[Fantastic Dungeon Grappling] Defending while grappling

Originally Posted by Plane

Conceptually it feels kinda weird that as a human I could bite a guy's leg and this wouldn't at all inhibit my ability to fend off his punches using my hands or dodge attacks aimed at my head without letting go.

In these cases, absent Born Biter or some 'Bite Mastery' Martial Artist ability (refluffed Technique), I would impart a penalty. Not sure what the penalty should be (you're using Dungeon Grappling which I'm not fluent in) but for DFRPG I'd go with a -4.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Harald387

A "parry" or even "dodge" in this context can just as easily represent using your bite grip to take your enemy off-balance enough that the attack misses, shifting your own body into place so that a shoulder deflects the blow harmlessly, or even letting go for a split second to move and reestablishing the bite. The defense roll represents 'a result that means you take no damage and maintain your grip', not any specific action like directly slapping a punch aside with your hand.

Since dodges avoid contact, so "shift so it glances off" is probably the type of no-hands parry where contact does happen but is only allowed against grapples so I don't think it can be used against punches...

Letting go for a split second and then re-establishing a grapple seems kinda off as well, like what if you had some kind of "exposure time" or "requires grapple" thing which required you to keep contact? Grapples I think assume constant contact unless actually let go.

I seem to remember some TG rules about how if you're grappling a dodge or parry could involve moving the one you've grappled so they miss, I'll need to recheck to see if I'm recalling that correctly though as I'm not sure.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Plane

Since dodges avoid contact, so "shift so it glances off" is probably the type of no-hands parry where contact does happen but is only allowed against grapples so I don't think it can be used against punches...

It should work against strikes coming from the person you've grappled, but not from others.

Letting go for a split second and then re-establishing a grapple seems kinda off as well, like what if you had some kind of "exposure time" or "requires grapple" thing which required you to keep contact? Grapples I think assume constant contact unless actually let go.

This is true in the main; Harald387 is noting that any level of shift or momentary movement that leaves you with the same control, less if you spend CP, can and should be handwaved. Game, not simulation.

I seem to remember some TG rules about how if you're grappling a dodge or parry could involve moving the one you've grappled so they miss, I'll need to recheck to see if I'm recalling that correctly though as I'm not sure.

That would usually be represented by spending CP to lower their hit chances when they attack you; modeling this as reactive on the defense (+1 to defend for each CP spent) violates the "CP never makes you better" principle, but in this case it might be OK.