Grappling very small foes

ipnoom · 03-01-2011, 12:00 PM

This weekend, our game group had an encounter with a small group of deadland's style prairie ticks. These creatures are 6 legged and about 8 inches long (I don't know the exact size the GM set them at).

These creatures would rush at us (humans) and grapple our chest, then transfer grapple location to the face, and then attempt to enter our mouths and wiggle down our throats into our bellies.

Questions arose to what we were able to do to deal with these buggers as the started grappling/grabbing onto us. Because of the number of legs they ended up being fairly challenging to break free from, despite low strength.

The actual encounter raised multiple questions, that rereading the grappling section may have answered, but perhaps not, thus this post.

1. If something grapples you (in this case against the torso) can you then grapple them back as your attack manuever? This seems likely, if you read the actions allowed after being grappled, but I would like the forum's opinion)

2. is there a place that talks about different sized creatures grappling each other and the dx penalty they take. Usually you get a -4 to dx, but what if the grappler is child size? cat size? mouse size? cockroach size? I know that gm discretion can handle this, but I was wondering if there is a section addressing this or a mechanic that can be used to determine what the penalty should be.

3. What kind of active defense would a creature get that was stuck in a human's mouth that is then biting down on them? Dodge with a retreat option to get out? This is a creature that is big enouth that it can't completely fit in the mouth so part of it is hanging out. Reverse of that, the creature is stuck in your mouth up against the cheek or whatnot, what defense would the human get?

4. Something that has many legs gets bonuses to its strength when making a breakfree attempt, thus a creature with 8 legs gets +5 for the first 2 legs and then additional bonuses for the additional legs, so what happens if this is a common house spider? I guess it is hard to get it off of you with a typical shake free option (all those legs grabbing you?) but yet it is easy to flick it off? (an attack option separate from the break free option)?

There are more questions, but this is a good start. I have read the relevant sections for grappling in both the basic books and in MA, but not sure how to resolve this issue with size difference. All responses welcomed and thank you in advance for your efforts in helping me.

03-01-2011, 12:00 PM	#1
ipnoom Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Tukwila, WA	Grappling very small foes This weekend, our game group had an encounter with a small group of deadland's style prairie ticks. These creatures are 6 legged and about 8 inches long (I don't know the exact size the GM set them at). These creatures would rush at us (humans) and grapple our chest, then transfer grapple location to the face, and then attempt to enter our mouths and wiggle down our throats into our bellies. Questions arose to what we were able to do to deal with these buggers as the started grappling/grabbing onto us. Because of the number of legs they ended up being fairly challenging to break free from, despite low strength. The actual encounter raised multiple questions, that rereading the grappling section may have answered, but perhaps not, thus this post. 1. If something grapples you (in this case against the torso) can you then grapple them back as your attack manuever? This seems likely, if you read the actions allowed after being grappled, but I would like the forum's opinion) 2. is there a place that talks about different sized creatures grappling each other and the dx penalty they take. Usually you get a -4 to dx, but what if the grappler is child size? cat size? mouse size? cockroach size? I know that gm discretion can handle this, but I was wondering if there is a section addressing this or a mechanic that can be used to determine what the penalty should be. 3. What kind of active defense would a creature get that was stuck in a human's mouth that is then biting down on them? Dodge with a retreat option to get out? This is a creature that is big enouth that it can't completely fit in the mouth so part of it is hanging out. Reverse of that, the creature is stuck in your mouth up against the cheek or whatnot, what defense would the human get? 4. Something that has many legs gets bonuses to its strength when making a breakfree attempt, thus a creature with 8 legs gets +5 for the first 2 legs and then additional bonuses for the additional legs, so what happens if this is a common house spider? I guess it is hard to get it off of you with a typical shake free option (all those legs grabbing you?) but yet it is easy to flick it off? (an attack option separate from the break free option)? There are more questions, but this is a good start. I have read the relevant sections for grappling in both the basic books and in MA, but not sure how to resolve this issue with size difference. All responses welcomed and thank you in advance for your efforts in helping me.