Add a Hand

Add a Hand was introduced on MA117 as part of More Actions After a Grapple. Initially it was described as "free action at the start of your turn".
*it notes that barehanded attacks can't be done until start of next turn when letting go can be done as a free action (implied: you let go for free FIRST, then attack)
TG 24's Shifting Grapples completely rewrote this. Instead of being a free action and an automatic success, it now requires an attack (at standard grappling penalties, 1/2 normal hit location penalties) which can be defended against.
This strangely makes it no easier to add a hand to something you already have control of, unless TG5's Spending CP is modified. This allows spending CP to emulate a maxed-out Targeted Attack for strikes (can reduce the penalty up to grappling).
*This unfortunately has no benefit for grappling attacks, so as a house rule, instead of "up to grappling penalty" treat that as "can add CP required to bring unarmed strikes up to grappling penalty".
**for example: you can spend up to 2 CP to improve the penalty to strike the groin from -3 to -1 (as per the -7 for skull becoming -3 this rounds UP) which is a net +2 so if you wanted to improve -1 to grapple the groin, you could spend 2 CP to improve it from -1 to +1.
***note that this is also adaptable for situations where there is reduced penalty for certain locations from certain striking techniques, such as Knee Strike from MA76 having NO penalty to strike the groin: +2 CP should perhaps reduce that to +2 to hit it.
This introduces a special consideration for weapons:
*"If you are adding a hand to a foe’s weapon that you have already grappled, you may do so at -2."
This could be misread as a drawback (like -2 for partial cover, your 1st arm gets in the way of the 2nd) but it seems like it might be intended as a benefit. B370 under Grabbing normally has a -4 penalty to grab weapons. Despite "like the hand" it does not appear to be halved (to -2) as extremities normally would be when grappled.
B400 Striking at Weapons doesn't use a fixed penalty like -4 for weapons, it varies the penalty based on Reach which works like a stand-in for SM.
TG13's Grabbing the Foe talks about the -4 and -2 to grapple extremities/limbs but seems to forget that you halve those to -2/-1 for grapples.
TG13's Grabbing the Object substitutes B400 for the generic -4 but it's unclear whether it's intended to halve that for grappling or not. If halved -5 would be -2 (same as -4 extremities) and halved -3 would be -1 (same as limbs). 
== Notes on Extra Hands ==
A grappler gets +5 to winning a Quick Contest of Strength while using two hands on techniques designed for 1H use.
*or +10 while pinning!
**note: pins no longer exist in TG
*Extra Arms giving additional hands adds +2 per hand
Category:Rules