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Hey guys,
We ran our biweekly game, and only 3 players made it, but nonetheless running the COTCT, they were able to go in and deal with Girrigz and his wererat pals (barely).
The playtest part of our session came in after the characters cornered Girrigz, and the beguiler managed to blind him. The fighter then stepped in, and made an attempt to disarm him. He rolled a 14, added his +5 CMB bonus for a total of 19, and failed, as Girrigz' CMB was +7 and his target was 22
Afterwards, we discussed if blindness should reduce CMB, as it reduces Str and Dex checks. I said no, but interestingly, if Girrigz had the feat Agile Maneuvers, and his Dex was reduced due to blindness, so would his CMB. Certainly, if a character is blinded, trip attempts, grapple attempts, and overrun and bull rush attempts should be easier. Disarm, likely so.
Maybe it's worth adding to the blindness description in the glossary that all opponents suffer a -2 or -4 to CMB?
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Afterwards, we discussed if blindness should reduce CMB, as it reduces Str and Dex checks. I said no, but interestingly, if Girrigz had the feat Agile Maneuvers, and his Dex was reduced due to blindness, so would his CMB. Certainly, if a character is blinded, trip attempts, grapple attempts, and overrun and bull rush attempts should be easier. Disarm, likely so.
Maybe it's worth adding to the blindness description in the glossary that all opponents suffer a -2 or -4 to CMB?
One of the things I have noticed about CMB is that it is remarkably robust defensively. Short of actual penalties to stats, not much can fiddle with it, and that can produce some weird results.
In my playtest game, the PCs had managed to successfully sneak up on an opponent with a pretty high Dex score (and by "pretty high" I mean Dex 25) and a Strength score of 10. She had the Agile Maneuvers feat, so with her BAB of +13, the DC to grapple her was an all-but-impossible 35. What was weird, though, was that the same situation would have been hugely different in 3.5 - without uncanny dodge, the villain's touch AC was a flat 10 against the unexpected attack, and her Strength score would have posed almost no challenge whatsoever. It seems very odd to me that hidden opponents gain no bonus at all in performig these maneuvers, and that CMB changes not at all in that kind of circumstance.
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From PFRPG PG 154: Blind: The creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks including CMB.
Bold would be my suggested change. Perhaps the DC should only be 10+CMB as well. I noticed in our 8th level playtest that special combat actions almost never succeeded (about 1 in 5).
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From PFRPG PG 154: Blind: The creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks including CMB.
Bold would be my suggested change. Perhaps the DC should only be 10+CMB as well. I noticed in our 8th level playtest that special combat actions almost never succeeded (about 1 in 5).
More than that. If you add a penalty to blinded characters' CMB, maybe a small footnote should be added for Stunned, Dazed, Sickened, etc ...