Biting to grapple

[Anders]

I am currently working on a bestiary for a campaign world, and I am having trouble with my carnivores.

Many hunting cats choke their prey to death - grab the neck with the teeth and squeeze. The choke hold (p.B404) seems ideal. However, the RAW does not allow for this!

Take a lion hunting a gazelle:
In order to "grapple", you must have at least one free hand (p.B370) which is awfully difficult to visualize for a lion. He may then proceed to apply a choke hold, but only if she is behind the gazelle and has grappled the gazelle using both hands.

How would you solve this problem? Some kind of perk that allows grappling with the mouth?

[Mehmet]

IDHMBWM so I can't give you a page reference but Martial Arts deals with this issue in length. It is a fantastic buy, by the way - I'd consider grabbing a copy.

Cheerio!

[Anders]

Ah, there it is. My fault.

Semi-related question - how do I avoid turning raptors into suicide pilots? In real life, they do power dives with Move up to 100. The problem is... the bird will probably take enough damage to kill it!

[Mehmet]

I am not sure I completely understand but is this about slams and weapon involving slams doing the same damage to you?

I'm pretty confused with those rules and the issue has never come up in a "real life going splat" situation (rather than supers, cars and such) so I usually use things like bouncing.

Sorry, I know this is not much of a help.

Cheerio!

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Ah, there it is. My fault.

Semi-related question - how do I avoid turning raptors into suicide pilots? In real life, they do power dives with Move up to 100. The problem is... the bird will probably take enough damage to kill it!

Raptors don't Slam their targets. They decelerate and grab with their talons. Call it an All-Out-Attack(Determined), I'd think. The stoop is to keep the prey from escaping not for extra damage (a hawk is perfectly capable of killing a gopher without any tricks). Although I suppose you could make a case for an All-Out-Attack (Stoop) which is a special option only available to Raptor-like birds allowing full diving move followed by an unmodified attack.

[vicky_molokh]

Don't forget that falling is considered a Step. So you can use any attack option while falling.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Don't forget that falling is considered a Step. So you can use any attack option while falling.

Stooping is definitely some kind of AoA, the bird is completely focused on the target.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Stooping is definitely some kind of AoA, the bird is completely focused on the target.

Well, if you can fall in a Step, you certainly can do it in an AoA.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Raptors don't Slam their targets. They decelerate and grab with their talons. Call it an All-Out-Attack(Determined), I'd think. The stoop is to keep the prey from escaping not for extra damage (a hawk is perfectly capable of killing a gopher without any tricks). Although I suppose you could make a case for an All-Out-Attack (Stoop) which is a special option only available to Raptor-like birds allowing full diving move followed by an unmodified attack.

Ah, good. I'd probably allow this option for anyone trained in Acrobatics (Aerobatics) - all the raptors have that as an innate skill.

[Kromm]

You got the biting answer (for future readers: see Martial Arts, p. 115).

As for the raptors . . . I'd say that a nonhuman race that has both Flight and the Aerobatics skill as a racial trait can learn a kind of Acrobatic Attack or Flying Attack (Martial Arts, p. 107) as a realistic technique. I'd call it learned, and base it on whatever unarmed skill the race favors.