Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellboy
Knife damage is pretty pathetic and a lot of the time it will be low ST users.
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Agreed on the first, but the second indicates you're doing something wrong. While not strongmen, the slim fantasy rogues are almost invariably
quite strong for their size, at least when it comes to scaling walls and cutting throats. There's a reason DF gives them the option of buying up Striking ST (Sneak Attacks Only).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellboy
Maybe even doing defensive attack for further damage penalty so you can avoid the sentry's attempt to escape from the grapple tolet out a dying gasp?
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I would not allow the defense bonus for Defensive Attack count toward defending against a Break Free attempt, as that makes no sense whatsoever. A Defensive Attack grapple is easier to avoid by default (+1 to defense), or if using
Technical Grappling (the only place where Break Free involves a defense roll) is meant to be
easier to break out of, as it inflicts reduced CP.
Against a foe without neck armor, provided you're willing to use my Draw Cut houserule, the way you'd do it with TG would probably be a Telegraphic All Out (Determined) Knife Grapple to the Neck (net +5) to establish the grapple. For those with higher skill, (Strong) would be a good option, and even failing that Extra Effort (Mighty Blows) wouldn't be entirely out of place. With Trained ST 13, 1d+1 averages 4.5, but using Strong or Mighty Blows boosts that to 2d-1 and an average of 6. That's going to result in an average of 6 points of cutting injury (you deal 1/2 of the CP inflicted in damage, and cutting damage to the neck has a x2 multiplier) - against an average person, the character inflicts a Major Wound on average
just from establishing the grapple, and even against an above-average foe he's not far off. Following this is an All Out (Strong) Draw Cut the following round (foe is almost certainly Mentally Stunned, and thus can't act), at a net +4 to hit and dealing somewhere around 1d+1 damage (for Striking ST 11 or 12 and a Good knife; higher ST and/or a better weapon means more damage), for an average of 9 Injury. If he's confident in his grappling skills, I'd allow him to burn CP to boost damage, which can get nasty quickly (1 CP traded in for 1 damage and thus 2 injury). In theory the character could instead trade some CP for the throat slit to target the veins/arteries instead of just the Neck!