I'm trying to create an encounter where PCs are climbing a vine or rope down a 100ft shaft. About half way down, a creature flies up and attempts to grab one of the PCs to fly away with her.
The monster I'm using (a sabosan) has a fly speed of 40' (good) and the Flyby Attack feat (if that's relevant). My understanding of the rules is that:
- For round 1: the sabosan just needs to fly to the PC and grapple her.
- For round 2: the monster must make a grapple check to maintain the grapple. If successful, the monster (and grappled PC) can move up to half the monster's speed. Because the PC would be in a hazardous location (50' in the air), the PC receives a +4 bonus on the maintain grapple check. And because the grapple check is a standard action, the monster could only move 20' with the target on each turn (if the grapple succeeds).
Questions:
- Does the above sound correct/fair for the rules of a flyby grapple, or is there something I'm missing?
- Also, should/do I need to account for the PC holding onto the rope while climbing down? Perhaps give the PC a +2 to their original grapple check?