Grab

Three questions for the mechanic

• Can the player read the complete rule?

  Give the grab a unique hand pose, sound, and reach preview that cannot be confused with a blockable or low-damage melee attack.

• Is the intended response reachable?

  Define whether spacing, dodging, interruption, or an escape input works, and keep that rule consistent across player states and camera angles.

• Does recovery create a useful outcome?

  A missed grab reaches full extension and retracts visibly before another action; a successful capture uses its own explicit outcome instead of hiding the recovery.

Design mistakes

• A grab that visually misses but snaps the player into place feels like broken collision, especially when its consequence is severe

  A grab that visually misses but snaps the player into place feels like broken collision, especially when its consequence is severe.

• The cue and active geometry disagree

  If the visible grab cue promises a different area or timing, the player cannot carry the learned rule into the next cycle.

Tune the attack

• Tune the complete rule

  Measure acquisition width, forward reach, tracking cutoff, escape timing, and the total consequence of failure as one package.

• Escalate one variable at a time

  Change what happens after capture or combine the grab with arena displacement instead of quietly increasing invisible reach.

• Prove the recovery

  A missed grab reaches full extension and retracts visibly before another action; a successful capture uses its own explicit outcome instead of hiding the recovery.

Arena

• What the mechanic communicates

  A grab replaces ordinary damage with capture, displacement, or a special follow-up, so it needs stronger communication than a routine strike. The encounter uses that rule as a short promise: a visible signal, a committed action, and a result the player can verify.

Player upgrades

• Adapt it to the player verbs

  Define whether spacing, dodging, interruption, or an escape input works, and keep that rule consistent across player states and camera angles. Measure acquisition width, forward reach, tracking cutoff, escape timing, and the total consequence of failure as one package.

Do not confuse this with

• Keep the mechanic distinct

  A grab that visually misses but snaps the player into place feels like broken collision, especially when its consequence is severe. Do not hide that distinction behind extra effects or tracking that the announced rule does not contain.