Quote Originally Posted by Keltest View Post
I disagree. If theyre a hostage being used for a moral dilemma, then they don't have the ability to resist like that. If theyre able to put up a fight, then the Bad Guy doesn't have the ability to use them as a shield, or quickly kill them or whatever it was they planned to do. Indy hasn't been taken hostage, he's grappling with the enemy. The contest to see if he can be restrained is still ongoing. Basically, I think that if the Bad Guy is able to restrain somebody so utterly that they can attempt to just execute them, or otherwise force them to take a full on attack against their will, they've already won the contest and should get their prize. Ditto if a PC manages to wrestle an enemy into submission for whatever reason.
I think it's related to the "called shot" rules:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemasteri.../called-shots/

There's an impulse to make games less lethal because you don't want PCs to call "no fair, you took my agency." Couple that with the need to make the same rules work for PCs and NPCs, and you wind up with a situation where it's very difficult to make one-hit-KOs possible in almost any situation. The 3.X coup de grace rules can't be readied, for example, since they're a full-round action. I think we see a little of that in the Indiana Jones garroting example.