Combat Grab clarification

[Atalius]

Can I use Combat Grab on an enemy I didn't attack for my first attack?

[MEATSHED]

Yeah.

[Baarogue]

SO...

Press trait: Actions with this trait allow you to follow up earlier attacks.

Combat Grab
Traits: Fighter, Press
Requirements: You have one hand free, and your target is within reach of that hand.

"Using your prior attack to shift your opponent's guard, you take another swing and grab them. Make a melee Strike while keeping one hand free. If the Strike hits, you grab the target using your free hand. The creature remains grabbed until the end of your next turn or until it Escapes, whichever comes first."

The bolded bits differ from what is on AoN. It was changed in the remaster from "You swipe at your opponent and grab at them."

Using all of that context, I would rule that you needed to use Combat Grab against the target of your last attack BUT it technically doesn't say that in the feat or the press trait

[Baarogue]

We need an "Atalius questions about grab and grapple" superthread to collect all these things in one place lol

[Finoan]

It might be the intent, but it isn't actually required in the rules. You just have to have a MAP penalty to meet the requirements of the Press trait.

The Strike and grab effect of Combat Grab itself has to be against the same target, but I'm not seeing any reason that you couldn't have gotten a MAP penalty from attacking a different target first. Or even from using Escape first.

[Finoan]

Baarogue wrote:

We need an "Atalius questions about grab and grapple" superthread to collect all these things in one place lol

Check Waldham's threads for examples before asking for that.

[JBeadle]

These are the kinds of questions that drive DM's nuts in the middle of a combat when he is trying to juggle five players, six enemies, and all the attendant abilities and effects. I hope that what happened here is that the player in question went with the spirit of the feat in game, and is now trying to find out (outside of the game) what else might be done with the feat. As for myself, the feat seems quite clear, you grab the opponent you attacked and trying to grab someone else is not what is intended, and in my game would not be allowed (unless it made for some kind of spectacular story like saving a fellow players PC from falling off a cliff). Story is king.

[MEATSHED]

JBeadle wrote:

As for myself, the feat seems quite clear, you grab the opponent you attacked and trying to grab someone else is not what is intended

This isn't about the strike as part of the feat, it's about the strike made before you use combat grab, as it is a press action.

[Ascalaphus]

Baarogue wrote:

SO...

Press trait: Actions with this trait allow you to follow up earlier attacks.

Combat Grab
Traits: Fighter, Press
Requirements: You have one hand free, and your target is within reach of that hand.

"Using your prior attack to shift your opponent's guard, you take another swing and grab them. Make a melee Strike while keeping one hand free. If the Strike hits, you grab the target using your free hand. The creature remains grabbed until the end of your next turn or until it Escapes, whichever comes first."

The bolded bits differ from what is on AoN. It was changed in the remaster from "You swipe at your opponent and grab at them."

Using all of that context, I would rule that you needed to use Combat Grab against the target of your last attack BUT it technically doesn't say that in the feat or the press trait

If you want to get that nitpicky, it says

"Using your prior attack to shift your opponent's guard"

And not:

"Using your prior attack against that opponent to shift your opponent's guard".

[Baarogue]

Yeah, that was my point after the "BUT"