Defeating grapplers with a striking skill

[Dangerious P. Cats]

It's been generally observed of unarmed combat skills that grappling skills like wrestling and judo have a destinct advantage over unarmed striking skills like karate, brawling or wrestling, as it is in real life. I'm wondering if there are methods in GURPS for dealing with a grappler when you have a unarmed striking skills only. What techniques, actions and could one undertake to beat a grappler without taking a grappling skill?

[Gef]

With a POWER technique based on Body Alteration, grow long spines!

As far as I know, if you can't break free using ST, you just gotta soak all the relevant penalties and wail away. If they have all your limbs locked, go for a bite or head butt. Iron (Body Parts) is useful here, but if you're exposed to arm locks enough to develop iron arms, I'm hard-pressed to imagine how you avoid learning a bit of grappling skill.

GEF

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

It's been generally observed of unarmed combat skills that grappling skills like wrestling and judo have a destinct advantage over unarmed striking skills like karate, brawling or wrestling, as it is in real life. I'm wondering if there are methods in GURPS for dealing with a grappler when you have a unarmed striking skills only. What techniques, actions and could one undertake to beat a grappler without taking a grappling skill?

There's nothing stopping you from beating on them and they can't Retreat without releasing you.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

It's been generally observed of unarmed combat skills that grappling skills like wrestling and judo have a destinct advantage over unarmed striking skills like karate, brawling or wrestling, as it is in real life.?

It's possibly true of sports forms anyway. When an encounter has rules to limit damage the Skill that has more non-damaging options has an advantage.

Non-sports form wrestling in the past was frequently conducted with a knife in one hand jsut to get around the non-damaging part.

But if you want a Maneuver to use against grapplers try Wait. Many sports form grappling attempts are performed as AOAs.

[gmillerd]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

What techniques, actions and could one undertake to beat a grappler without taking a grappling skill?

Is this prior to grappling or after being successfully grappled? (parry, dodge, block, + evaluate or feint, change SM/posture)

or during grapple? (anything that doesn't involve the grappled limb or body area, likely some movement restrictions as well)

My thinking would be, in a few seconds your going to be looking at a crippled limb, throw from lock, wrench, or similar agony affliction and you want to activate some quick damage on him.

It doesn't sound like your character approves of any Brawling, so most likely some sort of Uppercut, Elbow Strike, Stamp Kick or Knee strike.

Once your successfully locked you are done IMHO for you really go toward a 911 series of moves. Such as any "What would Fairbairn do?" move (testicle grab, requires brawling sadly), "go for the eyes" strikes(k-5 to k-10), Ear Clap (k-3), or similar vitals punch, or Head Butt (k-1) like previously mentioned.

If you can pull off a single handed Ear Clap (assuming your armed grappled) your pretty golden, who cares about the damage. The stun is what your really looking for. Any sort of stun effect is win.

[chris1982]

1) Have a good parry
2) Cripple their hands

[aesir23]

In MMA, striking specialists make use of the Sprawl maneuver to avoid being forced into ground fighting.

I'd also make use of Wait and Riposte, whenever the grappler enters your hex or tries to grab you, strike them and move back out of range.

[vitruvian]

1) Prior to being grappled, act first if you're able and knock em' out. If your first strike isn't able to take them out, or they act first, don't recall for sure if Retreat adds to ability to evade, but it should.

2) Once grappled, strike with any body part not grappled, dealing with penalties if you have to. Depending on how they've got you held, regular hand strikes, elbow, knees, foot stamp, head butt, or even biting are all fair game.

3) Remember that just because you may not have a specific grappling skill, that doesn't mean you don't get to contest their initial grapple, pinning, or any locks they try to apply - you've always got resistance in those contests based on DX or ST depending on what phase of grappling we're talking about. If you're a Bruce Lee-quick striking specialist, who says they're fast enough to grab you in the first place? If you're a heavyweight boxing bruiser, who says they're strong enough to do much to you in a clinch?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

It's been generally observed of unarmed combat skills that grappling skills like wrestling and judo have a destinct advantage over unarmed striking skills like karate, brawling or wrestling, as it is in real life. I'm wondering if there are methods in GURPS for dealing with a grappler when you have a unarmed striking skills only. What techniques, actions and could one undertake to beat a grappler without taking a grappling skill?

I think that's a bit of an overstatement. When you have a grappler who is fighting a striker with no grappling skills, a grappler has a real advantage, and a lot of the techniques a striker would use (like dropping an elbow on the back of the head) are illegal in sporting competitions, since they're potentially lethal.

Strikers who know how to keep their foe at a distance can and do defeat grapplers, and a well rounded fighter who knows both is most dangerous of all.

And to continue:

1. Most grappling offensive maneuvers are attacks, and can be parried. The real dangers are the responses AFTER an attack by you (meaning things like Judo Throw and Arm Lock after they parry your attack). Arm Lock after a parry is dangerous because it can be bought up cheaply from an Average grappling skill (Wrestling) and that skill is used both for capturing the arm and the actual technique. Judo Throw is an attack/defense, so parry helps.

2. You can strike in CC, quite effectively, and if you learn it, it's a big deal. Buy off the posture penalties for ground fighting, which are the real killers for untrained ground fighters in GURPS (-4 for lying down, etc). Invest in elbow and knee strikes, as well as back kick and back strike and other techniques that allow one to hit to all facings on a foe in close combat.

3. Shock is your friend, since it penalizes his rolls. Likewise, even a zero-point head blow can stun your foe, so learning Targeted Attacks which can accomplish this in CC would be worthwhile.

4. Be STRONG. Many grappling contests can use ST instead of DX or skill, and while ST is more expensive than skill, it's less than DX. If your GM allows, Lifting ST I believe helps with grappling rolls, and is about as cheap as skill.

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

I think that's a bit of an overstatement. When you have a grappler who is fighting a striker with no grappling skills, a grappler has a real advantage, and a lot of the techniques a striker would use (like dropping an elbow on the back of the head) are illegal in sporting competitions, since they're potentially lethal.

Strikers who know how to keep their foe at a distance can and do defeat grapplers, and a well rounded fighter who knows both is most dangerous of all.

Yeah, it's probably worth repeating that the advantage is probably greater in sport than in down and dirty combat, where there needn't be any hesitation about doing full force 'stop thrust' type techniques to the head just as the grappler's trying to get the first grip. Wait and Knee Strike is one such option, especially if the grappler is going for the knees and bringing the face down to the right level...