Wrestling (POCT)

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Wrestling includes all attacks aimed at grasping and holding an opponent. Any creature with racial intelligence of at least semi- can make wrestling attacks if it also has grasping appendages that it could use to restrain an opponent. Incorporeal and amorphous creatures cannot make wrestling attacks and cannot be wrestled. Limbless creatures, such as worms, snakes, and the like, generally cannot wrestle, though constrictor snakes can be assumed to be using a form of wrestling.
Wormlike and snakelike creatures are resistant to wrestling damage, but can be held or locked so they cannot attack until they win free of the hold. Creatures immune to normal weapons have a natural resistance to wrestling attacks, so they can be grappled or pinned but take no damage from a hold unless the attacker functions as a magical weapon. Immunity to normal weapons, however, does not protect a creature from the effects of a lock, including damage.
Wrestling requires both hands free. Shields, which are normally worn strapped to the forearm, interfere with the character's grip and prevent wrestling.
Wrestling combat always takes place between two opponents; multiple attackers cannot make a wrestling attack as a group. Damage from wrestling holds and locks is mostly temporary, just like other types of brawling damage.
==Wrestling Procedures==
Most characters can make one wrestling attack each round. Wrestling attacks take place on the attacker's base initiative phase.
A wrestler makes an attack roll vs. Armor Class 10, regardless of the defender's actual Armor Class. Bonuses for the defender's Dexterity and magical protections apply. Effects that provide a flat Armor Class, such as magical bracers or shield spells, count as a +1 bonus regardless of how strong their enchantments are. If the attacker misses, his action phase ends. If the attacker scores a critical hit, the defender is automatically held. The attacker enters the defender's square and inflicts 1d2 points of damage. The attacker can immediately try for a lock (see Previously Established Holds, below). If there is no critical hit, the attacker enters the defender's square and immediately checks for a hold.
===Holds===
To check for a hold, the combatants make an opposed attack roll vs. AC 10 (Dexterity and magical bonuses apply). Strength bonuses apply, along with the following modifiers:
* 4-point bonus or penalty per size difference of the attacker versus the defender;
* –1 for a defender normally immune to the attack;
* –2 for defenders with unusually supple bodies (snakes, eels, worms, etc.).
The attacker must win the opposed roll to achieve a hold. If the defender wins, if there is a tie, or if both rolls fail, the attacker is driven back to his original square and the grapple is broken. Both characters retain their original facings.
If the attacker wins the opposed roll, the attacker achieves a hold. The defender suffers 1d2 points of damage unless immune to the attack, and the attacker can try for a lock during his next attack. A hold lasts until the attacker frees the defender, or the defender breaks free. Grappled characters cannot move until they free themselves, and they cannot make attacks of opportunity. Checking for a hold ends the attacker's action phase; the character cannot attack again until he would normally be eligible for a melee attack (usually the next combat round); however, the character can counter the defender's attempts to get free (by making opposed rolls).
Strength bonuses to attack and damage rolls apply to all wrestling attacks, holds, and locks.
===Previously Established Holds and Locks===
When a character is eligible to make an attack and begins the action phase with a character in his grasp, the attacker can release the opponent, try to improve his grip, or just hold on.
If the attacker releases his opponent he can immediately attempt another unarmed attack, draw a weapon and attack (this counts as a half-move action), or attempt some other action normally available to the character, such as movement.
If the attacker tries to improve his grip, make another opposed attack roll as described above. If both attack rolls fail, there is no change in the combatants' status—they remain grappled and no damage is inflicted. If the defender wins, the attacker suffers 1d2 points of damage (plus Strength bonus) and the defender's position improves one place. Locked defenders become held, held defenders break free. If the defender wins with a roll good enough to score a critical hit, the defender immediately scores a lock on the attacker, and can choose a lock result from the table below. The defender now controls the wrestling sequence and is treated as the attacker in subsequent action phases. If the attacker wins the opposed roll, the defender suffers 1d2 points of damage and the attacker's position improves one place; held characters become locked.
If the attacker just tries to hold on, conduct another opposed roll. Unless the defender wins, his status does not change; held characters remain held and suffer 1d2 points of damage, and locked characters remain locked and suffer a lock result of the attacker's choice. If the defender wins, his status improves one place, as noted above. There is no chance for the defender to roll a critical hit and achieve a lock on the attacker. If both attacks fail, or if there is a tie, the defender's status remains unchanged, but the defender takes no damage and cannot suffer a lock result (though an established lock is not broken). The advantage of holding on is that there is also no chance for a critical hit to reverse the attacker's fortunes.
A character who decides to hold on after he has achieved a lock can only repeat the previous lock effect. If the character wishes to change effects, he must win another opposed roll.
===Breaking Free===
A defender who begins an action phase in another character's grasp cannot move. The only combat actions he can take is an attack with a size S or natural weapon, pummeling, or wrestling. These attacks must be directed at the opponent grappling the character. Attacks with size S weapons and pummeling attacks suffer a –2 attack penalty. Natural and armed attacks are not possible if the character's original facing would not allow them. For example, a fighter who makes a wrestling attack from one of a lion's rear squares could not be subjected to the lion's claw attacks, though the lion could turn its head to bite.
If the defender scores a critical hit with a weapon or natural attack, he can opt to inflict double damage (and perhaps roll for a special effect according to the rules presented in Chapter Six) or force the attacker to release him. If the defender scores a knockdown with a pummeling or weapon attack, he breaks free.
If the defender makes a wrestling attack, conduct an opposed attack roll as described above. If both attacks fail, there is no change in the combatants' status—they remain grappled or locked and no damage is inflicted. If the defender wins, the attacker suffers 1d2 points of damage (plus Strength bonus) and the defender's position improves one place. Locked defenders become grappled, and grappled characters break free. If the defender wins with a roll good enough to score a critical hit, the defender immediately scores a lock on the attacker and can choose a lock result from the table below. The defender now controls the wrestling sequence and is treated as the attacker in subsequent action phases. If the attacker wins the opposed roll, there is no change in the defender's status. If the attacker wins with a roll good enough to score a critical hit, the attacker automatically achieves a lock.
===Assistance===
Wrestling involves seizing and controling the defender's body; multiple attackers tend to hinder each other more than the defender. Even Very Large creatures that occupy more than one space on the map cannot be wrestled en masse because it is impossible to coordinate their actions as the defender thrashes about. The attacker's companions, however, can make melee, pummeling, and overbearing attacks against the defender. (A character involved in wrestling combat does not count as part of the pile if his companions try to overbear the defender).
It is equally difficult to involve multiple defenders in wrestling combat. A single character can try to grapple the attacking wrestler and pry him loose from the defender. If the rescuer achieves a hold (or a lock) on the attacker, the original defender breaks free and the original attacker is pulled into the rescuer's square.
A hold or lock also can be broken by scoring a knockdown or critical hit with a weapon or pummeling attack, as described above, or by overbearing the attacker. Additional defenders who threaten the attacker can make attacks of opportunity every time the attacker initiates an opposed roll.
Missile attacks directed at wrestlers have a chance to hit either characters as described in Chapter One.
===Locks===
Characters who become locked suffer one of the following effects, chosen by the character who achieved the lock:
* Throw: The attacker literally throws the defender through the air. The defender lands, prone, 1 or 2 squares away in any direction the attacker chooses. The defender suffers 1d4 points of damage unless he lands on a soft, yielding surface, but is freed from the attacker's grasp. Defenders thrown onto particularly hard and unyielding surfaces, such as solid stone floors or walls, take 1d4+1 points of damage. If the defender is thrown into another creature, immediately conduct an overbearing attack against the creature struck using the attacker's Strength score and the thrown creature's size. If the defender is thrown into a hazardous area, such as a pool of burning oil or a set of sharp spikes, he takes additional damage from the hazard, just as though he has stepped or fallen into it. Hazards usually inflict normal (not temporary) damage. Defenders at least two size classes larger than their attackers cannot be thrown. Treat the throw as a takedown. If the defender is the same size or smaller than the attacker, the attacker can make a half move before throwing his opponent.
* Takedown: The attacker makes the defender fall to the ground in the combat square. The defender suffers 1d3 points of damage and remains in the attacker's grasp.
* Slam: The attacker hurls the defender violently to the ground in the combat square. The lock automatically becomes a hold and the victim breaks free if he rolls a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon. The defender suffers 1d8 points of damage in any case. The defender suffers 1d8+1 points of damage if slammed into solid ground, and the appropriate amount of damage is inflicted if the defender is slammed into hazardous ground. Defenders at least two size classes larger than their attackers cannot be slammed. Treat the slam as a takedown.
* Press: The attacker squeezes or twists some part of the victim's body, inflicting damage. The victim remains in the attacker's grasp and suffers 1d6+1 points of damage. If the attacker repeats the press on his next action phase, the damage bonus increase to +2 and continues to increase if the attacker can repeat the press without interruption. A press repeated through five consecutive attacks would inflict 1d6+5 points of damage during the fifth attack.
* Hammer: The attacker pummels the defender or pounds his body against something. The defender suffers 1d2 points of damage and must roll a successful saving throw vs. death or be knocked unconscious for 3d10 combat rounds. There is no adjustment to the roll as there is in a pummeling attack and no damage adjustment for items the attacker holds or wears on his hands.
* Manipulate: The attacker takes control over the defender's body. The attacker can pry items out of the defender's grasp, remove exposed equipment from the defender's body, bind the defender's limbs, negate one of the defender's natural attacks, or inhibit the defender's actions in other ways at the DM's discretion. The defender suffers 1d2 points of damage from the attacker's manhandling.
: The attacker can remove one item or bind one limb with a manacle in one attack phase. It takes two attack phases to tie a limb with rope. If in doubt about the attacker's ability to remove an item, allow the attacker to make an open doors or bend bars roll to perform the action. For example, removing a helmet from a struggling hobgoblin would require an open doors roll. Removing a helmet from a struggling storm giant would require a bend bars roll.
: It is often possible to maintain a manipulation while performing a press or takedown. If the defender wins an opposed roll while multiple locks are established, all of them are broken.
* Carry: The attacker lifts the defender into the air and makes a normal move. The defender's weight (and the weight of the defender's equipment) is added to the attacker's encumbrance rating. The attacker cannot choose this lock if the defender's total weight (with equipment) equals or exceeds the attacker's maximum press values (see PHB, Chapter 1).
===Wrestler Versus Wrestler===
If two characters have declared wrestling attacks against each other, they automatically grasp each other. Skip the initial attack roll and make an opposed roll on the fastest character's action phase to see who has the advantage. The winner establishes a hold, or a lock if his roll was good enough to score a critical hit.
==Wrestling Skill Levels==
* Nonproficient: All characters have had some experience with wrestling since early childhood; the only nonproficient wrestlers are creatures that cannot make wrestling attacks at all. In most cases, creatures that cannot make wrestling attacks also cannot be wrestled. If a nonproficient creature can be wrestled, it can make opposed rolls with no penalties, but it cannot score critical hits or achieve holds or locks; the creature can merely wiggle out of the attacker's grasp (or make natural attacks). A character cannot choose to be nonproficient in wrestling and gain extra character points under the optional character point system from the Skills & Powers book.
* Familiar: Creatures that can make wrestling attacks are automatically familiar with wrestling, and need not spend any character points or proficiency slots on the skill. Such characters can make one wrestling attack each combat round with no penalty.
* Proficient: Any character can spend character points (or a weapon proficiency) to become proficient at wrestling. Nonwarriors gain no benefit from wrestling proficiency. Proficient warriors gain their full allotment of melee attacks when wresting. High-level warriors can initiate multiple wrestling attacks each round and can try to improve holds or switch locks in any action phase when they are eligible to make attacks.
* Expert: Any character can spend character points (or weapon proficiencies) to become expert at wrestling. Expert warriors who are entitled to more than one melee attack each round can make the same number of wrestling attacks each round, but gain no other benefits. Expert nonwarriors can make multiple wrestling attacks at the same rate as a nonspecialized warrior of the same level.
* Specialized: Generally, only single-classed fighters can become wrestling specialists, though there are optional rules in the Skills & Powers book that allow other characters to specialize. Wrestling specialists gain the normal specialist attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks.
* Master: Only single-classed warriors can attain mastery in wrestling. Wrestling masters gain the normal master attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks. Grand master wrestlers can use critical augmentation to score quick locks on attack rolls of 16 or better.
==An Example of Wrestling==
Anada, the elf warrior from the previous example, lures one of his bugbear guards into his cell in another bid to escape. The guard is wary of trouble, so the DM rules there is no chance for surprise, but also gives Anada the first attack as he lunges from behind the door and grapples with the bugbear.
The bugbear is armed, and turns toward Anada as he attacks. Because Anada is threatened, the bugbear gets an attack of opportunity before Anada makes his wrestling attack. Anada gets lucky and the bugbear misses. Anada makes an attack roll vs. Armor Class 10 and rolls a 7, good enough to hit.
Now Anada checks to see if he achieves a hold. Anada and the bugbear make opposed attack rolls. Anada is attacking Armor Class 10 because the bugbear has no magical or Dexterity bonuses; Anada suffers a –4 penalty for being a size class smaller than the bugbear but gains a +1 bonus from his Strength. The bugbear is attacking Armor Class 8 because of Anada's chain mail +1 and 15 Dexterity. Anada rolls a 10, good enough to hit. The bugbear rolls an 18, also good enough to hit; however, Anada wins the opposed attack roll because he succeeded with a lower number. Anada has a hold on the bugbear and inflicts 1d2+1 points of damage (because of a successful hold and Anada's 17 Strength). Anada inflicts 2 points of damage, both temporary.
During its attack phase, the bugbear drops its weapon, which is too big to use while grappled, and tries to break free. Anada and the bugbear conduct another opposed attack roll, this time with the bugbear gaining a +4 bonus to its roll for the size difference, since it is the attacker. The bugbear rolls a 20, normally good enough to score a critical hit against Anada's effective Armor Class of 8. Anada, however, rolls an 11, good enough to hit the bugbear's effective Armor Class of 10 and win the opposed roll (because it is successful and lower than the bugbear's roll). Because the bugbear didn't win the opposed roll, the critical roll is disregarded; the bugbear does not achieve a lock on Anada.
Now that both combatants have taken an attack phase, the combat proceeds to the next combat round. Anada wins initiative and tries to achieve a lock on the bugbear. There is another opposed roll, and Anada wins with a roll of 12 versus the bugbear's 2 (the bugbear lost because its attack failed and Anada's succeeded). Anada achieves a lock and decides to hold the bugbear's mouth shut to keep it from calling for help. The DM decides this is a manipulation, and the bugbear suffers another 1d2+1 points of damage. Anada inflicts 3 points of damage, all temporary.
The bugbear tries to free itself once again during its attack phase, but loses the opposed roll. The combat round ends.
During the next round, the bugbear wins initiative, but loses the opposed roll again. Now that the bugbear's mouth is clamped shut, Anada decides to twist the bugbear's head a little, which qualifies as a press. The DM decides Anada can keep hold of the bugbear's mouth while wrenching at its head, but Anada still must make another opposed roll to establish the press. Anada wins again and inflicts 1d6+2 points of damage (1d6+1 for the press, plus one for Anada's Strength). Anada rolls a 4 and inflicts 6 points of damage, 1 normal and 5 temporary. The bugbear has now suffered 9 points of damage, 8 temporary and one normal. The bugbear started with 14 hit points, is now at 5, and struggles on.
Anada loses initiative the next round and the bugbear tries to free itself again. There is another opposed roll, which the bugbear loses. If the bugbear had won, both the press (head twist) and manipulation (mouth clamp) would have been broken and Anada would only have had a simple hold.
Anada decides to press again on his attack phase. There is another opposed roll, which Anada wins; because Anada was just holding on, the bugbear could not have achieved a lock by winning the roll with a critical hit. Anada has maintained his press through two attack phases, so he inflicts an extra point of damage, for a total of 1d6+3 points. Anada inflicts 7 more points of damage, 1 normal and 6 temporary. The bugbear's hit point total is now below zero, and it falls unconscious for 2d6 full turns. Anada picks up the bugbear's weapon and slips out of the cell.