glyph87's page

Also, as far as blood chokes go in the game, there are no rules in the system to handle them.

Personally, to support blood-chokes I would make a feat to take care of it, something like this:

Blood Choke (Combat)

You have received specialized training to cut the blood flow off to your opponent's brain during a grapple, quickly rendering him unconscious (or worse).

Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +10, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Choke option while grappling

Benefit: If you exceed the target's CMD by 5 or more during your grapple check, you may attempt a Blood Choke in place of a standard Choke option. This functions as Suffocation, except the target treats his Constitution as 2 when determining the amount of rounds until he has to begin making Constitution checks. After 1 round of any round you do not maintain the Blood Choke, your opponent's blood flow will resume and restart when he has to begin making Constitution checks

Normal: You cut off your target’s air supply so he has to hold his breath.

I set the BAB requirement at +10 because it is a HUGELY powerful ability to get a Save-Or-Die during a grapple; I would have made it +14, but then a Rogue wouldn't be able to take it until level 19 and I feel like the class deserves this. To offset this, I set the Con to 2 instead of 1, even though I feel 1 is more realistic (12 seconds is more accurate than 24).

Having it at 2 gives them 4 rounds to break free; any less would just be unfair, as it's basically a make-a-grapple, kill-the-target.

I also would consider raising the threshold (+5) higher if you implement this, as I made that a rough guess and might still make it too easy to Save-Or-Die someone at level 10. It's why they do playtesting (game balance).

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be using a melee weapon for your attacks to be considered "Flanking", although you do not get a +2 bonus to those attacks. I shall break down the rules to quell the uproar that is about to occur.

First, lets examine the RP of Flanking:

A man is fighting two opponents. One moves behind him, and now he must divide his attention between the two directions. This lack of focus makes it harder for him to avoid incoming attacks.

A man is fighting two opponents, one of which is 30 feet behind him, shooting arrows at him. He must still divide his attention between the two directions to dodge incoming attacks, but is more actively involved ducking, weaving, and blocking a mace than waiting to dodge the arrows.

Now, let's look at the rules. I feel to press my point it is necessary to break it into two, equally important points:

When making a melee attack, you get a +2 flanking bonus if your opponent is threatened by another enemy character or creature on its opposite border or opposite corner.

Only a creature or character that threatens the defender can help an attacker get a flanking bonus.
Exception: If a flanker takes up more than 1 square, it gets the flanking bonus if any square it occupies counts for flanking.

When in doubt about whether two characters flank an opponent in the middle, trace an imaginary line between the two attackers’ centers. If the line passes through opposite borders of the opponent’s space (including corners of those borders), then the opponent is flanked.

I'll be the first to admit the rules aren't very clear, but here's how it works: You have to be using a melee weapon to get a +2 Flanking Bonus, but not to be considered "Flanking".

To be considered "Flanking", the rules plainly say that you have to "draw a line through the enemy from your center to the center of an ally." It then continues to state that you must have an ally who is "threatening" the enemy to get a flanking bonus.

Since you can draw a line between your two respective centers through any part of the enemy's square you are considered "Flanking". You are not making a melee attack, so you don't gain a +2 bonus.

However, for your ally, you are not threatening the enemy since ranged weapons do not threaten, so your ally does not receive the Flanking Bonus for making a melee attack, although he is in fact considered "Flanking".

At NO point do the rules state that you have to be making a melee attack to be considered "Flanking". "Flanking" is merely a term to describe positioned on opposite sides of an enemy, which is useless except for determining the use of abilities that "require flanking". As the Sneak Attack's requires that "the rogue flanks her target", and not that you have a "+2 Flanking Bonus", you may use your Sneak Attack for all of your attacks providing that you are still able to draw a line through the enemy to an ally.

Just because you aren't actively occupying the enemy's attention through a constant battery of melee attacks doesn't mean that your ally is not. The enemy has its full attention on your ally, giving you the time to aim for the sweet spots.