Help me use grab in combat. **My group dont read pls**

[Otterscrubber]

When a creature is grabbed, does it occupy the same space it did when it was grabbed, does it automatically get pulled adjacent to the grabber or does it share the grabbers space? Can the grabber position himself or the grabee as desired? I've been a little confused on this a bit. I see a few monsters with special grabbing abilities, like the Yuan-ti abomination, and I'm trying to figure out how to make use of it?

Grabbing someone as it in the rules does not seem to make too much sense, unless you are grabbing a PC that is ranged attacks only. It only seems to immobilize them without causing any other combat disadvantages and keeping them in one spot just seems to tie down the monster, who can't move as easily with a grabbed victim, thus becoming more prone to flanking by my PCs. Grabbin seems to be almost as much of a hinderance as a help.

In my next fight I plan on using Nightshade from the lvl 8 Delve, my Pcs are lvl 9 and have some decent gear so I was going to throw in a Yuan-ti abomination to increase the challenge. Was trying to figure out how to make use of the grab ability of the Yuan-Ti.

 

[FrozenChrono]

It looks like you've got a grasp of the grab rules. There's not a lot there.

If you want the Yuan-Ti to take advantage of their grab ability I'd use some terrain with poison (like a cloud, or plants that spray) and have the abomination drag them into it while they are grabbed. around 5 poison damage per round would be about right. The creatures poison resist will protect it from low amounts of poison damage and other characters will be reluctant to follow the creature in.

Also of note is there bite attack is great, but can only be used against their grabbed target.

One of these guys could be a very deadly addition to an encounter against a level 9 party (especially a small party) so don't stack the odds to hard against them

 

[webrunner]

It looks like you've got a grasp of the grab rules. There's not a lot there.

Nice one.

 

[Goumindong]

The monster does not occupy the same space.

Str vs Fort. Success imposes the "grabbed" condition. Which immobilizes the target. You can then drag the target around with another action.

The enemy can move freely so long as they do not move outside of their reach.

Grabs are great for enemies with reach >1 since they can grab a melee player and make it unable to attack them until it breaks free. Great against ranged players all the time[make it so they can't run away] but are weak against forced movement which will end the grab.

The Yuan-ti looks to have reach 2, so get up to a ranged guy, suck him in and then bite him the next round. You can then hold him close while doing ongoing damage to him and dealing with other players.

The Yuan-ti is a good candidate for getting breathed on as well since its resistant to acid.

That being said, i do not think using a level 14 soldier is a good idea. The players with the highest attack rolls in your party are going to be hitting only 45% of the time[assuming 20 base attack stat, +3 proficiency weapon, +3 enhancement weapon, expertise] and its going to be even worse for everyone else. The mark is going to make the dragon even harder to hit to boot.

If you're looking at an enemy at that high level range, consider a brute or controller.