Grappling very small foes

[DT_]

Hello,
I was the GM for this session. The ticks have bodies about the size of a fist with 4 to 5 inch legs. I gave them a SM of -5 (1 ft). They have DR2, ST3 and six legs. The ticks start a grapple, move to the face, and need grapple 4 more times to enter the mouth and get into the guts. This took way too long. After looking over grappling again I think they will only need two turns to enter the guts. I may also start the grapple by attacking the face straight off. I’m also thinking they should be less capable and rely on swarm tactics more.

From Kromm: Per p. B370, if someone has more than twice the ST of his foe, the weaker foe merely counts as encumbrance and cannot prevent movement. This extends to the DX penalty as well.

Good to know, I didn’t interpret it that way. -4 DX seem way to much so I gave a -1 penalty to DX which I think is reasonable. I’m thinking of giving a -1 to DX per tick (or per two ticks) grappling to a max or -4. That all depends on how much I weaken them to rely on swarm tactics.

At 8", once in your mouth, I would say biting is an automatic hit! If the creature was pressed up against the cheek, an even a quarter of the body was in the mouth, I'd say between sucking in your cheeks and thrashing the tongue, it is still an automatic hit - maybe if I was feeling mean, I'd give a Pain Penalty for occasionally mashing down on your cheek or tongue, but it would be a small price to pay to keep a tick out!

This makes complete sense to me, but the entire purpose of the ticks is to enter the mouth. So for them to survive a bite (your basic thrusting damage) they either need some sort of active defense or more DR than I’d like to give them since at 3+ we have to start using the Hurting yourself rules for bare fisted attacks. So I gave them a parry representing their natural defense to being bit when entering.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by DT_

Good to know, I didn’t interpret it that way. -4 DX seem way to much so I gave a -1 penalty to DX which I think is reasonable. I’m thinking of giving a -1 to DX per tick (or per two ticks) grappling to a max or -4. That all depends on how much I weaken them to rely on swarm tactics.

You could add the tick's BL's and when that exceeds the BL of 1/2 the character's ST or more they begin to use the regular rules.