First let's look at how the Subduing rules work:
To subdue a character, resolve melee combat normally. If the
attacker successfully hits, compare his Strength + net hits to the defender’s
Body. If the attacker’s total exceeds the defender’s Body, the
attacker grapples and immobilizes the defender. This subduing attack
causes no damage to the defender.
The bit relevant here is this:
If the attacker successfully subdues and immobilizes his target, he causes a Damage Value equal to half his Strength (round up) plus the net hits scored on his attack roll with each Complex Action.Rather than dealing no damage, the garrote will deal damage+net hits on the initial subduing attack roll.
To break out of the lock, the defender must take a Complex
Action and succeed in a Strength + Unarmed Combat Test with a
threshold equal to the net hits scored on the grappling test. Otherwise
the defender remains subdued and cannot take any actions requiring
physical movement. Consider the subdued character to be prone for
any attacks made against him.
The grappling character does not need to make any tests to maintain
the grapple, but he must spend a Complex Action on each of his
Action Phases to do so. The grappler may also choose to do one of the
following on each Complex Action he spends to maintain the grapple:
• Make an additional Unarmed Combat Attack Test to get a better
grip. The defender opposes as normal. The attacker gets the
Superior Position bonus. If the attacker scores more hits, the net
hits are added to his previous grappling net hits, making it harder
for the defender to break free. If the defender scores more hits,
however, reduce the attacker’s net hits as his grip slips.
The relevant bit here is:
The attacker may maintain the grapple and spend Complex Actions to get a better grip while continuing to inflict damage or knock the defender down.Rather than having to make a choice between this or one of the other two, you get to do this and one of the other two (damage or knockdown). Keep in mind that the damage is based on your net hits which can change with each roll (and each time the opponent tries to break free), which can be good or bad depending on how skilled you are/how skilled the opponent is.
• Inflict Stun damage on the character with a Damage Value equal
to his Strength. This requires no test, but the defender resists it as
normal. Impact armor applies.
The relevant bit here is:
but cannot choose to inflict Stun damage, as per the normal subduing rules.It's just a reminder that this is physical damage now since you're using a garrote and you can't opt for the stun damage instead. It's lethal (and sometimes opponents will have lower stun tracks than physical tracks).
What I'm trying to figure out, though, is if, since "Improving Your Grip" effectively adds to your net hits, you get the extra hits added to the DV the Garrote inflicts with each CA, or does it just add to the threshold to escape as per basic Subdual rules?
The added hits will add to both DV and the hits the opponent needs to escape, but if he beats you, the subtracted hits will subtract from the DV and the threshold to escape. It's extremely powerful, but remember the most important part of the garrote: A garrote cannot be used in normal combat, since it requires a target that is surprised or otherwise unaware of the attack and unable to defend against it (see Surprise, p. 155, SR4).
If you're stealthy enough to get to use it, you deserve for it to be badass. It allows for low strength but high skill characters to efficiently drop guards and for high strength high skill characters to drop guards in a pass or two. For the real assassins there is the monofilament version.
