush, if you do not move into the square your foe occupied, and you move that creature more than 5 feet, you cannot reposition this line based on the opponent's new location. The bull rush continues to follow the original line. But if you do move into a new space as part of the maneuver and then continue to move your foe, you can reposition the line of movement each time you change the location of your space, granting you more options when it comes to your foe's final positioning.

When adjudicating the movement of larger creatures, this system may create movement that seems out of the ordinary or conceptually improbable. Your GM has final discretion when determining what squares you can bull rush or drag a creature into or out of.

Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Pathfinder RPG Designer

Outmaneuvered

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Even in the midst of PaizoCon preparation, the design staff just loves those crazy little rules questions that pop up on the messageboards, during actual play, or that just randomly stray into our heads when we are designing an archetype or putting the finishing touches on a monster.

Since I just returned from Comicpalooza in Houston, I had a number of those questions come up while conversing with players or that popped up during play, and shared those experiences when I returned. Well, no good deed goes unpunished. While in the middle of sharing my experiences, Jason quickly pointed out that we needed a Design Tuesday blog. So let's look at some question and answers involving everyone's favorite subject—combat maneuvers! Today I'll go over a couple of pressing ones. We will get into more minutia next week.

Illustration by Allision Theus

Question: Standing up provokes an attack of opportunity. I can attempt to trip a creature with an attack of opportunity. Can I use the trip combat maneuver to keep my opponent down on the ground?

In a word, no. By far this was the most common combat maneuver question at the show that people asked me. I had folks try to use it in the game, and I can understand why. As a tactic, it seems pretty powerful. Too powerful, and that's why there are some subtle timing issues that are going on when a creature attempts to stand up and provokes the attack of opportunity.

When the attack of opportunity is provoked for standing up, the creature is still prone, since an attack of opportunity interrupts the action that provoked it. Since that's the case, the creature is still prone when the attack is provoked, and you cannot trip a prone creature, as it is already prone.

Okay, all you trip monkeys out there, don't fret overly much. If you want an effect similar to the one you desire, you just have to pay a higher action cost. Use the ready action. Just make sure your triggered action is "after the creature stands up from being prone" or something similar. I know, it's not nearly as sexy (or free) but I have faith you'll find a way to make it work to the detriment of those wily monsters.

Question: A creature grappling an opponent typically needs to make two combat maneuver checks to pin someone (one to grapple, the next to pin). If you're pinned, do you also need to succeed at two checks to escape, one for the grab and the other for the pin?

The answer to this question is also no. When a creature is pinned, it gains this more severe version of the grappled condition, and the two conditions do not stack (as described in the pinned condition). While this means that you do not take both the penalties for both the grapple and the pin, this also means that pinned supersedes the grapple condition; it does not compound it. For this reason you only need to succeed one combat maneuver or Escape Artist check to escape either a grapple or a pin.

Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Pathfinder RPG Designer