I have a druid with a Large Ape for a companion. We were fighting a wyvern and I wanted to grapple it. The question is would that stop the wyvern from being able to attack? Would it get its claw and bite attacks at all? I'm just rather confused on how to work it with monsters. Say you have a monster with 6 legs gets 4 claw attacks and one bite...could you really grapple and stop all those attacks? What are the penalties or bonuses for the one being grappled? Thank you for any and all info on this!
Yes and no. Yes, it would stop the Wyvern from attacking, and no, it would still be able to use attacks. The thing about being grappled is that you only have one arm that you can use; in the cases of natural attacks, you can use one of your arms as a primary limb attack, and any others that are open, such as your mouth, wings, etc.
If you succeed in the grapple check, both creatures are considered Grappled, and they follow the penalties and such listed for the condition.
The conditions says that the creatures grappled cannot use two hands for one attack (though I would have a question as to how this would stack up with things like Rend). In terms of Natural Weapons, I've viewed it as a creature is only allowed one attack of each type of category; one Primary (such as a Bite), one Secondary (such as a Claw), one Tertiary, etc.
Remember that when a creature attempts to Grapple or perform other Combat Maneuvers, they draw Attacks of Opportunity, and the damage it suffers is a penalty to the attempt (unless they have Improved Grapple). Another thing to note is that both creatures are considered Grappled, and that both suffer the penalties that are listed.
I hope this helps!
ok so the wyvern would still get a bite and a claw attack? and we both take the penalties? What is the point of even grappling that seems ..well lack of a better work just ..dumb. My thought is...you could grapple it..couldnt claw..couldnt move..couldnt bite because it cant really lunge foward..could bite the ape unless he was grabbing it from behind. Explain what is the point?
Combat Maneuvers are used in an attempt to disable, cripple, or hinder an opponents assault. What you can do once a creature is grappled is listed. It also shows what you can do involving Combat Maneuvers in general.
Trust me, characters weak in Combat Maneuvers (or get swarmed by creatures that accel in Combat Maneuvers) are things that are really nasty.