Weapon Price Weight Length Space req. Speed factor Damage, S-M Damage, L 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Garrote 5 sp 0.2 4' special - 2-8 2-8 +3 +4 +3 +2 0 -2 -4 -5 -6


GARROTE: The garrote is typically a braided leather thong
with hand grips at either end of its 4-foot-long cord, and is used
to throttle an opponent from behind. Some versions of the
garrote used piano wire instead of the leather cord described
here, but in the usual AD&D campaign wire that sort of wire is
not strong enough or flexible enough for use in a garrote (lute
strings are made of catgut or some equally unsatisfactory
material, for the information of players who try to argue the
point).

To successfully attach a garrote requires a backstab attack to
be made during the first round of combat, and damage is taken
for each following round the garrote remains attached and held
by the wielder around the victim’s throat. Adjustments “to hit”
are figured for the initial attachment, and after attachment no
further “to hit” rolls are required. Once a garrote is attached,
the victim will do whatever is necessary to attempt to remove it;
such actions might include rolling around on the ground, backing
into walls, or carefully cutting the garrote itself. Should the
victim fail to remove the garrote in the first round of attack, any
of his allies may join in the attempt to remove it. Any attacks
made on the assailant will be made at +4 to hit, but only two
figures may attack the wielder in a given round. The victim
cannot himself employ any weapon against his attacker, and of
course cannot use spells — although he might be able to activate
a magic item such as a Helm of Teleportation, or any other
which would not require any swallowing (no potions) or extravagant
movements to deploy.

Should the person using the garrote take half of his or her
remaining (as of the time of the attack) hit points in damage
before the victim dies, the wielder must release the garrote. If
the round-by-round damage done by the garrote does not kill
the victim within three rounds, the attacker is allowed to roll on
the assassination table in the fourth and all subsequent rounds.
If the victim is not dead or the attacker not repulsed by the sixth
round of garroting, the victim will die (regardless of hit-point
total) of strangulation.

The garrote will not work against creatures with a windpipe
more than 1” below the outer skin layer or against those whose
neck circumference is greater than 4 feet. The garrote is also
not usable against undead or other foes that cannot be
strangled. This weapon may seem formidable at first, but less
so when it is considered that the attacker must usually stay
attached to his victim for six rounds without attracting others’
attention because of the victim’s cries for help and other measures
an endangered person might take.

by Randy Bowman


New Weapons Equipment -  Dragon #61 Dragon magazine