[MA] Flexibility and Grappling Penalties

[vierasmarius]

In trying to stat up the infamous Honey Badger, I hit something of a snag. One of the interesting properties it has is that its skin is very loose, which allows it to move quite freely even while grabbed. Part of this is easily represented by Flexibility or Double Jointed, which gives a bonus to break free of grappling holds and locks. However, I feel that it should also reduce the normal -4 DX penalty for being grappled. This could be done as an extra +1 or +2 DX, limited to "only to counter penalty for being grappled," but that feels a bit cumbersome. How much of an enhancement would it be to have Fexibility and Double Jointed remove some of the grapple penalty? They normally remove up to -3 and -5 (respectively) from the penalty for working in tight quarters. I'm thinking of letting them provide half that penalty reduction to grapples (ie, -1 and -2). Does that seem worth +20% or so?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

In trying to stat up the infamous Honey Badger, I hit something of a snag. One of the interesting properties it has is that its skin is very loose, which allows it to move quite freely even while grabbed. Part of this is easily represented by Flexibility or Double Jointed, which gives a bonus to break free of grappling holds and locks. However, I feel that it should also reduce the normal -4 DX penalty for being grappled. This could be done as an extra +1 or +2 DX, limited to "only to counter penalty for being grappled," but that feels a bit cumbersome. How much of an enhancement would it be to have Fexibility and Double Jointed remove some of the grapple penalty? They normally remove up to -3 and -5 (respectively) from the penalty for working in tight quarters. I'm thinking of letting them provide half that penalty reduction to grapples (ie, -1 and -2). Does that seem worth +20% or so?

I might approach it a slightly different way, if you don't mind a suggestion.

Give the Honey Badger a bonus to Parry a grappling attack . . . say, +4. If he's hit with a grapple, he can negate one point of the DX penalty for each point he makes the roll by. If the penalty is zero, he's grabbed but not grappled, and if it's negative, he's not grappled at all.

On subsequent attacks, the attacker can try and improve his position by attacking again. Since Deceptive Attack reduces Parry, this would represent having to be more skilled in order to grab the Honey Badger by its meat rather than flesh.

Maybe represent this as a limitation (only vs. grapples) to Enhanced Parry. Since +1 to Parry for bare hands only is 5 points per level, 1-3 points per +1 against grapples only wouldn't be out of line. Flexibility is 5 points, Double-Jointed is 15, so my costing puts this suggested +4 at something like 4-12 points; never MORE than D-J, but possibly about the cost of Flexibility.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

I might approach it a slightly different way, if you don't mind a suggestion.

Give the Honey Badger a bonus to Parry a grappling attack . . . say, +4. If he's hit with a grapple, he can negate one point of the DX penalty for each point he makes the roll by. If the penalty is zero, he's grabbed but not grappled, and if it's negative, he's not grappled at all.

On subsequent attacks, the attacker can try and improve his position by attacking again. Since Deceptive Attack reduces Parry, this would represent having to be more skilled in order to grab the Honey Badger by its meat rather than flesh.

Maybe represent this as a limitation (only vs. grapples) to Enhanced Parry. Since +1 to Parry for bare hands only is 5 points per level, 1-3 points per +1 against grapples only wouldn't be out of line. Flexibility is 5 points, Double-Jointed is 15, so my costing puts this suggested +4 at something like 4-12 points; never MORE than D-J, but possibly about the cost of Flexibility.

Hmm, not a bad way to handle it, though it feels a bit more complicated. It does suggest a leveled Perk that reduces the grappling penalty, either by a flat -1, or by your mechanic of a "limited Parry."

Something else to consider is what the real purpose of all that extra skin around the neck is. Many animals (especially carnivores) have it, to protect specifically against Neck Snaps. This could probably be represented by the Iron Neck perk. For animals with particularly thick hides, they may have additional DR (Neck only, Tough Skin).