enlarged person - grapple

[brendan candries]

human cleric: improved unarmed strike, improved grapple
str domain: enlarge person

imagine a 10-feet wide corridor. the enlarged cleric (4 c's) has 4 opponents in front of him, 2 next to him (1 and 2) and 2 more behind those at 10 feet (3 and 4). He can attack all 4 thanks to reach by simply hitting them with unarmed strike.
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cc13
cc24
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What are his grappling options?

1. Attack of opportunity: not with feats
2. Grab: melee touch attack
3. Hold: deal damage
4. Maintain Grapple: To maintain a grapple for later rounds, you must move into the target's space. If you can't move, you can't maintain the grapple and must let go.

So it's perfectly viable to skip step 4? You could just squeeze your opponents and let go? Even those at 10 feet reach? Actually, since he can't move into the space of 1 and 2 he can just squeeze those 2 and let go each time also? Downside would be having to make the touch attack each time, more so with multiple attacks at later levels.

You might wonder if you could skip step 4 alltogether in all curcomstances?

"To maintain a grapple for later rounds, you must move into the target's space".

Is moving mandatory or an option?

 

[DamionW]

Here's a good thread to look at on the same lines:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=148738&page=1&pp=40

 

[darthkilmor]

While mechanically it does seem like the cleric wouldnt be able to move into the opponents space,<warning, house rule!> for simplicity's sake i would just have the opponent moved into the clerics space.</end house rule>

As a strict-constructionist DM I would say you cant move into the space and thus can't grapple in the Later Rounds. But if you had multiple attacks could deal extra damage with the damage your foe option.
Also, even IF you moved into your opponents space, you'll provoke AoO's from the other 3.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

No, you can't skip step 4, but it's perfectly allowable to just not step into your opponent's square - especially when it's impossible to do so.

If you can’t move into your target’s space, you can’t maintain the grapple and must immediately let go of the target. To grapple again, you must begin at Step 1.

 

[Infiniti2000]

But, it's not impossible. The cleric can squeeze into his opponent's square.

Edit: One idea would be to 5ft-step back and ready to grapple the first opponent that steps closer.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Er, yeah, it is - in the situation outlined, anyway, he can't grapple 3 or 4.

What you propose is a different situation.

 

[brendan candries]

just clarifying that by squeezing I meant strangling, not squeeze-moving.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Er, yeah, it is - in the situation outlined, anyway, he can't grapple 3 or 4.

Well, that's certainly true. I didn't infer that, though. brendan, you didn't mean to imply that you plan on grappling more than 1 at once, did you?

In any case, I retract my squeezing idea. You cannot squeeze and attack into a space less than half as wide (i.e. 1 square for a creature than takes 4 squares). Per the SRD, "To squeeze through or into a space less than half your space’s width, you must use the Escape Artist skill. You can’t attack while using Escape Artist to squeeze through or into a narrow space, you take a -4 penalty to AC, and you lose any Dexterity bonus to AC."

So, the best way to grapple this guys is to encourage them to break formation by stepping back.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Actually, I think you can use the squeezing rules, I2K - but only against 1 or 2. I looked it up when I was responding to your last post, since it looked clever!

You can squeeze through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space you take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to AC.

When a Large creature (which normally takes up four squares) squeezes into a space that’s one square wide, the creature’s miniature figure occupies two squares, centered on the line between the two squares. For a bigger creature, center the creature likewise in the area it squeezes into.

So, the enlarged cleric could squeeze up against the northern wall and grapple 1, or squeeze up against the southern wall and grapple 2. He'd end up with a pretty sizeable total AC penalty, however (loss of Dex mod and -4 on top of that).

Brendan - when you posted "squeezing" originally, I understood what you meant. After all, part of the fun of being a grappler is ripping heads off! How much better, then, if you can do it at a distance!

 

[Infiniti2000]

Good point, Patryn. Dunno why I totally ignored that he can still use part of his space.

However, he doesn't lose his Dex mod unless he squeezes into a really small space, which in this case he does not need to do (he squeezes into 1's space and the space just west of 1, forcing them both to occupy two squares). He'd provoke an AoO against #2.