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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Justin Bacon" data-source="post: 3122322" data-attributes="member: 3795">I find that the grapple rules -- like most of the combat chapter in the PHB -- simply suffer from poor lay-out and presentation. They're no more difficult than a bull rush in practice. (Attacks of Opportunity are another ruleset that gets presented in such a muddled and confusing fashion that people come away thinking they're a lot more complicated than they actually are.)That being said, if I were in charge of the universe, I would streamline several combat rules so that they operated on a common mechanic: Grapples, bull rushes, overruns, and trips. I'd get rid of weird little exceptions that serve little or no purpose (like the unprecedented rule which causes the grapple to fail if the opponent's AoO causes damage; or the rule that you can't grapple a creature two sizes larger than yourself -- hey, if you can overcome that size penalty I say more power to you; or the bizarro 25% hit chance while bull rushing). The result would look something like this:--UNARMED COMBAT--UNARMED STRIKES: Making an unarmed strike provokes an AoO. If it is successful, an unarmed strike deals subdual damage according to the attacker's size (see table). You can deal lethal damage with an unarmed strike by accepting a -4 penalty to your attack roll. Unarmed strikes are considered light weapons. A natural weapon is not an unarmed strike, but creatures with natural weapons can choose to make an unarmed strike if they wish to.[1]GRAPPLING: Grapple check: 1d20 + Strength modifier + special size modifier (see table)[2]1. Move into the opponent's square. (This provokes movement-based AoOs normally.)2. Make a melee touch attack. (This provokes an AoO normally.)3. Make an opposed grapple check to bull rush, overrun, trip, or wrestle your opponent.While in a grapple, you are flatfooted[3]. You gain soft cover from your opponent (which may cause others to hit them when they're trying to hit you).Bull Rush: If you beat the defender's grapple check result, you push them back 5 feet. If you wish to move with the defender, you can push them back an additional 5 feet for each 5 points by which your check result is greater than the defender’s check result. You can’t, however, exceed your normal movement limit. If your check fails, you must immediately move 5 feet back the way you came. (Note: The defender provokes attacks of opportunity if he is moved. So do you, if you move with him.)Overrun: You can make an overrun attempt to move through an enemy's space as part of a move action or charge. The defender can choose not to oppose your grapple check and allow you to pass through their space as if they were a friendly character.[4] If the defender chooses to oppose the attempt, the opposed grapple check is resolved as a trip (see below). If the defender is tripped, you may move through their space as if they were a friendly character.Trip: If you beat the defender's grapple check result, they fall prone. If you fail, the defender may immediately make an opposed grapple check as a free action. If they succeed, you fall prone.Wrestle: If you beat the defender's grapple check result, you deal damage as if you had made an unarmed strike and are now wrestling your opponentWRESTLING:[ It's gotten too late for me to finish this coherently. I'll try to come back and edit this post in the morning, but it's pretty straight-forward at this point: Conditions and actions while wrestling, which include the possibility of pinning. Conditions and actions while pinning. Conditions and actions while pinned. The key is that accomplishing anything while wrestling, pinning, or being pinned is an opposed grapple check. Anything. ]NOTES1. There would be no such thing as an "armed" unarmed strike. That is just damn confusing. There would be unarmed strikes and there would be natural weapons. Clear distinction. The Improved Unarmed Strike feat would basically give the character a natural weapon.2. I might consider allowing the defender in a grapple check to substitude their Dexterity modifier in place of their Strength modifier in the grapple check (if its higher, obviously). But I'm really not sure that's essential, and I'd prefer to avoid the complexity. If such a rule were implemented, I would also include the following: "The defender gets a +4 bonus on his check if he has more than two legs or is otherwise more stable than a normal humanoid."3. Flatfooted nicely encompasses the "lose Dex bonus" and "don't threaten squares" condition under an existing term which is easy to remember because it just makes sense.4. This would need to be combined with a rule revision allowing you to charge through a space occupied by a friendly character. But, on the flip-side, this just makes sense: The existing Overrun rules allow an enemy to get out of my way and continue my charge, why wouldn't my friends be able to do the same thing?What's that, you say? It doesn't make much sense to have separate Improved Bull Rush, Improved Trip, and Improved Overrun feats any more? Yeah, you're right. Those should all be lumped into a single Improved Grapple feat.</blockquote>

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