Grapple Question

[Faradon]

A couple of Grapple situations I'm looking for some clarification on in 3.5

PC A has a stirge attacked to him and PC B decides to try to remove it with a greataxe swing. PC B makes an attack at the stirge with no dex, making it easier to hit the tiny creature attached to the neck of PC A with no chance of hurting his friend?

PC D is a human (medium) and hit with an attack from a large sized preying mantis. Again, when his friends whack away at the large creature holding their friend they have no chance of hitting their friend?

Last 2 humans are in a grapple going back and forth with no one taking the upper hand (no one is pinned). A guy with a greatsword decides to swing at one of them and has no chance of hitting the other guy?

Just trying to get a better idea of how melee attacks from people not in the grapple are supposed to work. I know that ranged attacks roll randomly to see which one is hit... but to make it easier to hit your target, as they only get dex vs their grappled opponent, seems a bit strange.

 

[Erywin]

Both are correct, the only time you have a chance of hitting your ally in a grapple is if you are using a ranged attack (bows, xbow, rays, etc.)

Cheers,
E

 

[kolikeos]

PC A has a stirge attacked to him and PC B decides to try to remove it with a greataxe swing. PC B makes an attack at the stirge with no dex, making it easier to hit the tiny creature attached to the neck of PC A with no chance of hurting his friend?

PC D is a human (medium) and hit with an attack from a large sized preying mantis. Again, when his friends whack away at the large creature holding their friend they have no chance of hitting their friend?

Last 2 humans are in a grapple going back and forth with no one taking the upper hand (no one is pinned). A guy with a greatsword decides to swing at one of them and has no chance of hitting the other guy?

I think it is 25% to hit the wrong target in all those cases... Although it sounds absurd to swing a greataxe at a friend's neck and only have 25% of hitting him.

 

[werk]

I think it's in line with most of the rules precedents for allies.
E.g. You don't need to make a touch attack to touch them with a friendly spell...in theory, you are working with your ally to get the pest off, so the rules are making it easier on you.

Grappling is not rolling around on the ground wrasslin' in some sort of loony tunes tornado with feet and stars and stuff. It just means that one person has established a hold on another.

The default RAW actually tries to make it at least a little more difficult to injure your allies than your foes...under the assumption that most players would actively try not to hurt their allies.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I think it is 25% to hit the wrong target in all those cases... Although it sounds absurd to swing a greataxe at a friend's neck and only have 25% of hitting him.

25% chance is for an AoO during a Bull Rush.

There's no chance of hitting the wrong target in a grapple with a melee attack, only a ranged attack.

-Hyp.

 

[kolikeos]

So what is the chance of hitting with a ranged attack?

 

[Zoatebix]

50-50, if I recall.

 

[Hypersmurf]

So what is the chance of hitting with a ranged attack?

You 'determine randomly' which grappler is struck.

That's all the detail it gives us.

-Hyp.