Attacking Grappled Creatures: Who gets hit?

[Ninja-to]

I noticed on an old 3.0 table that attacking creatures that are grappling each other means you determine randomly to see who gets hit. What about in 3.5? In particular an issue came up where one of my PC's was grappled by a Darkmantle, and other characters attacked it. Now if the Darkmantle is smothering the PC, and then get's stabbed, wouldn't the PC be at least *at risk* of being hit too? I can't find any info on this in the PHB... anyone know?

 

[Thanee]

IIRC in melee you hit what you want to hit, but ranged attacks get randomized taking size into account, but I couldn't find anything about that either, when I tried to look it up a while ago (this could also be from 3.0 still, who knows).

Bye
Thanee

 

[IcyCool]

Just so you are aware, the 3.5 SRD is available in many forms at http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org

 

[shilsen]

Check table 8-6 in the PHB. Melee attacks on grappling characters has no chance of targeting the wrong target. Ranged attacks require you to roll randomly. Though the table doesn't refer to size as a factor in the random rolling, it would make sense for that to be the case. Sometimes, size does matter

 

[Ninja-to]

Check table 8-6 in the PHB. Melee attacks on grappling characters has no chance of targeting the wrong target. Ranged attacks require you to roll randomly. Though the table doesn't refer to size as a factor in the random rolling, it would make sense for that to be the case. Sometimes, size does matter

Where does it say ranged has a chance to hit and not melee? That doesn't make sense at all anyway, even if that's printed.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Melee attacks hit whomever they are targeted at; there is no chance for the wrong target.

Ranged attacks have a chance of hitting thr wrong target. The exact language used in the rules is, "Roll randomly to see which grappling combatant you strike. That defender loses any Dexterity bonus to AC."

It does not provide any information on how that random determination is to be arrived at, however. Most people I know do a simple 50 / 50 chance, with potential modifications for creature size.

As to your other question, the answer is right here:

Grappling (but attacker is not) Melee:+0;1 Ranged: +0;1,3

Notes:
1 The defender loses any Dexterity bonus to AC.
3 Roll randomly to see which grappling combatant you strike. That defender loses any Dexterity bonus to AC.

 

[Ninja-to]

Melee attacks hit whomever they are targeted at; there is no chance for the wrong target.

Ranged attacks have a chance of hitting thr wrong target. The exact language used in the rules is, "Roll randomly to see which grappling combatant you strike. That defender loses any Dexterity bonus to AC."

It does not provide any information on how that random determination is to be arrived at, however. Most people I know do a simple 50 / 50 chance, with potential modifications for creature size.

Ok but it doesn't say that in the table. Where else is that printed? Just curious.

Btw Patryn, do you know about this?

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It says that under your posts.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

See my edit.

Why, yes - it appears that, at some point in the past, I was attacked by the nefarious .sig virus! How on earth could that have happened?!

 

[Thanee]

I think it makes perfect sense, that melee attacks have more precision against grappling combatants (except for greatswords or lances and the like, but the rule is just to keep it simple).

The size factor I probably have from another game then... but I'd always use size as a factor there.

..., Tiny = ¼, Small = ½, Medium = 1, Large = 2, Huge = 4, ...

So, if one medium creature is grappling with one large creature, chances are 33% vs 67%; medium vs small would be 67% vs 33%; medium vs huge would be 20% vs 80%; and so on.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Ninja-to]

I think it makes perfect sense, that melee attacks have more precision against grappling combatants (except for greatswords or lances and the like, but the rule is just to keep it simple).

The size factor I probably have from another game then... but I'd always use size as a factor there.

..., Tiny = ¼, Small = ½, Medium = 1, Large = 2, Huge = 4, ...

So, if one medium creature is grappling with one large creature, chances are 33% vs 67%; medium vs small would be 67% vs 33%; medium vs huge would be 20% vs 80%; and so on.

Bye
Thanee

I don't see why really. If you shoot a bolt at a Darkmantle that's enveloped a PC for example, chances are the bolt will embed itself in the Darkmantle easier and with less chance of hitting the PC, not more. Stabbing it with a Rapier would not only hurt the Darkmantle but also the PC underneath. That's the way I see it anyway. In another worse case, how about trying to smash one with a warhammer while it's on the head of your friendly PC? It wouldn't hurt him at all? Cloakers and oozes etc have the same issue.