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Ok had a situation last night while playing AoW Three Faces of Evil. My PC's had defeated all the cultists, tiefling guards, and priests in the Temple of Hextor save the High Priest Theldrick (Clr 5). Now Theldrick had an enormous AC due to his spells and armor (a goof I forgot that clr didn't have heavy armor prof anymore), so the PC's decided to grapple him.
The Cleric had a heavy shield and ONE free hand, Str 15, Dex 12, BAB +3, Ring of Prot +1, and the spells Bless and Divine Favor.
So his CMB is +4, CMD 17.
The PC Rgr 3 dropped one of his morningstars to grapple the Cleric and succeeded in beating the Clr's CMD. On subsequent rounds the Rog 3 and the Bbn 1/Sor 2 jumped in to help.
So here's the question, do the two additional grapplers add +2 (each) to the Rangers CMD when the Cleric attempts to escape the grapple? Or do they only Aid on the Rangers CMB check. I ruled the latter as the text says they aid on the Grapplers "checks."
Multiple Creatures: Multiple creatures can attempt to grapple one target. The creature that first initiates the grapple is the only one that makes a check, with a +2 bonus for each creature that assists in the grapple (using the Aid Another action). Multiple creatures can also assist another creature in breaking free from a grapple, with each creature that assists (using the Aid Another action) granting a +2 bonus on the grappled creature's combat maneuver check.
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They can choose to aid the 'grappled' character's CMB to break free, or they can choose to aid the 'grappler' character's CMB to maintain the grapple.
In both cases, it is the CMB roll they assist, not the CMD.
Your God of Knowledge,
Nethys
asknethys@karuikage.net
IMHO, it seems that CMD is supposed to 'derive' from Touch AC, and thus the untyped AC bonus from "Aid Another: Defensively" COULD apply to CMD - But the helpers would of course have to CHOOSE either to help offensively OR defensively, not both.
Technically per the RAW this may not apply (currently: who knows, this may be Errata'd) since CMD is listed as only using a specific set of bonuses (not including Luck, which applies to Touch AC, nor Untyped Bonuses which apply to Touch AC) but it seems in line with the "spirit" of CMD (and is alot simpler to just allow all Touch AC bonuses/ deriving from Touch AC, vs. remembering a specific list of do's and don'ts just for CMD).
Hopefully this is Errata'd, preferably just to directly indicate that all modifiers applicable to Touch AC also apply to CMD (rather than getting bogged down in re-enumerating that list), though amending the list to include Luck Bonuses and amending Aid Another to also mention CMD is another (more verbose/needlessly intricate) option.
See my players vehemently think that the more attackers there are in a grapple the harder it should be for a single grapplee to escape. Basically they also want to add the +2 bonus per additional grappler to add to the original's CMB and CMD.
Just tell them CMB/CMD is not much different than normal attacks vs. AC.
(which you have to choose what you're Aiding, attacks or AC)Once somebody's succeeded on a Grapple check vs. the target, yes, it makes sense to Aid Another to increase your ally's CMD (making it harder to escape/reverse the Grapple), but this doesn't directly increase their ally's chances to Pin/whatever the next round. They CAN of course position themselves to grant a Flanking attack bonus to their ally.