grappling with extra arms

[baronopium]

i'm playing a coleopteran grappler in a DF campaign. i'm trying to figure out my bonus to hold onto someone once i grapple them with all four of my arms plus i have them in an arm lock. here's my calculation, please give me feedback:

my opponent is a normal human. assume we're at the point in the fight where i have him grappled with all four of my arms, plus i have him in an arm lock. on his turn he tries to break free.

I have a +5 for my first two hands, then an additional +2 for both my third and fourth arm, and then another +4 for the arm lock, for a total of +13 to my ST for the quick-contest. is this correct?

[cdru]

That looks correct. You get +2 for each extra arm past the first two. If that normal human is actually normal, then he's better off trying to strike you

[baronopium]

do you have a page reference that clarifies that all of those pluses stack? particularly the +4 from the lock.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by baronopium

do you have a page reference that clarifies that all of those pluses stack? particularly the +4 from the lock.

Is there any reason why they shouldn't stack? Because non-stacking modifiers are an exception, not the default assumption.

[baronopium]

i agree with you that they stack, but there was disagreement because the +13 seems so dominant. which is the point.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by baronopium

i agree with you that they stack, but there was disagreement because the +13 seems so dominant. which is the point.

Not nearly dominant as Power Grappling on an Ogre Barbarian... ;)

[ericthered]

Where does the first +5 come from?

[baronopium]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Where does the first +5 come from?

the first +5 comes from grappling an opponent with two hands. B371.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by baronopium

i agree with you that they stack, but there was disagreement because the +13 seems so dominant. which is the point.

Grappling as a Contest can be a bit of an "I win" button for the guy with bonuses. Conversely, without them it can be a bit of "so what," in that one of the objections initially to my Technical Grappling proposal was "why does anyone care? I've not seen grappling in GURPS for 15 years of playing it, not once."

So you're either really spectacularly good at it, usually by virtue of high (superhuman) ST, or you make with the stabbity-stabbity instead.

Martial Arts remedied this somewhat, and TG took it the next step, unifying the attack and defense rules with regular GURPS combat, for the main.

Peter Dell'Orto uses a version of TG in his Dungeon Fantasy game, and it plays fast, light, and way more interesting than "I win/I don't win."

End Shameless Plug.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by baronopium

the first +5 comes from grappling an opponent with two hands. B371.

Oh, its a bonus applicable to breaking free, not to generalized grappling. Makes sense.