Flying Grappler

[SuperJudge]

I am going to be playing Skulls and Shackles and was gonna play a Rogue or Cryptic but changed my mind. I was thinking how awesome it would be to play as a witch and use the prehensile hair hex to grapple someone then fly away from the boat and drop them in the water. Has anyone played Skulls and Shackles and seen something similar done? Would it be as effective as I am picturing it in my mind?

I was thinking a few different ways to go about this, the first way obviously playing as a straight Witch. I am worried about the low BAB this route however.

The alternatives i was thinking of are a Hexcrafter Magus, but I need to wait to level 4 before I can get the hair hex.

The other one was 4 levels of White Hair Witch to get reach, free action
grapple, and swift action either trip or constrict on the hair. Then I would take a level or 2 of Sohei and go into Eldritch Knight.

Which would be most effective? would I be able to get by with a flight and hair hex? or should i play as a Strix and WHW to get permanent flying and reach hair. I have never played Skulls and Shackles and don't know how many combats per day there usually is and how long those combats last.

[TheSideKick]

you cant do that, once you grapple you gain the grappled condition. that means you cant move, only 3 archetypes can move after grappling. the three are tetori, unarmed fighter, and i think brawler barbarian.

[SuperJudge]

White Hair Witch doesn't gain the grapple condition while grappling with hair. Not sure about the regular prehensile hair hex tho. And I thought you could move half your speed after a successful grapple check or something.

[Mojorat]

the white haired witch does not gain the grappled condition when grappling with the hair. However, What the OP wants to do doesnt really work.

First, You need to realize at no point when grappling a target is the target being picked up. You May have a wrist lock or hold of their arm.

what this means, is that, your witch Flies about, reaches out and Nails somone with the Hair. Now what? we'll say they are 15 feet from the Edge of the boat And there is a railing. While the grapple rules may cover picking somone up and moving them over a railing, I would have to look it up. However, You will note that the fact that the character is flying is completely irellevant to this scenario.

Secondly, To actualy pick people up and drop them without any wierd rules would involve the snatch feat from the beastiary.

You will also need to get your DM to house rule the few flaws in the white haired witch.

Finally, The actual method for picking people up and tossing them off of cliffs etc, is Ki throw, and might give you an idea of how hard the game expects it to be (based ont he feats requirements) But really unless your a big monster, the ability to fly and grapple doesnt put you in a psotion to just move people around effortlessly.

[SuperJudge]

I am not trying to throw them tho. I was thinking I start a grapple with someone at the railing with my 10 ft reach hair. If the grapple is successful they are moved to an adjacent square to me. Since I am hovering over the water I release the grapple and they fall. If they are not near the railing I fly in and grapple them and then on the next turn as a standard action to maintain the grapple I am able to move myself and them up to half my speed. I do continue to do this until I am once again over the water and release.

[Mojorat]

You may be in an odd rules grey area. Odd because the rules are clear on what happens with the grappler and the grapplee, but i think it assumes either two humanoid opponents the same size, or a much larger creature doing the grappling.

this puts you in the position of grappling, and moving somone 10-15 feeet that your character is incapable of picking up (or likely to be unable to)

It looks like by Raw, your idea works. You just have to solve the issue that white haired witch suck at grappling :(

[SuperJudge]

Perhaps a Synthesist then? I guess I will just have to talk to the DM and make some official rules as to how the Grapples and such work.

[mkenner]

I might be doing this wrong, but a character I'm playing is a flying grappler. The way we've been handling this is as per the rules in CRB, that once you are grappling an opponent you can move yourself and your target up to half your speed on a successful grapple. We've been doing that but upwards.

However, we ruled that it automatically counts as "placing your foe in a hazardous situation" and thus instantly triggers a free attempt to break out of the grapple at a +4.

Also remember that based on your maneuverability flying straight up may be penalized and if you're carrying someone like that you'd have to add their weight to your encumbrance.

Also falling damage isn't that big a deal in pathfinder and it takes a really long time gain height while grappling like that. It's not a very effective strategy, but it's fun and great for intimidating weaker opponents.

[SuperJudge]

Yeah I figured it would take to long to fly up and drop them as fun as it sounds. That's why I thought it would be more effective to drop them overboard. They probably wont die but need to swim back to the boat, which is moving, and then climb back up onto the deck.

The hazardous situation part sucks, but makes sense, I would sure struggle harder if I was about to be dropped off the boat.

I was thinking of playing a Strix as they get 60ft fly speed so even at half I can move them a decent amount. It would also be badass to play as a demon looking bird pirate that fights with his beard and/or mustache. How would Grapple work with the Flyby Attack feat?