| CodeMagic |
Me and another player in my group are having a (friendly) debate, and so far search has failed me in turning up any other discussion.
The question is: when a Wyvern uses Powerful Dive, do they make a Grapple attempt vs. their target ala the Grab ability, or is their target simply Grabbed more like combat grab?
If it ends the movement within melee reach of at least one enemy its size or smaller, it can make a claw Strike against that enemy. If the claw hits, as a free action the wyvern can either automatically Grab the target or knock it prone.
The other player takes the strictly literal stance; it says "Grab", not "grab" or "Grabbed", so it means the Grab ability and the Wyvern has to make an Athletics check. And "automatically" just means it happens immediately, with no reactions in between the claw attack and the Grab attempt.
I think "automatically" is there to imply automatic success, and so the the wyvern doesn't need to make the Athletics check, and that "grab" vs "Grab" is an easy mistake during writing/editing.
I also doubt that the designers looked at the Wyvern and decided the "grabbed" half of Powerful Dive needed an Athletics check but the "prone" half of it could still be done for free. Seems like it should either be "Grab or Knockdown", or "grabbed or knocked prone".
So, what do folks here think?
EDIT: There's one other Monster Core entry that has this conflict, the Deadly Mantis and its Leaping Grab ability.