Variant Tiefling Ability 26.

[Lemartes]

"Your body produces intense, searing heat. Any creature that grapples you takes 1d4 points of fire damage per round."

I am unsure of when this would apply.

This part "that grapples you" is what puzzles me.

Does that mean that any time someone is in a grapple with me? So if I initiate the grapple they take damage or something else?

I mean I can't see how it is anything else, but I want to be absolutely sure.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.:)

[Temperans]

Technically it says "grapples you" so based on that it would be only when you are the target.

But RAI it would probably be anytime you are in a melee grapple.

[Lemartes]

So only when they are trying to grapple me? What if they are trying to break the grapple?

[Majuba]

Honestly, while there is a modest distinction between a grappler and grapplee, both have the grappled condition and are making grapple checks (or escape artist I suppose). While I'm not a fan of tieflings in general, and in particular that variant ability table, I think this should simply work whenever someone has the grappled condition and attempts a grapple check against you (even to break free). So not on Grab or initial grapple if they don't succeed, as they never have the condition.

[Lemartes]

That's kind of what I was thinking. Too bad the wording wasn't better. Thanks all. :)

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

I like tieflings as they were presented in Planescape, in large part preceisely because they had varying appearance and racial abilities. 4e and on has ruined them.

[Diego Rossi]

Majuba interpretation seems right, the only problem is what happens if your opponent makes a grapple check to break free, fails, and then in your round, you make a grapple check to maintain the grapple.
The opponent takes damage both times? Only once?

Not the same thing, but the Burn ability is something similar (but stronger), and it triggers every time the creature is hit, and every time it hits with the specified natural attacks.

I would have this ability work the same way: it triggers every time the tiefling is successfully grappled and every time I make a successful grapple attack.
The guy trying to escape a grapple or to reverse the grapple and failing is not successfully grappling the tiefling, so he doesn't take damage from the ability, the guy that reverses the grapple will take damage.
You can see it as exposing new body parts to the scalding effect and so damaging them.

[Lemartes]

Diego what about the part where it says "per round"?

[Diego Rossi]

Lemartes wrote:

Diego what about the part where it says "per round"?

Good point.

Should read more carefully, recently I am skimming too much.

"Per round" resolves the problem. As I see it, the "per round" means that it works if you are grappled or grappling, as during a whole round the control can shift, and/or the grapple can be broken. So what matter is if, at some point during the round, you had the grappled condition, something you get even when you control the grapple.

[Lemartes]

That seems reasonable.

Last thing I just thought of...multiple grapplers.

Once per round per grappler makes sense to me.