Grappling?

[Joshua_Jericho]

This was rattling around in my head, thought I'd throw it out onto (virtual) paper.

I'm aware this might intersect with the ongoing physical skills system, but thought it'd be useful as a concept exercise anyway. So. Grappling.

Grapple

During combat, in place of a regular attack, a character may opt to make a grapple attempt. They roll a !clophyatk with no weapon modifiers, but don't roll for damage. They can opt to use up to 15 stamina to augment the roll, as if using spell slots, with one 'point' for every two slots, rounding up at 15 to a maximum of +8. If successful, they roll 1d6. On a 1, critical fail, nothing happens. 2 or 3, they've grabbed a lower limb, 4 or 5, they've grabbed a hand, 6, attacker's choice.

On the next turn, they can repeat their action - and again a 1d6.

Once they have two upper or lower limbs, they can roll to bind, same again, !clophyatk vs !clophydef, then !1d20. 15+ to bind the limbs they have captured. On 14 or lower they fail to bind their target, but don't lose the grapple. On a 1, their target escapes the grapple.

For victims, the following rules apply.

Any success against any grapple roll, at any point = all limbs free, unless bound.
Once at least one limb is grappled, they can no longer use ranged attacks, magical or physical.
They can attempt to escape the grapple with a !clophyatk each round, using up to 15 stamina to augment the roll. Defenders get a 'slot' for every point of stamina invested , OR
They can attempt a normal, damaging attack, either !clophy or !clomag using usual modifiers - weapons, spell slots. However, this follows the restrictions table (race page) if one arm/leg is restricted. I.E a restrained arm is 25% off clophy and 50% off clomag.
If bound and no longer grappled, they can undo the bindings using their action for the turn.


Thoughts very welcome!

[miyuka]

This wouldn't intersect with the physical system as this would be a mechanic all it's own as opposed to a "sphere" of abilities.

[Rhezha]

Personally, I like it. Seems very well thought out and is an interesting alternative to finishing a fight as opposed to simply beating the other person into submission. It could also help to level the playing field between magic and physical classes by some degree since they tend to favor ranged attacks.
A couple of notes/ questions however. What happens if the grappler manages to trap an arm and a leg? Do they bind those both together, or do they have to keep rolling to get two arms/ two legs? Also, it seems that in real life when someone initiates a grapple, it becomes a struggle between the two to trap the other person's limbs first. Maybe there could be a way to counter grapple so there's some element of risk for the person initiating the grapple? Perhaps they roll clophyatk against each other instead of clophyatk vs clophydef. Just a few thoughts to consider! Also, as far as binding is concerned, if the grappler has actual locking cuffs as opposed to rope/ leather strips, it seems that the victim would be unable to unbind themselves if captured, regardless of whether they're being grappled or not (with the possible exception of a thief with lockpicking, but that's getting into the weeds).