How does Grapple interact with Attacks?

Question

I grapple a guy and am able to hold him down. The rule in the book says a grappled enemy can't do anything unless he beats the grapple. Does this mean that if members of my party attack him he doesn't get a roll to defend, dodge or block? Will their attack suffer a penalty for attacking him while I'm grappling so they won't hit me?

If the grapple was via magical means like Orbius, 10 shifts on power, 2 duration how much physical stress will Orbius do per exchange? If the enemy is attacked by us while Orbius is active will it dispel Orbius?

Answer 1

A grapple is just a Block. A Block is a way of preventing certain actions from being taken. In the case of a grapple, the actions being Blocked are things requiring physical freedom:

• Movement
• Attack
• Defense
• Casting

If I were GMing that game, I'd say that the grappled defender gets a defense roll (you always get a defense roll), but that if he doesn't roll high enough to beat the grapple, he doesn't defend. If he does, the grapple is broken and the defense roll is the margin he beat the grapple by. This would reflect the fiction by making a grapple in the middle of a dynamic combat a much more interesting proposition.

Additionally, I'd give the grappled defender the aspect "Grappled by a friend" (of the attacker) so I could tag it once for free. If I wanted to invoke it after that, I'd have to give Fate points to the attacker. Failure on an attack roll where that aspect was invoked would result in striking the grappler.

So sure - "I'll hold 'em, you hit 'em" is a valid option. But it brings danger with it!