Held

Some creatures grab. A bite or a clutch that lands may hold you fast (“You are held fast.”). The attack table on the creature numbers page says which creatures do, how often, and how hard they grip.

While held you cannot step away. You can still fight, and the one holding you is the obvious target.

Each step you try is a struggle to break free. It is a check of your Strength: 2d12 plus its modifier, rolled like an attack (see Stats), against the holder’s grip, which is 13 unless the creature’s attack says otherwise.

• Made: “You break free of the ghast.” You take the step.
• Failed: “You struggle, but the ghast holds you fast.” The turn is gone.

Slipping bonds

If you are trained in Escape artist, you slip bonds without being asked. There is nothing to choose: no ability and no key. When Held, Webbed, or Pinned stops what you try, the check is part of the attempt.

The check is 2d12, rolled like an attack, plus the better of your Strength and Dexterity, plus what the skill gives (and Knowledge, against a creature holding you). You need the grip, or 13 for a web or a pin.

• Made: the status ends, and the action goes ahead in its usual time.
• Failed: the action’s time is gone: “You struggle, but you are still caught in a web.” It costs no more than the wait you would have had.

If two bonds stop you, the other one gets its check on your next attempt, and this step is refused at no cost. A pin eases a degree with each action, a failed struggle included.

Without the skill, a hold is still a struggle of Strength alone. A web or a pin simply refuses the step, at no cost, until it passes.

Being slowed in mind or body is not a bond, and the skill does nothing for it: Staggered, Stunned, Surprised, Transfixed, Sluggish, and Drowsy.

When a hold ends

A hold also ends by itself (“You are free to move.”):

• when the holder dies, is knocked away, or ends up anywhere but beside you;
• when the holder is held or slowed itself (staggered, transfixed, sluggish);
• after 3d4 turns at most. Another hit rolls the turns again and keeps the longer of the two.

A creature caught in your own Drowning grip (a lucky day’s gift) is held the same way and gets free the same way. It does not struggle; it fights you instead.

Engulfed, swallowed, latched

Worse holds hurt while they last:

• The charnel heap, the greater water elementals, and the animated rug close over you (Engulfed: “It closes over you.”).
• The nightworm swallows you whole (Swallowed).
• A giant leech or a canoloth’s tongue fastens on you (Latched).

Each is a hold like any other, with the struggle, the grip (14 unless the attack says otherwise), and the endings above. But each lasts 2d4 turns at most, and costs hit points as it ticks:

• Engulfed: 2 every 6 seconds for each turn it has left (1 in the rug’s folds).
• Swallowed: 4 every 6 seconds for each turn it has left.
• Latched: 1 every 12 seconds for each turn it has left.

So the harm is heaviest at the start. Engulfed and Swallowed also stop you shooting, throwing, and reading. Your blows and your spells still work, so you can hack your way out of what holds you.

See also: Status effects, How creatures fight, and What skills give.