Enemy Grapple Attacks

Hello everyone!

I have an idea for a game mechanic but I would like to get input from the community as to whether it would add to the game or detract from it.

The idea is giving some, but not all, enemies skills that put an actor and/or themself in a grapple state. While in this grapple state neither the actor nor enemy can attack, guard or use skills or items, but the enemy can choose to release the grapple whenever they want and the affected actor gains a new action "break free" which they can use to stop the grapple, success dependent upon their parameters compared to the enemies'. Some enemies however, due to their anatomy, may be able to start a grapple and hold an actor but not be affected by the grapple state themself. Others may be able to inflict damage per round or some kind of harmful state on the actor during the grapple. Attacking the enemy when they are grappling will either remove or have a percent chance to remove the grapple state from the battler and actor  Here are some examples:

Martial Arts Master Jim: Actor/Battler Both Grappled

Ralph and the rest of his band of heroes are doing battle with Martial Arts Master Jim and his gang of bullies. Jim does not like it that Ralph keeps slashing at his buddies with his sword, so he puts Ralph in a Full Nelson. Now neither of them can act. Jim can release the grapple if he wants to, Ralph can attempt to break free, or Ylva can lay the Smackdown on Jim to get him to stop.

Giant Scorpion: Actor/Battler Both Grappled, Actor Takes Damage Per Turn

Ralph and his stalwart champions of justice are trekking through the desert when they are confronted by a giant scorpion. The giant scorpion uses its claws to fight, but for some reason decides to use them to hold Ralph and slowly crush him. Neither Ralph nor the scorpion can take any actions but Ralph is being crushed by the scorpion's claws and takes a fixed amount of damage per turn. The scorpion can choose to let go of Ralph, Ralph can attempt to break free, or Ylva can dropkick the scorpion in the face. The scorpion however, may or may not lose his grip on Ralph when it's drop kicked.

Lamia Queen: Actor Only Grappled, Actor Takes Damage Per Turn

Ralph and his faithful followers have been send to the Lamia Den because the Lamia Queen has been seducing all of the town guards and the town is defenseless against the goblin attack. While the battle rages the Lamia Queen uses a tail swipe attack on Ralph and catches him in her coils. Now Ralph can not take any actions except to attempt to break free, but the Lamia Queen still has full use of her arms and can fight with her sword and shield, but is prevented from using tail swipe. Ralph also takes a fixed amount of damage per turn due to being squeezed by the Lamia Queen's tail. Of course, the Lamia Queen can end the grapple whenever she chooses and Ylva can do a Super Ultra Dragon Uppercut to attempt to get the Lamia Queen to lose her grip.

So there you have it. The reason why I am unsure if this is a good idea or not is because the grapple state takes control away from the player temporarily. Players generally don't like it when control is taken away from them. I think though that this can be a good mechanic if implemented correctly. If I get good response from you guys I'll make a topic over in Script Requests asking for a script to handle the grapple state. Any ideas for improvement/change are more than welcome.

Thank you!

I think this would be a great, if frustrating mechanic. Hopefully, the heroes would get a similar skill set (vine spells, etc), otherwise, things look bad for ralph.

I don't think it's inherently bad, but a lot hinges on what the max duration of the grapple is, what the percent chance of removing it is, how often enemies use it, etc. Pokemon Red/Blue is an example of how NOT to do it. If the Ekans was faster than your Squirtle, it could prevent you from doing anything by using Wrap over and over. That's a loss of control for 3-5 turns, and there was always a chance that the Ekans would immediately use Wrap again afterwards, trapping you for yet another 3-5 turns. Painful memories of endless Wraps...

I seem to recall a specific boss in Xenogears having a Grapple-esque type attack. It was one of the bosses you fought in Gears. It had two arms, and it could use each arm to grab onto one of your party members and keep it from doing anything until the boss was gracious enough to release it. As a single boss, it's not a bad gimmick, but if a single experience of this is frustrating, then making it a recurring status ailment will surely detract from the game.

The tricky part might be balancing the difficulty of freeing a grappled party member. If it's too easy (ie: a single hit is usually good enough), it hardly serves a purpose. If it's too hard, it could be frustrating.

Thanks for the responses guys! :)

So, if I'm going to give enemies grapple skills, than the player's characters should get grapple skills of their own. That sounds fair. Then I can make different enemies more or less susceptable to certain grapple attacks. Things were indeed looking pritty grim for Ralph. It's a good thing that you, stalwart hero was able to come to his aid!

I had a similar experience in Pokemon Red. My Charmander was repeatedly put under a sleep spell by that plant/bell pokemon (forgot its name). It was a plant type too! One attack from my Charmander would have made it faint, but no! Sleep for days! So basically I need to be careful not to make it so the player is absolutely helpless, grappled for too long, or that the removal of the state is too dependent on the RNG.

How about this modification: The grapple effect has a maximum amount of turns it can last (decided by the developer), but can be ended early if a certain amount of damage is dealt. Once that damage threshold is reached, the effect ends. Also, as more damage is dealt, it is easier for the grappled actor to break free. After the grapple is ended, the enemy must go through a recovery phase were it cannot use the ability again for a certain length of turns (also decided by the developer). And, responsible use of the mechanic by the developer would mean that grappling enemies would not be thrown at the player if there is only one actor in the party.

Bellsprout. It's Bellsprout.


This is a good idea for an ability. Would an enemy or a party member be able to throw an enemy in a grappled state? If another enemy affects one of the grapplers with a status affliction, would both of the grapplers get it since they're in close proximity?

Haha. Thanks for reminding me what that Pokemon's name is. Now I can say its name with indignation!

That's a good question. I'm thinking that if an actor/battler are already in a grapple with each other, they should be immune to any other grapple effects whether it be from an enemy or actor. As far as other status effects go, let's say if poison was inflicted on an actor who is in a grapple, there could be a chance that the enemy would get poisoned too, with the decision left up to the developer. The script would have the functionality though. And the script should also have the functionality to give actors skills that can grapple an enemy.

Thanks for the response! :)

Actually I don't think you'd need a script for this as I had a beta-ish idea of the same thing and got it working with states and a few common events. Also I gave said grapple state increased aggro (if a party member used it) so enemies will focus on freeing their ally. But I would also make certain enemies immune to certain grapples from party members. Sabin supplexing a train is one thing, but grappling a giant dragon completely immobilising it? That maaaay be going a bit far lol

Interesting. I'll fiddle around with states and common events and see if I can get it working. Also thanks for the ideas. Ha, I could just picture the rediculous scenario of a human player character putting a dragon in a headlock and the dragon being unable to break out.