New Combat Maneuver
A character’s hit points represent his ability and luck when it comes to avoiding the lethal effects created by the point of a sword. In Dungeons and Dragons, Armor Class doesn’t scale with level, but hit points do. This is because a characters ability to avoid being hit isn’t reflected PRIMARILY by armor class, but by his hit point total.
Combat Maneuvers in 3.5 and Pathfinder describe the ways a fighter or monk can gain momentary advantage over their opponent. Actions like Trip, Overrun, Bull Rush, Disarm, and Sunder all create situations where their victim is put at a disadvantage but can still fight.
The one exception is Grapple. The Grappling rules have presented a problem for each edition that has dealt with them, and that problem has never been resolved in my opinion. Grappling in Pathfinder presents the one and only way a non-spell caster can end a fight without reaching the fundamental victory condition: depleting his enemy’s hit points. Grappling can be used to repeatedly deny an opponent their action and can eventually result in their being completely tied up and rendered helpless.
I’m proposing a new Combat Maneuver that will replace Grappling:
Waylay
Waylay is performed in the same way as every other Combat Maneuver. The attacker rolls his combat maneuver bonus vs. his opponent’s CMD. If he meets or beats that number, the target has been effectively waylaid. The victim of this maneuver gains that status, "waylaid," and the attacker gains the status, "oppressor."
Attempting to waylay an enemy is a standard action. Once an enemy is waylaid, you can perform one of the following two maneuvers: move or damage.
Move
The oppressor can force his enemy to move to the sides or backwards equal to up to half his movement. If this movement would place the victim in a square where it would suffer damage, it gets an immediate chance to break free.
Damage
The oppressor can automatically deal damage equal to a single normal strike.
Maintaining the Pressure
Once an enemy has been waylaid, a roll must be made to maintain it every round. Rolls to maintain the pressure gain a +5 bonus.
Contesting the Pressure
On his turn, a waylaid creature can make a roll against his oppressor’s CMD. If it is successful, he may decide to either become the oppressor or break free and regain normal movement.
Status: Waylaid
A creature is considered waylaid when it has an opponent so effectively pressing it that it can’t effectively focus its attention on anything else. A waylaid creature is unable to gain an advantageous position of any kind – suffering a -2 on all attack and combat maneuver rolls (except those made to escape the waylaid condition). It also suffers a -4 to its Dexterity.
A spell caster that is being waylaid can’t cast a spell unless it makes a Concentration Check with a difficulty equal to its Attacker’s CMD + 10 + Spell Level.
A waylaid creature can’t use Stealth to hide from his oppressor, even if he has an ability such as hide in plain sight. If the waylaid creature becomes invisible, he gains a +2 on all Combat Maneuver rolls to regain his footing.
When a creature is waylaid, it suffers an attack of opportunity from its oppressor if it takes more than a 5’ step. It also suffers an attack of opportunity if it attacks any creature other than its oppressor. If the attack of opportunity is successful, the action that provoked it is negated.
If a creature runs from an enemy that is waylaying it, it successfully breaks the condition if it avoids the attack of opportunity and its oppressor is prevented from running after it.
Status: Oppressor
Any creature waylaying an enemy is said to be oppressing it. The oppressor suffers a -2 penalty to its AC and can’t attack any creature other than his primary target without releasing it.
If the oppressing character is attacked, the creature he is waylaying gets a free chance to escape for each attack made.
Only one oppressor can make an attack of opportunity against a waylaid creature, and that creature gets to pick which of his oppressors makes the attack. In general, a strong person will find that weaker people just get in his way when he is running down a worthy adversary.
Simpler, clearer and works. Gets my approval.
I was thinking of making the rule that multiple characters can press the same person. The penalties don't increase, but each person pressing can get attacks of opportunity. So - if you are being pressed by two people, no matter who you attack you suffer an AoO.
Also, I think it would be impossible to press someone if you are being attacked by anyone else. If you want to waylay an enemy, it has to be one on one or better in your favor.
This rule will help encourage powerful people to hire mooks to guard them.
Quote from: Cranewings;343683The Grappling rules have presented a problem for each edition that has dealt with them, and that problem has never been resolved in my opinion. Grappling in Pathfinder presents the one and only way a non-spell caster can end a fight without reaching the fundamental victory condition: depleting his enemy’s hit points. Grappling can be used to repeatedly deny an opponent their action and can eventually result in their being completely tied up and rendered helpless.
Um, sure. But going for a grapple means you're not going for an outright kill the fucker move, which is something you might (or might not, yes) even regret. Then, the grappled state actually allows you to do quite a few things, and - most importantly - continuing to grapple someone means you yourself are severely limited in what else you can do. All of which means, it's a gamble, but if it does pay off, good! Teamwork for the win, is the other thing to remember.
And, gotta say, your version isn't any simpler than the PF one. Not that that matters, per se, because the PF version of grappling is piss easy, and actually works.
Colour me confused.
Grappling is, in my opinion, an extra way to victory that won't be utilized by PCs unless it is statistically better than fighting. Nine times out of ten, once an opponent is tied up, players just kill him.
I also don't understand how it is possible, given the logic of having a lot of hit points, to tie someone up that has hit points left.
I just edited the initial post. I think this is how we will end up playing it.