[Grappling] Forcing someone to drink something

[kenclary]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

Hamlet's making a social Influence roll to make Claudius drink the poison himself. This thread seems to be about forcing him to drink it, even when he's exerting all his physical power to avoid it.

In fact, it may be best to go the A-Team route and spike his milk.

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

Hamlet's making a social Influence roll to make Claudius drink the poison himself.

That's at variance with the way the scene is almost always played.

But I'd take that Claudius has a large Shock penalty, from having just been stabbed.

[Tinman]

IDHMBWM but, I know there are rules for forcing somone to drop somthing after they are grappled. You could use the same rules and apply it to the face, to force the target to oppen his mouth. Pour in the potion & then grapple face to cut-off the air. Then he'll eventually have to swallow.

[Mgellis]

A different approach...

While it is interesting to work out specific techniques, etc., we may be over-thinking this. I'd say it is just two rolls:

1) Grapple his head with one hand.

2) If you get control of his head, a quick contest of ST determines if you can force the drink into his mouth, etc.

(This is based on many years of making cats take medicine, etc.)

[kenclary]

Originally Posted by Tinman

...then grapple face to cut-off the air. Then he'll eventually have to swallow.

This is the part that might be cinematic. Against a human who knows they don't want to swallow something, I'm not sure if preventing them from breathing will make them swallow it. (I'm not experienced in these matters, however, and wikipedia isn't helping greatly.)

[Lord Carnifex]

Originally Posted by kenclary

This is the part that might be cinematic. Against a human who knows they don't want to swallow something, I'm not sure if preventing them from breathing will make them swallow it. (I'm not experienced in these matters, however, and wikipedia isn't helping greatly.)

No, it won't quite make them swallow it automatically. The theory, more or less, is that you get the liquid into their mouth somehow. Then you clamp a hand over their mouth, both so they can't spit it out and so that they can't breath in. At the same time you clamp their nose shut so they can't breathe that way. Then you hold them there until they choose between swallowing or never breathing again. It helps if you have a substantial quantity of liquid that fills their mouth.

But, I've only ever seen the maneuver on television*. I don't know if it would actually work, and no one in the studio is agreeing to reality test it today. Still, I'd let PCs give it a shot, even (or perhaps especially) in a brutually realistic game.

* Medical professionals who have to give drugs to unwilling patients seem to prefer having a handful of orderlies hold the patient down and then administer a hypodermic shot. That is, if they can't use bed restraints or wait until the patient falls unconscious.