White Haired Witch vs Fire Kineticist

[Draco_Lord]

So, this is going to come up in a campaign I am running, or at least it is very likely to come up, Players are notorious for messing up plans you have. But the white haired witch is going to wrestle with a Kineticist with Searing Flesh. And I just want people's opinions on if that ability should hurt the white at all. Since the hair, my way of her abilities wouldn't burn, or at least you can't break it. So would the damage continue into the witch, or would she be fine?

[The Glyphstone]

I'd say she takes the damage.

1) It is explicitly a natural weapon, so she is using part of her body to attack/grapple him. If Searing Flesh inflicts damage on grapplers, then it'd deal damage.

2) It cannot be sundered or attacked directly not because it's invincible, but because it is a part of her body. For the same reasons you cannot sunder a dragon's claws off, but the dragon would still take damage if it claws/grapples a kineticist with Searing Flesh.

[Muggins]

As Glyphstone said. The white hair is considered to be a natural weapon and she'll be grappling, so the RAW indicates that the witch will take double damage from the kineticist's Searing Flesh.

Ruling that it would only deal the regular amount of damage to her wouldn't be outlandish, though. We're talking about a natural weapon with a significant amount of reach, so I'd be willing to treat it as a manufactured weapon (as far as the Searing Flesh mechanics go).

[Draco_Lord]

It is definitely the reach that makes it questionable to me, that and the fact that you don't really feel hair at all, so the damage wouldn't go through under real life logic, but then again it would burn in real world logic.

[The Glyphstone]

Damage =/= pain. She could be taking HP damage and not feel it, since the hair cannot transmit pain.

Though it's also worth noting that real-life hair is also not magically prehensile. If she can control her hair finely enough to pick things up, attack people, and grapple people with it, she might also receive tactile sensation with it.

[Florian]

HP damage is an abstract and simulates more than "just" damage.
So yes, the hair being a natural weapon, the witch takes damage when grappling.

[Kurald Galain]

Ruling that it would only deal the regular amount of damage to her wouldn't be outlandish, though. We're talking about a natural weapon with a significant amount of reach, so I'd be willing to treat it as a manufactured weapon (as far as the Searing Flesh mechanics go).

I'd go with this. The kineticist isn't close enough to the witch's body, so he deals damage according to "hitting with a natural attack" rather than "double for grappling", because of the oddball nature of the hair attack.

Of course, a smart witch will cast Resist Energy...

[Tuvarkz]

I'd go with this. The kineticist isn't close enough to the witch's body, so he deals damage according to "hitting with a natural attack" rather than "double for grappling", because of the oddball nature of the hair attack.

Of course, a smart witch will cast Resist Energy...

Actually, from http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat#TOC-Grapple :


If you successfully grapple a creature that is not adjacent to you, move that creature to an adjacent open space (if no space is available, your grapple fails).


This means that if the Kineticist is grappled, he is adjacent to the witch.

[Secret Wizard]

A dragon has 10 ft. reach with claw attacks and would still take the damage.

[Kurald Galain]

This means that if the Kineticist is grappled, he is adjacent to the witch.
In the next square, sure, but not in bodily contact. A regular grapple is essentially a bear hug, it makes perfect sense to me that holding someone in your hair five feet away deals less damage (which is why the witch doesn't get the 'grappled' condition herself).

I'm not saying this is The One RAW, but just how I would rule it based on the hair ability.

[Florian]

This means that if the Kineticist is grappled, he is adjacent to the witch.

No. It just means that the rules as RAW simplify some things and gloss over the details. You engage in melee, you are in melee. You engage in Grapple, you are in Grapple, and so on.