spiked armor and grappling

[direcow]

How does spiked armor work when being grapled. If my paladin is wearing spiked plate, and is grappled by some creature, does the creature automatically take damage from my spikes or do I have to actually make an attack roll? Also, if an attack roll is necessary, is spiked armor considered a martial weapon or an exotic weapon (i.e. do I take a penalty for not being proficient in spiked armor). Thanks.

 

[3d6]

From the D&D FAQ:
When grappling, you can damage your foe with your spikes by making a regular grapple check (opposed by your foe’s check). If you succeed, you deal piercing damage to your foe (see Table 7–5 in the Player’s Handbook) rather than the unarmed strike damage you’d normally deal when damaging your foe with a grapple check. Since you can use armor spikes as a light weapon, you can simply use them to attack your foe. You suffer a –4 penalty on your attack roll when attacking with a light weapon in a grapple (see page 156 in the Player’s Handbook), but if your foe is bigger or stronger than you, this might prove a better tactic than trying to deal damage through a grapple check because there is no opposed roll to make—you just have to hit your opponent’s Armor Class. You can’t attack with two weapons when grappling, even when one of those weapons is armor spikes (see the section on grappling in Chapter 8 of the Player’s Handbook)

Armor spikes are a martial weapon.

 

[kjenks]

So, in summary, wearing armor spikes does not cause any damage to grapplers who attack you. They only inflict damage when you attack the other guy.

There are three ways to inflict damage with armor spikes while grappling:
(1) Grapple Step 3: Hold,
(2) Damage Your Opponent and
(3) Attack Your Opponent.

In (1) and (2), when you win an opposed grapple attack, you inflict unarmed strike bonus (per the grapple rules). If you're wearing armor spikes, you inflict extra piercing damage (per the description of armor spikes).

In (3), you can attack with your armor spikes as a light weapon (per the description of armor spikes), taking a -4 on your attack roll (per the grapple rules for Attack Your Opponent).

But there's a problem. The Main 3.5e FAQ has an entry (page 16) which says...

When grappling, you can damage your foe with your spikes
by making a regular grapple check (opposed by your foe’s
check). If you succeed, you deal piercing damage to your foe
(see Table 7–5 in the Player’s Handbook) rather than the
unarmed strike damage you’d normally deal when damaging
your foe with a grapple check.

This contradicts the PH/SRD description of armor spikes which says...

Armor Spikes: You can have spikes added to your armor, which allow you to deal extra piercing damage (see Table: Weapons) on a successful grapple attack.

So, which is it? The FAQ says you deal piercing damage rather than unarmed strike damage. The PH/SRD says you deal unarmed strike damage and extra piercing damage.

Or maybe that FAQ entry is giving you another grapple option, so you can choose to deal both unarmed strike damage and extra piercing damage (per the PH) or you can choose to deal only piercing damage (per the FAQ).

Ask your DM. I suggest ignoring the FAQ.