Grapeling Striker: Frog's Tongue

[CattyNebulart]

based on the discussion on eating your enemies I was designing a species of dragon do just that, for a df game. I want them to have a tongue much like a frog that can lash out and grab something and pull it into the mouth.

My first thought was a striker that can only grapple, but that doesn't seem to exsist.
Extra arm with long and flexible might work, but this is far more limited than that.
Telekenisis is an option (particually with the attraction only modifier) but then need to buy it up separately from the ST.
Binding seems to be a reasonable option but again it's seperate from ST, and it seems to lack the ability to pull target in.

So anyone have any ideas? Am I just missing the obvious for the trees?

[Joseph Paul]

Extra arm with no fine manipulation? Nix any damage from striking and limit the tongue to a Binding Attack? Buy up arm strength to allow the dragon to drag the victim to the mouth if needed.

[CattyNebulart]

Is there such a limitation on extra arm? The only one I can find is no physical attack which would prevent the arm from grappeling.

Arms without fine manipulation tend to be known as strikers, hence why my first though was a striker that grapeled.

[RedMattis]

I'd say being unable to do more than grapple (no meaningful 'punch' damage, no ability to use objects/weapons with the limb, etc) would be a 50% limitation.

[Gnomasz]

Originally Posted by CattyNebulart

Binding seems to be a reasonable option but again it's seperate from ST, and it seems to lack the ability to pull target in.

Retractable from Reverend Pee Kitty's MyGURPS. I'd say difference between grapple ST (based on Binding) and pulling ST (normal ST, rather higher than Binding) is reasonable, since tongue isn't so strong.
+10% if you want it to grapple and pull in one turn (Takes Less Time? Don't remember clearly);
-10% for One-Shot.
Maybe -5% Nuissance Effect: endangered with loss of Tongue (maybe uncompatible with Takes Less Time - it would require Wait maneuver to attack the tongue).

[Molokh]

Originally Posted by Gnomasz

Retractable from Reverend Pee Kitty's MyGURPS. I'd say difference between grapple ST (based on Binding) and pulling ST (normal ST, rather higher than Binding) is reasonable, since tongue isn't so strong.
+10% if you want it to grapple and pull in one turn (Takes Less Time? Don't remember clearly);
-10% for One-Shot.
Maybe -5% Nuissance Effect: endangered with loss of Tongue (maybe uncompatible with Takes Less Time - it would require Wait maneuver to attack the tongue).

Out of all things found on RPK's MyGURPS, this is the one I wanted to see officialized the most. Sadly, it was neither playtested nor made official, probably due to being unrelated to most current PDF themes.

[Mgellis]

Hmmm....

Extra Arm (Long, +100%, Extra Flexible, +50%, Switchable, +10%, Only to Grapple, -40%) [22]

A bit expensive, but it does give the creature an edge in combat against smaller foes.

Mark

[simulatoralive]

Aren't the tongues of frogs that attack this way sticky? Shouldn't that be incorporated into this?

[CattyNebulart]

Real frog tounges are sticky, but not as sticky as the sticky enhancement presumes. Leaving it of would work quite well I think.

Thanks for the hint on retractable, it's just what I needed.

Edit: But building it that way is still far more expensive than using extra arm :/
And extra arm suffers from the fact that the one with more arms in the grapple get +3, or +3 per arm or something like that. Oh well it deosn't matter much for an NPC monster.

[CattyNebulart]

Well here is a partial writeup of the Hungry Dragon Race. it's somewhat tounge in cheek.

When one usually thinks of Dragons one thinks of Majestic creatures, wise and cunning, Gliding on majestic wings and clad in scales that can turn any blade or spell. However when one thinks of the species commonly known as Hungry Dragons one thinks primarily of their gaping mouths and unending hunger.
While it is true they lack the wits and breath weapon of the true dragonkin (some claim the Hungry Dragons ate those in their unending hunger.) and as dragon slayers will be happy to hear they lack most of the magic resistance of true dragon they are nonetheless inspiring creatures.

They are ferocious hunters with good night vision and an excellent sense of smell. That is in fact their primary means of hunting, once a hungry Dragon catches your scent there is not much hope of escaping.
Instead of having just a single jawbone as is common in most creatures the Hungry Dragon's jaw is composed of two primary jaw bones that meet at the chin while the mouth is closed, but when opening their mouths the two jawbones not only swing down but to the sides, making the mouth surprisingly large. This gives them their distinctive gaping maw and their ability to swallow things almost their own size.
Their Tongue is capable of stretching over four yards in an instant to snare prey and pull them toward their mouth in the blink of an eye.
Once inside whatever was just snared is usually swallowed whole and comes to rest inside of their stomach. At which point the first stage of the digestion will begin and life-force is drained at a prodigious rate from whatever was just eaten. This behaviour underlies the first weakness of Hungry Dragons, as due to a quirk in their metabolism they are only capable of healing while living prey is in their stomach to be drained.
Once all available life force is exhausted the stomach is flooded by a ferociously aggressive acid that dissolves even granite boulders in minutes. the good news is that the foam that the acid generates while dissolving is a very good insulate and will protect one from the continuing effects of the acid, until the acid breaks the foam down and the cycle begins again.

Q: How do you recognize a Hungry Dragon is in the area?
A: Simple, if there are a few things with gnaw marks on them and a lot of large things missing there is probably a Hunrgy Dragon in the area.

Q: What do Hungry Dragons eat?
A: Oh lots of stuff, bunnies, bushes, birds, trees, tigers, boulders, adventurers, lone cottages, small armies, orchards and then they will ussualy take a snack before starting on lunch.

100 point Race: Hungry Dragon
Attribute Modifiers: ST +20 [40]; DX +1 [12]; IQ -2 [-40]; HT +2 [20];
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: SM +4; increased perception +2 [10]; Increased Will
Advantages: Born Biter 3 [0]; Teeth (Sharp) [1]; Night Vision 2 [2]; Striker, Crushing (Tail) [5]; Long Talons [11]; Extra Arm (tounge, made with long (100), switchable (10) and Only to Grapple (-40)) [17]; Universal Digestion (Matter Eater) [20]; Discriminatory Smell (Emotion Sense) [23]; Damage Resistance 10 (Can't Wear Armor [30]; Flight (Winged) [30]; Digestive Tract* [35]
Disadvantages: Social Stigma: Monster [-15]; Unhealing (Partial) [-20]; Bloodlust CR: 6 (This is supposed to represent being always hungry, esspecially after/during a fight..) [-20]; Increased Consumption x8 [-30]; Meta Trait: Real Quadruped* [-41]

*Digestive Tract: The folowing is all with the internal modifier: Constriction attack (Engulfing) [5]; Damage Resistance 30 (Tough Skin, Can't wear armour) [6] and Leech 20 [20] and Innate Attack Corrosion (2dx5(0.2) cor = Armor Divisor (0.2), Aura) [20] as alternate abilities.
*Real Quadruped includes the Quadruped meta-trait and makes both default arms foot manipulators.

For corrosion it is resolved by rolling 2d6, reduce armour by 1 per point, for every point that goes through armour they suffer 5 points of corrosion damage. Minimum DR is 1.

Edit: I went with the Extra arm rather than the binding because it is more cost effective. Although at greater ranges the binding becomes significantly more efficient. But how much range should a tongue really have?