You can also have 3 mind control attacks in that case. Trust me, once you've played the system you'll see how big an advantage it can be (Hunter, muse, or Alice can probably back me up here).<br/><br/>Let me use this as an example:<br/><br/>Player 1 has combative level 1 and player 3 has combative level 3. Player 1 has an enhanced level 2 damage level 2 energy blast. Player 1 has level 2 weaponry.<br/><br/>Player 1 rolls 1d10+1d10+4 and ends up doing 14 damage (going on the median). Player 2 has a body of we'll say 7 and ends up taking 7 damage.<br/><br/>Player 2 now gets the next 3 attacks. Player 2 produced a +4 weapon that they can now use for all 3 of their attacks. So they get 1d10+7+4 3 times before you get to go again. Say you have a body of 7 as well. Based on average, player 2 would cause 16 damage per an attack. So player 2 does 27 damage after subtracting body before you even get to go again unless you dodge any of the attacks.<br/><br/>Combative is one of the advantages in the system you're really supposed to justify with your character and not just take points in. Especially level 3. Say we're looking at this on a karate belt scale. Level 1 would be like a green or brown belt, indicating you have basic knowledge of how to defend yourself and attack. Level 2 would be a black belt, indicating you've had extensive training and have a clear advantage against others with limited fighting experience. Level 3 would be like an upper dan (6 or above) karate master who has spent not only much of his life training, but has also fought extensively in tournaments.<br/><br/>Naturally, someone with as much experience as a 6th dan black belt would be able to easily best anyone with less experience, which is why it gives said person a huge advantage. Thus, a combative level 3 character could even possibly take 2 combative level 1 opponents depending on rolls and such. For that reason, combative level 3 is tough to allow on starting characters when you have a lot of combative level 1 characters. So the GM in BBSW has to really watch what people take for combative and make sure it lines up with their character and with other characters.<br/><br/>As for the tentacle example, it'd be 2 tentacles vs. 3 in that case so combative still isn't really giving any indication of how many tentacles you have. Tentacles also have other advantages, such as being able to bind opponents. Plus, they really help in the "wild thing" when you can simultaneously be taking someone orally, vaginally, anally, and stimulating other regions. I don't think combative is the best indicator of anything there.