Dungeon Fantasy Grappling

[Kromm]

The brief answer: Always use the roll that's best for you. If your grappling skill is at less than DX, use DX. You don't become worse for learning a skill . . . you're never obliged to roll vs. your skill level to grapple, and probably won't want to do so until your skill surpasses your DX.

Which said, it's still worth learning a grappling skill for the tricks it offers.

Adventurers, p. 92: Want to throw people around? You need to attack with Judo. No amount of DX alone permits this move.

Exploits, p. 39: Want to escape from a garrote? Well, Judo or Wrestling at -3 is often better than ST at -5 . . . even if you know the skill at only DX-1 or DX-2, you'll be using DX at -4 or -5, which is almost certainly better that ST at -5 for a high-DX, low-ST character.

Exploits, p. 40: Want to avoid losing an arm when an enemy parries your grapple with a weapon? Attack with Judo instead of DX. Your enemy now rolls at -4 to injure your limb. That's probably worth rolling at less than DX.

Exploits, p. 49: Want to parry weapons barehanded? Parry with Judo, not DX. That avoids -3 to Parry. Even with Judo at DX-2, your Parry will be two levels higher than with DX. (And you get +3, not +1, if you retreat.)

Clearly, Judo is best and the other two aren't as useful. If the GM adds in moves from GURPS, though, they generally don't default to DX. You need skill.

But there's no promise that spending points on anything will make you good at low levels. This is why all templates offer enough points to raise skills to levels where they're useful.