Hey folks, I just noticed something that likely is just a playtest or intentional omission but may instead be an oversight so I figured I'd mention it just in case. I noticed the following while reading through the skills section of the Playtest.
Playtest wrote:
Escape
When trying to escape from restraints or a creature’s Grapple, attempt an Acrobatics check. If you’re tied up by a creature, the escape DC is that creature’s Thievery DC. If you’re restrained by manacles or some other device, the DC is based on the type of restraint. Against a Grapple, the escape DC is the Grappling creature’s Athletics DC.
Success You escape from the restraints or the Grapple, losing the grabbed or restrained condition.
Critical Success Per a success, and you can move up to 5 feet. If you move, this action gains the move trait.
Critical Failure You don’t escape, and you take a –2 circumstance penalty to Acrobatics checks to Escape until the end of your current turn.
Now, reading the portion that mentions tied up, this implies there is a way to tie up a creature within rules. While it's obvious it could be done to any unconscious creature, I was curious to see what it would take to tie up a grappled or restrained creature within the action economy of combat. The issue is this is the one of only three mentions of being tied up in the playtest, the other two being in the Unimpeded Stride power and the restrained condition itself.
I know that previously tying a creature up and restraining them was one of the many end states of the gross grapple rules of old, and was an interesting concept. The main reason I ask is that I am curious about how long it would take to do this in combat. Would it be a single action to tie up a restrained creature? A two or three action activity? Simply not possible as a combat action in the new system and instead something to deal with unconscious folk after combat? If it is a combat action, is it a Thievery check as implied by the mention of the Thievery DC? Or would it be dependent on another Athletics check as part of a further Grapple action?
Again, this is likely an intentional omission (either from the playtest or the rules entirely) as tying up struggling combatant isn't exactly something many players focus on, but I've had players pursue it in the past so I'd like to have some kind of guidance.
