Tug o' War

[Lvl 12 Procrastinator]

A grell has the paralyzed rogue in its tentacles. Meanwhile, an undead skeletal claw* from beneath the muddy water has the rogue by the legs. A tug of war ensues.

How do I adjudicate this? How would it differ if the rogue wasn't paralyzed?

* Undead skeletal claw = combination of skeleton template and Stephen King's "The Moving Finger."

[Dragonsong]

Each creature makes a grapple combat maneuver check against the rogues CMD with the penalty for 0 DEX. If one wins he gains control of the body. If both win then do the average of their damage to the rogue for that round.

I suppose you could make the checks against the other monsters CMD.

With any luck you will end up with rogue bits splattered everywhere after a few rounds of tug o'war.

[Lvl 12 Procrastinator]

Dragonsong wrote:

With any luck you will end up with rogue bits splattered everywhere after a few rounds of tug o'war.

Indeed, that certainly seems like the best possible outcome.

[reefwood]

If two creatures are tugging at the same object, I'd say that an opposed Strength check is what you want. The grell makes a Str check on its turn, and the claw defends with its own Str check. If the grell wins, it gets the rogue. If the grell loses, they are still tugging. Then on the claw's turn, the claw makes a Str check, and the grell defends with a Str check. If the claw wins, it gets the rogue.

If the rogue wasn't paralyzed, I could see it working a couple ways:

1) The grell and claw still make Str checks to tug the rogue away, but the rogue would have to make a grapple check to escape each creature, so if both are holding on, the rogue could only break free from one creature per round.

2) The grell and claw make grapple checks to "escape" to tug the rogue away, and the rogue has to make grapple checks to escape from each creature.

[Benicio Del Espada]

The poor rogue! *gasp!*

[Mikaze]

Y'know....Fairy Meat had pretty horrifying rules for this exact sort of situation....

[Lvl 12 Procrastinator]

Mikaze wrote:

Y'know....Fairy Meat had pretty horrifying rules for this exact sort of situation....

Go on...

[Radamanthius]

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

The poor rogue! *gasp!*

Your sympathy is much appreciated. You'll be happy to know the expert treasure hunter managed to escape bifurcation.

[Dragonsong]

Radamanthius wrote:

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

The poor rogue! *gasp!*

Your sympathy is much appreciated. You'll be happy to know the expert treasure hunter managed to escape bifurcation.

Hooray for a thrilling escape!

Boo for no bifurcation!

[Benicio Del Espada]

Dragonsong wrote:

Hooray for a thrilling escape!

Boo for no bifurcation!

It sucks that we can't have both. :(

[Lvl 12 Procrastinator]

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

Dragonsong wrote:

Hooray for a thrilling escape!

Boo for no bifurcation!

It sucks that we can't have both. :(

That's why we need to bring henchmen back to the game. Characters enjoy a thrilling escape, while the GM gets to enjoy NPC bifurcation.