Head Lock
Hard
Defaults: Judo-3 or Wrestling-3.
Prerequisite: Judo or Wrestling; cannot exceed prerequisite skill.
This attack involves controlling an enemy's head and neck using two arms. It targets similar body parts to Choke Hold. However, the goal is to lock your victim's neck in a way that lets you injure it or his throat – not to cut off his blood or air supply.
To apply this lock, you must first grapple your opponent by the neck; see Grappling. Your victim may attempt to break free on his turn. If he fails, then on your next turn, you have two ways to injure him: you may attempt to choke him as described under Choke or Strangle, substituting Head Lock for ST if better, or you may try to throw him as explained in Throws from Locks. You can alternate between these attacks for as long as you maintain the lock.
Treat sports-wrestling locks that seek to avoid causing injury as simple head or neck grapples. The same goes for the so-called head lock seen on the street (an arm around the neck).
Lower-Body Head Lock
Much as you can kick as well as punch, you can use your legs to grapple. To do so, you must be facing your adversary and not pinned. You have -2 to DX or skill, but +2 to ST. The DX penalty stems from using your legs, not from posture. You only suffer penalties for a non-standing posture against a standing foe; Low Fighting and Ground Fighting affect these normally. Your enemy's posture might give additional penalties to grapple certain hit locations from some postures; see Postures, Hit Locations, and Techniques. If you grapple with legs from a standing start, you avoid all posture penalties but end your turn lying face-up. It counts as a step to leap up, use your legs, and fall; see Change Posture.
Grapples using legs allow all the usual follow-ups – takedown, pin, strangle, bear hug, Neck Snap, etc. – at -2 DX, +2 ST. You can learn leg-based versions of grappling techniques for this. Each is a separate technique with an extra -2 on its default. All get +2 ST – or +1 to damage, if there's no ST roll. Options include:
Leg Throw: As Judo Throw, but defaults to Judo-2.
Lower-Body Arm Lock: As Arm Lock, but defaults to Judo-2 or Wrestling-2.
Lower-Body Head Lock: As Head Lock, but defaults to Judo-5 or Wrestling-5.
Lower-Body Leg Lock: As Leg Lock, but defaults to Judo-2 or Wrestling-2.
Triangle Choke: As Choke Hold, but defaults to Judo-4 or Wrestling-5.