Grappling

How Grappling Works
To initiate a grapple, the attacker must roll Strength + Brawl. Armor penalties are applied to the roll.

In order to succeed, the attacker must roll an amount of successes higher than the victim's strength, with any size difference adding or subtracting from the target at +-1 per size increment.

If the target is not met but successes are still achieved, bashing damage will occur in a similar manner to a standard fists attack.

Comparison To Regular WOD Rules
Being able to stand your ground when somebody tries to take you down bears a lot on your physical strength. If your attributes play less of a role than your martial arts skill, a physically strong character with no brawling ability would otherwise cower to a weak character that isn't subjected to penalties due to marginal skill differences. The stronger your opponent is, the harder it should be to grapple them, especially if the weaker character is initiating the grapple.

Have you ever seen an adolescent of average build grapple a grown policeman? The dice could work that way more often than the GM may like, especially if the kid somehow succeeds and the dice just don't work in the officer's favor.

This re-balance of World Of Darkness grappling mechanics has been playtested rather extensively. While stronger characters can reliably repel and initiate grapples, there is a margin for failure. Weak and combat-inept characters will rely on luck to achieve grapples.