DMs: The Owlbear in WC...

I'm prepping for the game this Saturday, and my party is about to head to Alastor Land's farm, and I need some advice to run the Owlbear encounter.

In the MM, it says that the Owlbear on attack can use Improved Grab to start a grapple.

However, looking at the grapple rules, I don't think grappling in the situation of the Owlbear fighting a group of assailants is a Good Idea...

Unless I missed the rules where the Owlbear while grappling can disembowel their attackers.

So basically, what are the effects of the Owlbear grappling? Does it just do a single claw damage (then why not just do a full-attack?), does it get to crush and smother it's opponent under it's weight (if so, how much damage does this do).

If anyone has a good synopsis of monster grappling, please let let me know, otherwise I'm just going to skip the grappling and just have it go with full attacks.

It may or may not be of significant use to the Owlbear. It will depend on the size of the party it is fighting and the nature of the party and the initiative rolls.

The essential advantage of the Owlbear's grapple is that the Owlbear's weapons are natural - it can continue to use one claw while the opponent is grappled at -4 to hit. The opponent - in this case the PC - cannot use his weapons while grappled unless it it a light weapon.

A dagger can still be used - a longsword, battle axe or bastard blade, for example, cannot. In order to draw such a light weapon while grappled, the character must succeed on his opposed grapple check. Against an Owlbear at the PCs level - that's bloody unlikely. Similarly, magic item activation requires a successful grapple chack. Not likely.

The end result is that when the owlbear's claw hits the fighter, he is going to likely be able to grapple him. The fighter is then essentially screwed. He is going to be facing a claw attack, albeit at -4 per attack, and will be unlikely to be able to resist the owlbear and do little but punch at it for nonlethal damage.

Grappled opponents share the same square. If a comrade of the PC uses an area effect attack - he is going to hit his buddy too.

If your adventuring party is relatively weak on tanks and high on light armored and spellcasting members, the owlbear can negate your tank quickly via grapple and rend.

If facing a spellcaster, the Owlbear's grapple eliminates all spells from being cast which include a somatic component. Magic missle, burning hands - even shocking grasp are prevented (as are a host of others). (However, retrieval of Material components does not require a grapple check, in the same manner that drawing a dagger does).

End result: the owlbear sacrifices a -4 to hit, exchcanges 3 attacks for one attack while grappling and loses a +1 due to dex to its AC to foes other than the one it is grappling. It exchanges these considerable disadvantages for the ability to essentially shut down the offensive capability of whatever specific foe it is facing. Depending on when the Owlbear chooses to do this, this can be quite devastating. This is especially so if the Owlbear's initiave is high and the party's spellcaster is close (dead mage) or its best tank never gets a chance to swing at all.

Everything that Steel_Wind is right on, which is why grappling can be devestating to a group. I do believe that WotC did state in one of their Grappling articles on their website, that a monster with multiple attacks can make multiple attacks while grappling (with the appropriate minuses). So it really doesn't lose all that much.

What Steel_Wind and Chris P said.

See: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20050308a

Attack Your Opponent: You can make an attack with an unarmed strike, natural weapon, or light weapon against another character you are grappling. You take a -4 penalty on such attacks.

You can't attack with two weapons while grappling, even if both are light weapons. If you have multiple natural weapons, however, you can use all of them while grappling. In many cases, though, you're better off making an opposed grapple check to damage your opponent rather than making an attack with a natural weapon (see the section on damaging your opponent for details).

See Also: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#grapple

[BOLD]If You’re Grappling[/BOLD]
When you are grappling (regardless of who started the grapple), you can perform any of the following actions. Some of these actions take the place of an attack (rather than being a standard action or a move action). If your base attack bonus allows you multiple attacks, you can attempt one of these actions in place of each of your attacks, but at successively lower base attack bonuses.

[BOLD]Attack Your Opponent[/BOLD]
You can make an attack with an unarmed strike, natural weapon, or light weapon against another character you are grappling. You take a -4 penalty on such attacks.

You can’t attack with two weapons while grappling, even if both are light weapons.

Sebastian

Edit: Note however that the SRD only addresses multiple attacks from a high BAB. If you don't accept the Rules of the Games as authority (which many do not), you could argue that the rules are written to encompass only high BAB multiple attacks.

My raging, high-STR 2nd-level barbarian just went toe-to-toe with (a full-strength) one of these in the World's Largest Dungeon. Despite actually having a higher STR and managing to break the grapple once, Shump was toast within three rounds.
The rest of the party simply wasn't able to do enough damage to the critter before it was too late. In fact, it wiped out the entire party.

If you have multiple natural weapons, however, you can use all of them while grappling. In many cases, though, you're better off making an opposed grapple check to damage your opponent rather than making an attack with a natural weapon (see the section on damaging your opponent for details).

I thought this was so, but when I looked in my supposedly updated Collector's Edition 3.5 PhB - it did not include this interpretation of the rule for natural attacks while grapping.

However, allowing for the claw/claw/bite as the Owlbear's "rend" attack - this is all the more reason to grapple. While at -4 under grappling rules it is still mighty nasty seeing as the foe essentially does not get to strike back with the weapon or spell of choice.

Is the interpretation of the rule that the "auto damage on grapple with unarmed attack" option simply applies one auto-damage with a natural attack instead? Such that you trade one "auto hit w/ claw" for a chance at three hits at the creature's option?

I thought this was so, but when I looked in my supposedly updated Collector's Edition 3.5 PhB - it did not include this interpretation of the rule for natural attacks while grapping.

I had the same reaction. I was going to post saying that you were right and the owlbear only got one attack per round according to the core rules, but then I looked up the rules of the game article on wizards. I've seen people express a poor opinion about those articles, so they should definitely be taken w/a grain of salt.

Sebastian

When my party hit the Land farmstead the rogue checked out the house alone while the rest of thegroup checked out the grounds. He won the initiative and immediately gotout of Dodge screaming like a madman. One of the fighters charged in to take care of it and was down by the time the other fighter got through the door (and that was with it making one attack after its grapple).

Granted, if it's fighting a bunch of Dex-types with daggers it's probably better off full attacking, but a low-level tank is gonna get hammered.

Improved Grab: The improved grab special attack allows a monster to make a grab attack as part of a regular melee attack with a particular natural weapon (usually a bite or claw). If the attack hits, the natural weapon deals damage normally, and the monster immediately makes an opposed check to establish a hold. The attack doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. Since the attack already dealt damage when it hit, a successful hold deals no extra damage. Each successful grapple check the attacker makes during successive rounds automatically deals the damage indicated for the attack that established the hold. (This works just like making a grapple check to deal damage.)

A creature with the improved grab special attack has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use the part of its body it used in the improved grab to hold the opponent. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a -20 penalty on grapple checks, but it is not considered grappled itself; the creature does not lose its Dexterity bonus to AC, still threatens an area, and can use its remaining attacks against other opponents. This is handy for really big monsters, such as giant squids and krakens.

When a creature gets a hold after an improved grab attack, it pulls the opponent into its space (rather than entering the foe's space). According to page 310 in the Monster Manual, the grabbed creature's involuntary movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A creature with the improved grab special attack and reach drags a grabbed foe a considerable distance.

A creature with the improved grab special attack can move without making an opposed grapple check, provided it can drag the opponent's weight. The creature's movement and the involuntary movement by anyone it drags along provokes attacks of opportunity normally.

Now if you play an owlbear according to its intell, it'll probably maul one guy at a time. Of course, this bird was protecting its cub (chick???) so it wou;d probably switch foes every round in a bloody cyclone. It done kileld 3 of my 7 party memebers (I made it full str due to their large #)

Three of the players in my group took up positions outside the farmhouse, so that they could shoot at it from a distance, while the other three players went inside. As soon as the Owlbear closed in on the three players inside the farmhouse, the Dwarf Fighter went down in the first round. They eventually finished the Owlbear (full hit points). In the excitement of battle I forgot to use the grapple, would have been great in canceling out the Half-Elf Ranger with a greatsword.

DJ

Oh crap, it's that deadly?

The problem is that my party is low on tanks and direct damage dealers...

Barbarian, Gnome Druid + Wolf Companion, Gnome Cleric, Elf Rogue and Elf Expert NPC (she'll become a wizard once she finds a spellbook, but she's more for comic relief/deus ex machina)...

I guess I'll need to keep the Free City Group or Melinde handy for a rescue...

Oh crap, it's that deadly?

It definitely has potential. My group didn't mess with the

Our party was split up when we made it to the farmstead. It was only myself, a half-elf ranger, a cleric & a paladin. We took on the owlbear, took some damage ourselves, but faired alright. Our DM let me keep the baby owlbear as an animal companion. "Furbull" is now 3rd level and loves to help us defeat our enemies in our adventures, but can also be a sweet & lovable companion.

After losing so many characters to the owlbear, the group decided to hunt the beast down when they saw the reward for the marauding owl-beast...they caught up to it in in a midden of fish guts from a few poor fishers' scrap pit, where it was gorging itself of gar remains. The wizard slapped it with two Ray of Enfeeblement's and the druid siced his wolverine animal companion on the chick (lol)...the 8 PC's mowed down the weakened beast in three rounds and earned a well-deserved revenge..

Our party was split up when we made it to the farmstead. It was only myself, a half-elf ranger, a cleric & a paladin. We took on the owlbear, took some damage ourselves, but faired alright. Our DM let me keep the baby owlbear as an animal companion. "Furbull" is now 3rd level and loves to help us defeat our enemies in our adventures, but can also be a sweet & lovable companion.

Real world grizzlies are incredibly unstable in temperment. Owlbears are grizzlies on angel dust. Mind those fingers when you're pettying Fluffykins.

Kneeling constable asks, "Does you pet bi--AAAAAAAAAAA! OH GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY PRECIOUS HANDS!"