Getting out of "swallow whole"

[Nuclear Platypus]

Well if monsters would listen to their mothers, it wouldn't happen.

Don't you remember mom saying: "Chew your food before swallowing or you'll get indigestion." ?

 

[William Ronald]

Yeah, rather than "cut your way out," I've usually interpreted the damage just to mean that the creature vomits you back up. Unless you kill it in the blow, because ripping your way out of a dying creature *is* pretty sweet.

I have seen this happen, and it is worth some bragging rights for a character. Mind you, I think that some creatures might be large enough to survive a character cutting an opening in their guts. Of course, usually when I have seen this sort of situation, a character's allies are also attacking the creature.

As for whether it makes sense for a creature to swallow an opponent whole, I would say base it on the nature of the creature. An intelligent creature would realize that swallowing a foe armed with weapons or magic could be dangerous. Other creatures might go more on instinct, and not want to swallow a sharp object. Whenever possible, it might be wise to base a creatures reaction on something similar from the real world.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Have you ever seen a character cut its way out of the belly of a "swallow whole" monster? Did it break your suspicion of disbelief to see someone emerge from a beast's abdomen and the beast not die from the wound? Have you ever seen it happen more than once with the same monster?

Quasqueton

Yeah. We had this thing about having to cut up Behirs from the inside out for awhile as the DM loved to throw those things at us until we figured out to kill them from range rather than close combat. Those things were nasty with their grapple checks (like anyone in our party could even come CLOSE to beating it!! ) and then swallow a PC whole the next round.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I once had a Ranger in a one-on-one fight with a T-Rex. He got swallowed, cut his way out, got swallowed again, and repeat about three or four times.

Slightly ridiculous, not to mention annoying...

Damn! Sounds like what happened to my ranger! And his dwarven fighter buddy as well! Except it was Behirs in this case.... we had a nasty fight with T-Rexs as well. The ranger died in that one. And we cursed the DM for awhile after that, 'cause he was just dyin' to use those T-Rex minis he'd just gotten.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I think that with many monsters (certainly T-Rexes and Dire Sharks) it makes more sense that the damage induces the monster to vomit them up. This would work with things like Purple Worms, but there it doesn't seem too weird that the character could cut their way out.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Ummm,

I did have one player make up a Gnome Fighter who specialized in 'inside jobs'.

Had special spiked adamantine armor made with acid invulnerabilty & whatever that DR 5/Bludgeoning is.

Actually, he had spiked everything. Helm, Gauntlets, Boots, Codpiece. If he could put a spike on it, he did so.

Then he got a Necklace of Adaptation & a Ring of Regeneration. And had several vials of Oil of Slipperiness fastened to his body.

When attacked, he would pratically throw himself down some poor creature's gullet. He'd be able to survive for a pretty long while, but the glass vials containing the Oil of Slipperiness wouldn't. When they broke, he's then be coated down with the stuff, then his 'internal assualt' or 'digestive tour' would begin.

No worse way for a dragon to die other than by a gnome resembling an adamantine porcupine speeding through its bowels at a pace Indy Drivers would be proud of.

No worse way for a gnome to die than 'expelled' from a dragon's backside at 1,000 ft.

No worse way for a orc chiefton to die than crushed by a poop covered gnome that fell from the sky.

 

[IronWolf]

Hmm, a while back I was swallowed whole and had to cut my way out. An interesting topic came up: does the swallower have his dex bonus against me? Can I sneak attack from within?? I certainly am in the midst of the vitals....

I am interested in what folks think about this also. We had this come up yesterday in a game we played. We ended up applying the sneak attack damage.

 

[Felon]

Hmm, a while back I was swallowed whole and had to cut my way out. An interesting topic came up: does the swallower have his dex bonus against me? Can I sneak attack from within?? I certainly am in the midst of the vitals....

Hmm. Did you have darkvision? Seems that it would be pretty hard to see down there, with light sources being extinguished. Can't sneak attack a foe with concealment!

 

[Dingleberry]

I am interested in what folks think about this also. We had this come up yesterday in a game we played. We ended up applying the sneak attack damage.

I did the same in the scenario I described above, mostly for dramatic purposes and with absolutely no rules support.

 

[Kilroy]

I had an epic rog swallowed by a big black dragon. He had a field day - no nasty natural armor between him and the tender, succulent squishy bits. Two rounds after the dragon swallowed him, it was making more grapple checks, this time to spit him back out. When the rog was horked up, he held up a kidney and said "Got your kidney!" The dragon started to fly off, and the rog's Repeated Sneak Attack damage kicked in as he pulled out the other kidney from behind his back. The last thing the dragon heard as it fell from the sky was "Got your other kidney too..."

No suspension of disbelief there, nosirre. That kinda fell by the wayside when he grappled the lich by the nose in the antimagic field.