Multi-armed creatures grappling

[d20Dwarf]

Hello esteemed d20 experts!

Suppose a xill (not that there's one in any upcoming adventures, or anything ) was grappling a character with one arm. The next round it wants to bite but must maintain the grapple first (if I'm even reading it right, the xill is a poorly written monster IMO). Can it "join" the grapple with its other three claws? This wouldn't make a difference except the xill specifically gets a +2 bonus to its grapple checks for each claw.

Also, can a multi-armed creature grapple with one arm and strike opponents with the other 3? I think so, but I've gotten myself all confused.

If a 4-armed xill used all 4 claws to grapple, would it deal double claw damage when grappling? 2 armed creatures deal their unarmed damage, so does a 4 armed creature deal twice that? Seems only fair, really.

Thanks in advance!

 

[0-hr]

When you grapple someone, you no longer threaten the space adjacent to you and thus cannot make melee attacks against things you are not grappling.

You do, however, have the option of taking a -20 on all of your checks in order to conduct the grapple with just one appendage (see the front of the MM). This lets you move and fight normally with your other appendages.

The only benefit that a Xill would have when grappling is that it can make many attacks using it's natural weapons. If it decides to inflict damage via grapple checks instead, then it will get many less attacks (the total number based solely on BAB).


All of this is "to the best of my knowlege" and I'm too lazy to look it all up right now. No doubt someone else will point out my oversights as needed.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Xills suck then, multi-limbed creatures should get more a bonus during grappling.

 

[smetzger]

Xills suck then, multi-limbed creatures should get more a bonus during grappling.

By the rules a Horse can out grapple a Xill.

 

[d20Dwarf]

By the rules a Horse can out grapple a Xill.

The bison is even worse, with its stubby little legs. Maybe it wraps you in its beard and swings you around?

See, dammit, Xills were *born* to grapple, but they really suck at it. A 6th-level fighter is almost guaranteed to out-grapple a xill, and forget about getting off a full attack action with only 32 hp. Ah well, boots of speed will help a bit.

 

[reapersaurus]

Sword & Fist introduced grapple rules that grant a +4 bonus to grapples for every extra pair of arms a creature has.
That has been quasi-officially accepted, AFAIK, on Wizard's website, and Savage Species, so it's not a stretch to include it now as base rules.