[TG] How to do a Reverse Head-Butt?

[Phantasm]

There's one thing I've been looking for which I can't find in Martial Arts, and which I guess might be in Technical Grappling (which I do not yet own).

Situation: Someone has the hero (or a PC) grappled from behind. In countless movies and television action series, the hero will throw his head back hard against his grappler's face; usually this is enough to break the grapple, presumably by causing the grappler to loosen his grip.

How would this be handled?

[DouglasCole]

This is simply a strike into the rear hex, treated as the side because you know where he is.

I'd first grapple your foe back (to earn a few control points), then use Head Butt (Brawling or DX, I believe) to attack for his face, spending your CP to lower the hit location penalty first, and then add to damage with the rules for Grab and Smash.

If you're really good, you'll randomly hit the nose, which should have very pressure point like effects, including pain.

So you've got a chance of stun from a head blow (and a stun breaks a grapple by RAW, I believe), maybe a chance of even further nastiness due to the nose strike and an affliction of pain or restricted sight.

Sorry, books not right with me now, but that's the gist of it.

[chandley]

You can target the nose at -7 directly if you are skilled enough (or have enough CP to bring that penalty down a bit).

Over HP/4 is enough to cripple the nose, which counts as a Major Wound to the Face. This means an immediate HT roll, at -5 for a Face Major Wound, or be stunned: You fall prone, and if you where holding anything (like our hero) you drop it. If you fail by 5 or more, or any critical failure, you fall unconscious.

You are also stunned and must Do Nothing on your next turn (and can only defend at -4). As you are also prone (another -4), and cannot attack, it is time for our hero to wind up a big AoA:Strong, Telegraphic, to the Skull to finish this fight off.

Note that the Head Butt does require training, at least a point in Brawling or Karate, to get full damage out of it (see MA p. 74). Still, Over HP/4 is a low enough target that even a DX-2 roll and thrust-2 damage is worth a shot if you have enough CPs to offset some of the nose hit location penalties and a decent DX.

[Phantasm]

Sorry for the really late reply.

Note, though, the case in the original post: Someone has you grappled from the rear; he's behind you, with your arms pinned to your sides. Not much chance of you grappling him back to boost your control points. Pretty much the only moves you have available are to step on his foot or slam your head back into his, in essence your skull location hitting his face location.

I appreciate the replies, but folks seem to be thinking that the two grapplers are facing each other in their replies.

[Varyon]

First off, for the strike itself I'd use the guidelines from Elbow Strike (MA71) but require it to target the Face; it would default to around -6 (-2 as Elbow Strike, -5 for Face, +1 for limited target selection).

As for grappling them back, in Technical Grappling all grapples are reciprocal - if he's grappling you, you're automatically grappling him as well. You can thus make a roll at -4 to try and get some CP (TG11). Of course, chances are pretty good the guy's arms are in front of you in the grapple, so you should be able to grapple those freely - as they're only at -2 for Hit Location, this is preferable to just using your foe's grapple to establish some CP (and penalize him more on his attempts, since your CP is directly on his arms).

[chitoryu12]

I don't think the penalty for a head or nose strike should be as harsh as it would be in normal combat, as the motion of a rear headbutt is almost guaranteed to strike even by accident.