GURPS 101: Melee combat types and how they interact

Sometimes it helps seeing things in a different way. Today we'll take a look at chapter 11 of the Basic Set, Combat, specifically at Melee Combat.

In GURPS 101 I try to explain general GURPS concepts, hopefully clearing confusion along the way.

After reading the chapter, you'll notice a few terms are used through it: Melee Attacks, Unarmed Attacks and Grappling. Now, taken at face value, these are all self-explanatory. The way they are organized within the chapter (B369) is this:

• Melee Attacks
• Unarmed Combat
• Grappling

Melee Attacks encompass both Armed and Unarmed combat (though Armed is not specifically listed under a header). Also, the way things are laid out suggests that Grappling is a subset of Unarmed combat, which would be fine in and out of itself, except that GURPS let's you grapple with weapons.

Even more confusingly, for "standard human" characters (by that I mean SM 0) Unarmed combat and grappling almost always require stepping into Close Combat (which is just occupying the same hex as your enemy in tactical combat and is defined in B391), though that is not always necessary for other, bigger characters.

So we have Armed Combat, Unarmed Combat, Grappling and Close Combat. How do they interact with each other? They do it like this:

Pretty simple, actually: 

The only exclusive combination is Armed and Unarmed (you cannot make a single attack that is both armed and unarmed). All the others? Combine them as you must. 

So, can you grapple with weapons? Sure! I think Basic Set only supports doing so with Cloaks, but Martial Arts expands it to other weapons.

Can you grapple at ranges other than Close Combat? Absolutely, if you're big enough to do it or are using a weapon (again with Cloaks, you can grapple at Reach 1, for example).

Let's look at the intersections and back it up with some more examples:

• a: Armed Attack. You are at Reach 1 or more, whacking your foe with a weapon. Pretty standard.
• b: Unarmed Attack. You are at Reach 1 or more, hitting your foe with a unarmed attack. If you're a human, the only attack you can use in this case is a kick - giants and larger beings might have more options.
• c: Grappling. You are grappling your foe - not possible in and out itself, you'll need to do it either Armed (ac) or Unarmed (bc), at either close combat or not, depending on your reach.
• d: Close combat. You have stepped into the same hex as your enemy. Simple as that.
• ac: Armed grapple. You are at Reach 1 or more, and using a weapon to grapple your foe. See Martial Arts p67. Note: for weapons other than a cloak and without hooks, this can only be done in close combat, however.
• bc: Unarmed grapple. You are at Reach 1 or more and grappling your foe with an unarmed attack. Impossible if you're a human. Requires SM>0.
• bd: Unarmed close combat. You've stepped into the same hex as your enemy to attack unarmed, like with a punch or a bite.
• ad: Armed close combat: You've stepped into the same hex as your enemy to attack with a weapon, like a dagger.
• acd: Armed close combat grapple. You've stepped into the same hex as your enemy and are grappling him with a weapon.
• bcd: Unarmed close combat grapple. You've stepped into the same hex as your enemy and is grappling him unarmed. 

Why go with all this trouble? To help us visualize things better, of course! As well, you can now more easily know what rules apply in each situation:

• Are you grappling and being grappled in close combat and wants to ready a weapon? That requires a DX roll to do it (from Close Combat) at -4 to DX from being grappled.
• Are you being grappled in Close Combat, wearing a DB+3 shield and wants to attack? That will be done at -4 (from grappled) plus -3 from the shield's DB (from Close Combat).
• Are you grappling from Reach 1? No Close Combat penalty applies to you. 

Cooling the dice

The main takeaway in my opinion is that Grappling is not only done unarmed at close combat range. I hope this helps your game. 

Cheers.