Mind Flayer Brain slurp

[jonrog1]

How would one run this little thrill ride? Specifically, say the Mind Flayer hits with his one tentacle attack. Does he then have to maintain a grapple and hit with the others? If he has to make 4 separate attacks, can the PC try to wriggle away with a grapple check before the round where, if the Flayer has all four tentacles attached, yummy brain juice is sucked?

 

[0-hr]

We ran it like this:

Tentacle rolls and hits.
Grapple check. He wins, now grappling the victim.
Grapple check. He wins and attaches the other tentacles.

Next round.
Grapple check. He wins and sucks out the brain.

(well, ok, I Dimension Doored druing my turn, but that's what would have happened).

There was some confusion over how many grapple checks a mind flayer could make in a round: 4 because of 4 tentacle attacks, or 2 based on BAB of +6. We were thinking 2, but then weren't sure what to do if he hit with tentacles 2,3, or 4. Could he do his follow up "attach 4" in the same round, or would he have to wait yet another round in order to make that second grapple check? Even allowing 4 grapple checks a round, what if he hit with the last one, could he still try the "attach 4" immeadiately? We decided to make the "attach 4" check a freebie after the improved grapple success.

 

[gfunk]

Here's my understanding.

Round 1
Mind Flayer hits the victim with tentacles
Each tentacle that successfully hits makes a grapple check
Assuming the Mind Flayer is successful, 1-4 tentacles will be on the victim

Round 2
If all four tentacles attached from last round, the victim's brain is *automatically* extracted
If 1-3 tentacles are attached, the Mind Flayer can make one grapple check to attach *all* remaining tentacles. For each tentacle already grappling, he gets a +2 bonus to the grapple check.

Round 3
Repeat the results of Round 2. If the Mind Flayer has all tentacles attached at the start of a round, the victim's brain is automatically extracted.
If not, then repeat grapple checks as above.

 

[0-hr]

That could be correct, but I'm really uncomfortable letting a mind flayer kill a player as a free action with no save. Here's the text from the SRD, maybe someone else dig up an official clarification, or shed some light on the subject.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the mind flayer must
hit a Small to Large creature with its tentacle attack. If it
gets a hold, it attaches the tentacle to the opponents
head. A mind flayer can grab a Huge or larger creature, but only
if it can somehow reach the foes head. After a successful
grab, the mind flayer can try to attach its remaining tentacles
with a single grapple check. The opponent can escape with a
single successful grapple check or Escape Artist check, but the
mind flayer gets a +2 circumstance bonus for every tentacle that
was attached at the beginning of the opponents turn.

Extract (Ex): A mind flayer that begins its turn with all four
tentacles attached and successfully maintains its hold
automatically extracts the opponents brain, instantly
killing that creature.

That last part where it says "and successfully maintains its hold" makes me think that it needs to make one last grapple check to pull out the brain. Then again, if it fails, the person is still grappled (they can only break free on their turn) so I guess, technically, it maintains it's hold regardless.

 

[gfunk]

That last part where it says "and successfully maintains its hold" makes me think that it needs to make one last grapple check to pull out the brain. Then again, if it fails, the person is still grappled (they can only break free on their turn) so I guess, technically, it maintains it's hold regardless.

I think you first interpretation is correct. The "successful" part seems to indicate that it needs to make one final grapple check with all four tentacles for the insta-kill. If it has all four tentacles attached but fails the grapple check, then it still holds on to you, but doesn't extract.