I've been working on a grappler build that I'd really like to try out but I'm looking for some feedback to tweak it to really get the most out of it. Here is the basic layout, any and all comments are welcome. The main idea of the character is to grab people (often two) and pin them down to be beat on or toss them off things. I won't be focused on doing a great deal of damage as I"m mostly going to be grabbing baddies so my pals can knock the snot out of them.
Goliath Barbarian 8 (totem bear)/Fig 11 (battlemaster)/Rogue 1, point buy
Starting stats Str 17 Dex 15 Con 15 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 8
5 total ASIs to spend
1st ASI Alert
2nd ASI Str (19)
3rd ASI Mobile
4th ASI Str/Con (20/16)
5th ASI Resilient Dex (16)
I feel the Resilient in Dex is a bit overkill due to already having advantage on Dex saves I can see plus having resistance to many types of dmg when raging.
My Athletics will be at +17 and have advantage if I'm raging.
Other feats I've considered:
Athlete- so I can grab guys and jump into the air and slam them down. Unfortunately if my math is right I will be just shy of being able to do 2d6 falling dmg however.
Mage Slayer- being as mobile as I am I could close very quickly and put the hurt on ranged folks fast.
Shield master- would limit me to grappling only one foe but do get the added free shove plus dmg reduction potential.
I have to ask, you want to make a Grappler, but you're not using the "Grappler" feat?
The main change in Grappling in this edition is all it really does is reduce the target's speed to zero. It doesn't interfere with attacking, defending, casting spells, etc... I assume this being a reaction to grapple monsters being stupid broken in 3.5, but that's conjecture.
The main advantage of Grappler is to give you Adv on attacks if you already grapple someone, and so let you Restrain them (which actually does real penalties, YAY! but you're also Restrained, BOO!) In addition size restrictions are ignored so you can try to "wrestle a Dragon"... looking over Adult Red Dragon they aren't Trained in Athletics, but have a +8 Strength... so it's possible to luchador one... *this* I want to do now... Keep in mind BOTH of you are restrained, so you both have DisAdv on attack rolls and give Adv for Defense, so you hit each other normally! It goes mean the Dragon will have DisAdv to attack any party members!
On the other-hand Prone causes most of the same penalties a being Restrained (target has DisAdv on attack rolls and give Adv for Defense). This means if your first feat is Shield-Master. You can as a Bonus Action make an Athletics check to try to knock them prone, then make 1 of your attack actions to Grapple them. Now they are on the ground and grappled, while you are standing. They can't get up from Prone until they break the Grapple. This means your primary hand is holding the enemy and your off hand is holding a shield. Now, your only option to is beat them to death with the rim of your shield for 1d4+Str damage. Whether you get your Proficiency Bonus to attack is GM digressions (I would argue "yes" because it is "similar object as if were that weapon") Shields are club like and hitting people with the rim of the shield, is a classic tactic.
Grappler:
You have advantage on attack rolls against a creature you are grappling.
You can use your action to try to pin a creature grappled by you. To do so, make another grapple check. If you succeed, you and the creature are both restrained until the grapple ends.
Creatures that are one size larger than you don’t automatically succeed on checks to escape your grapple.
Grappled:
A grappled creature's speed becomes 0, and it can't benefit from any bonus to its speed.
The condition ends if the grappler is incapacitated (see the condition).
The condition also ends if an effect removes the grappled creature from the reach of the grappler or grappling effect, such as when a creature is hurled away by the thunder-wave spell.
Restrained:
A restrained creature's speed becomes 0, and it can't benefit from any bonus to its speed.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature's attack rolls have disadvantage.
The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.
Prone:
A prone creature's only movement option is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition.
The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls.
An attack roll against the creature has advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature. Otherwise, the attack roll has disadvantage.
Improvised Weapon:
In many cases, an improvised weapon is similar to an actual weapon and can be treated as such. For example, a table leg is akin to a club. At the DM’s option, a character proficient with a weapon can use a similar object as if it w ere that weapon and use his or her proficiency bonus.
Thank you for the feedback and detailed response. The main reason why I hadn't elected to go with the grappler feat was ideally I'd be grappling/pinning two enemies at a time thus no need to be actually attacking them. Being a goliath I already count as being one size larger (for carry/lift/drag which I interpret to include grapple) so the advantage of being able to grapple something bigger wasn't that huge, and as you said something of that size would typically have a pretty good Str modifier.
In your dragon example I would actually climb the dragon which would give me advantage on attacks against the dragon. Also as you mentioned knocking them prone after grappling them conveys what I'm really going for- they are stuck on the ground and can't get up thus allowing everyone else to attack with advantage.
This is ktkenshinx's grappler's manual. I've reduced some sections to account for the type of build you're planning. Hope it helps.
~The Grappler's Manual~ Taking 5th Edition Combat to the Ground (2.0)
NOTE: This guide originally appeared on the Wizards Community forums, but was migrated over to EN World and updated in September 2015.
When rating different class features, races, mechanics, etc., I will use the following color coding system.
Gold: Mandatory. It's a rare rating that denotes something that is so good that you must take it, or you can't call yourself optimized.
Green: Conditional choice. In the right build, or if you build around it, it can be incredibly strong. Otherwise, best to stay away from it.
Sky Blue: A fantastic choice. An option you should strongly consider above most others.
Blue: A good choice. It definitely helps your character in the majority of cases.
Black: Solidly average. You're not hurting your character by taking this, and it might even help in some situations, but there are better choices.
Purple: A substandard choice. It might be useful in corner-case situations, but overall it's not worth the investment.
Red: Red is dead. A trap that you will want to avoid at all costs, either because it's ineffective or because it's thoroughly outclassed by another option that accomplishes something similar.
1. Why grappling?
Ever wanted to armlock an ogre? Drag that cowardly, bow-sniping Ranger over a cliff? Hold down two orcs while kicking the third? Grappling can help you do all this and more.
Why grapple? Easy; Grappling is mechanically unfair. To start, most enemies in D&D derive their strengths from unrestricted movement, free reign to cast spells, ability to target certain PCs in the party, high ACs, etc. All this is totally shut down by a good grappler. Although it looks like an innocuous condition, being "Grappled" (and/or Prone/Restrained on top of that) is a serious hindrance for most enemies. If you can impose these conditions at will, you will dominate the battlefield.
When thinking about mechanics, I like to think about their axis of interaction. Attack rolls are opposed by AC. Spells are opposed by saving throws. High damage is opposed by high HP. Looking over the Monster Manual, most enemies are generally well prepared to fight attack rolls/spells/damage, by virtue of high AC, high saves, and/or high HP. Not every monster has those traits (bless your soul, little goblin), but over the course of your travels, you will often encounter monsters that directly counter these angles of interaction.
Then there's grappling. Grappling is a skill contest (not an attack roll!) based on the Athletics skill. Most monsters, even those with high strength scores, have the Athletics/Acrobatics checks of a 1st level commoner. Sure, you will fight monsters that can't get grappled (Ghosts...why did it have to be ghosts...), but the vast majority of monsters will be crying uncle against a good grappler. That lets you dictate how the enemy moves, who they attack, how they take hits, etc. That is a degree of battlefield control most classes can't boast.
Overall, here are the pros and cons of grappling in 5.0.
Grappling Strengths
Very hard to interact with. Most monsters are about as good at Athletics/Acrobatics as a first level character.
Negates mobility. It's amazing how many opponents rely on movement and how many can't do anything once that speed hits 0.
Makes monsters easier for your party to hit. Grapple them, knock them prone, don't let them stand up, don't let the run around: it's "I hold, you punch" at its finest.
Cripples offensive capabilities. Grappled monsters already don't get free reign to choose targets or use their weapons. Now give them disadvantage on top of that, or even take their weapons away.
Combo potential; Grapple a spellcaster in a zone of Silence and no one will hear him tap. Hold two guys in place while your Wizard rains Fireball on their heads. Plant the badguy on the ground as your rogue stabs away. Jump out of a window while holding your targets. The possibilities are endless!
Grappling Weaknesses
Weak against large numbers of opponents. As in real life (for those martial artists in the audience), grappling is not particularly effective against multiple attackers. You can only meaningfully engage with as many attackers as you have hands, which is often just going to be two.
Relatively low damage. Most grappling builds don't deal too much damage on their own, and will have to rely on either allies for massive damage output.
Low mobility. You will often find yourself in situations where you can't dart around the battlefield without releasing your grappled targets back into the fight. This can be a problem in chaotic battles.
When you get shut down, you get shut down HARD. Come up against a monster that's immune to shove and grapple? Have fun poking him for the rest of the encounter. Run into that one spellcaster who pre-cast Freedom of Movement? Better hope someone has Dispel Magic. Dragon won't land from the sky? Grow wings or throw insults at him.
Not for the faint of heart: Don't all guides have some ridiculous weakness like this? Seriously though; if you don't want to get in the face of something two size categories larger than you, a frenzied enemy with a greatsword, or a wizard casting damage-maximized evocation spells, this isn't the class for you.
2. Grappling Rules
Before we can start bringing our jujitsu to the battlefield, we need to know exactly how D&D 5.0 grappling works. Ever since I started playing in 3rd Edition, grappling has always been regarded as one of the most complicated and unintuitive mechanics in the game. Thankfully, 5.0 has done a great job at cleaning up the old issues with the rules, while still preserving a lot of its power level.
Let's start with the basics: What exactly is a grapple? (The complete grappling rules can be found on page 195 of the PHB). Here's the rule broken down into steps, with quotes pulled out where needed.
GRAPPLING 101: DEFINITIONS
Grappling is a "special melee attack".
To grapple a target, you must "use the Attack action" to then make your special melee attack (the grapple).
From an RAW perspective, the "Multiattack" ability of monsters cannot enable multiple grapples because it is its own action type.
If you have multiple attacks for the Attack action, you can replace as many of them as you want with grapple checks.
You cannot replace bonus action attacks (e.g. from the Monk or a Barbarian's Frenzy) with grapples.
A grapple check is an Ability check contested by a target's ability check. It is NOT an attack roll!
Your grapple target "must be no more than one size larger than you". It must also be within your reach.
You need at least one free hand to initiate a grapple.
If you or your target are subject to any involuntary movement, the grapple ends immediately.
Unlike in previous D&D editions, there is no penalty for grappling multiple targets. You can grapple as many targets as you have hands (typically two).
The biggest thing to remember is that grapple checks are not attack rolls. Repeat after me: Grappling is NOT an attack roll. So stuff like True Strike or the Barbarian's Reckless Attack feature will not give you advantage on the roll (because, remember, it is not an attack roll). But grappling IS an ability check, so it interacts with all sorts of effects and features that function on ability checks (e.g. the Enhance Ability spell).
Enough basics. Time to start wrestling.
GRAPPLING 101: INITIATING A GRAPPLE
Start by using your Attack action to make a grapple check. If you have "multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them."
Make a grapple check, a Strength (Athletics) check, as contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) OR Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. They get to choose what they contest with.
If you fail the ability check contest, nothing happens. There are no consequences for you or your target for failing a grapple check.
If you have multiple attacks using the Attack action, commonly from the Extra Attack class feature, you can replace another one with another grapple check.
If you succeed at an ability check contest, the target is instantly subjected to the grappled condition.
You do not move into the target's square: both of you stay right where you were when you started the grapple.
The important point to remember here is that grappling replaces an attack as part of your attack action. Because it uses the attack action, you ordinarily won't be able to use it as part of a reaction. You also won't be able to grapple if you used that action to do something else, like cast a spell. This shouldn't come up a lot because if you are doing stuff other than grappling, you aren't doing your job.
GRAPPLING 101: BEING IN A GRAPPLE
While grappled, the grappled creature has the "Grappled" condition (PHB 290).
The grappler himself does NOT have the grappled condition.
As a result of the grappled condition, the target's movement speed drops to 0. It also "can't benefit from any bonus to its speed" during that time.
"A grappled creature can use its action to escape". This will require them to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check as contested by your own Strength (Athletics) check.
If they succeed, they are immediately free of the grapple, but they have used their action.
If they fail, they are still grappled and have still used their action.
If a grappled creature does not try to escape, you automatically maintain the grapple from turn to turn.
Because escaping isn't very action-efficient, some opponents might try to shove you instead (remember that shove replaces Extra Attacks). This forced movement would also break the grapple. Indeed, any involuntary movement on either of your parts would break it.
A grappled creature can also grapple the grappler himself! This will set both grapplers' speeds at 0 and neither will be able to move.
This is where the 5.0 rules really start to deviate from earlier editions. The grappler isn't grappled himself, and you can move the creature with no check. Unfortunately, you can't pin the target as per 3.0/3.5 rules (at least, not without a sub optimal feat we will discuss later), but we'll discuss other options for the grapple initiator.
As they say in the grappling arts, this style of fighting is all about position before submission. Up until now, we've been setting up our position. Now it's time for the submissions.
INTERMEDIATE MOVES: BASIC ATTACKS/OPTIONS WHILE GRAPPLING
Move an opponent. You can move grappled creatures without any check. When you use your movement, they will simply be dragged with you, but your speed will be halved (unless the target is 2 or more sizes smaller than you).
Keep an opponent in place. If you don't move, they don't move either.
Attack with a weapon. You can make an attack roll with any weapon in your free hand. It's a normal attack roll, except your target is subjected to the grappled condition (so they couldn't use the Dodge action, amongst other penalties).
Attack with an unarmed strike: If you don't have a weapon in your free hand, or you don't have a free hand, you can punch/kick/headbutt instead.
Cast a spell: Unlike with previous editions, you CAN cast a spell while grappling a single target. If you don't have a free hand, however, you won't be able to cast spells with somatic components, or many material components.
Release an opponent: At any time, you can always let go of your target.
In the 3.5 rules, the grappling section listed all the things you could do while grappling. Because 5.0 simplified this system, it doesn't explicitly list all those options. Don't worry: they are still all RAW and all available to you from level 1 onward. Some feats and class features might give you better options, as will some of the "Black Belt" techniques below, but these are good places to start on your grappling journey. These mechanics are also at play in the more advanced grappling techniques, so you need to know them before you can do more complicated/fun combat sequences.
Speaking of fun combat sequences..
INTERMEDIATE MOVES: MORE ATTACKS/OPTIONS WHILE GRAPPLING
Shove an opponent prone: Using the "shove" special melee attack, you can add the "Prone" condition to your enemy. Just make another Strength (Athletics) contest as opposed by their Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If they fail, they are now also prone and STILL grappled. That's a huge problem for most opponents because standing up from prone costs movement, and grappled sets their movement to 0.
While Prone (PHB 292), an opponent suffers disadvantage on attack rolls, and all attack rolls against the creature have advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet. This includes your attacks. All attack rolls made from further away have disadvantage.
Normally, the prone creature can just stand for half their movement, but if they are grappled, their speed is set to 0. Prone explicitly states that creatures with 0 speed can't stand, which means they are stuck in that position.
IMPORTANT: Shoving + Grappling is one of the best things you can do as a grappler, so make sure you are using it frequently.
Shove an opponent away: You can also use the shove option to move someone 5 feet. Very useful if you grapple them over to an edge or some other hazard and then just push them over/in. Note that this will automatically end the grapple.
Grapple someone else! As long as you have at least one free hand, you can initiate another grapple. So go find another enemy and repeat the whole process from step 1.
Once the second enemy is grappled, you won't be able to do actions that require a free hand.
Thankfully, you WILL be able to knock either of them prone; shoving does not require a free hand.
There are endless combinations of these more advanced and creative grappling techniques, but these are my favorite. The first option, shoving an enemy prone, is easily the most important grappling combination you can execute, and also one of the most powerful. Shoving uses the exact same modifiers and bonuses as the grapple check (Athletics), so you are already positioned to use it. This shoving/grappling combo comes up in almost every good grappling build I know of, and it's the main reason grapplers are so valuable in combat.
While talking about dragging prone opponents in the comments, an interesting point on encumbrance came up. Although moving a prone creature while grappling them is totally RAW, there are also some RAW entries on dragging, lifting, carrying capacity, and encumbrance we need to account for. Here are the most important rules in that category:
ENCUMBRANCE AND DRAGGING WHILE GRAPPLING
While prone, a creatures move speed is 0. This suggests that they are unable to move themselves even though you can move them.
More importantly, under the "Moving a Grappled Creature" subsection, the PHB states "you can drag or carry a grappled creature with you" (PHB, 195). This suggests you need to account for the rules on "Lifting and Carrying" and the "Push, Drag, or Lift" options when moving grappled opponents (PHB, 176).
If these "Lifting and Carrying" rules are at play, grapplers moving a prone creature have additional limitations.
Your "carrying capacity" is equal to your Strength score multiplied by 15.
You can push, drag, or lift up to twice your "carrying capacity", but your speed drops to 5 feet when you are exceeding that baseline capacity.
While grappling an enemy, your speed is halved if you move them.
Therefore, if you are trying to move an enemy that weighs greater than your carrying capacity, you can't move at all: your speed drops to 5 and is then halved (rounded down) to 0.
At 16 Strength, your maximum carrying capacity (and, by extension, your maximum drag capacity) is 240 lbs. That goes up to 255 at 17 Strength, 280 at 18 Strength, etc.
If you are size large (and/or have the Goliath's powerful build trait!), those capacities are all doubled. A Goliath benefitting from Enlarge Person would actually have their base carrying capacity quadrupled!
This is not an exhaustive discussion of grappling rules, and weird situations WILL come up in your sessions. So keep the PHB ready to handle rules questions, and feel free to post any new ideas to the thread. We'll go over these techniques again, and add in some new ones, in the later "Grappling Tactics" section.
Goliath
If you don't need the bonus feat from Humans, this is the best grappling race around. You'll get the +2 Strength of a Half-Orc and Mountain Dwarf along with the +1 Constitution bonus. Stone's Endurance is a rock-solid tanking skill that doesn't even interfere with your other actions. But the real reason to play Goliath is for the Powerful Build trait, which dramatically increases your dragging/carrying capacity when moving around the battlefield. Prone enemies can't move on their own which means you have to pull them along for the ride, like Joy dragging Sadness in Inside Out. As an 18 Strength Human, your carrying capacity is a mere 270 pounds. For Goliaths, that jumps up to 540 just on Powerful Build alone, which is more than enough to drag any one (even two!) medium humanoids around the battlefield. Add Enhance Ability to the mix and you effectively quadruple the capacity up to 1080. That's enough to drag all but the largest bear around the battlefield.
4. Class Overview There is no single best way to grapple. Almost every class has its own strengths and weaknesses, and many grappler builds will require at least a few levels of multiclassing anyway. To get you started on your own grappling optimizations, here's a feature-by-feature evaluation of each class and its grappling abilities.
-Barbarian
It should come as no surprise that Barbarians make outstanding grapplers. Rage really is just as good as it sounds. In fact, it's probably better than it sounds, because until you play a Barbarian grappler, you won't realize quite how often advantage lets you win grapple rolls and fights. Add strong tanking features, a ton of HP, extra damage, and a bunch of other useful abilities, and you have what is probably easily one of the top three best grappling classes in the game.
HD - D12: Doesn't get any better than this for frontline bruising.
Rage: No matter what grapplign build you are playing, you will need to get advantage on your Athletics check in some way. Rage is the best nonmagical way to do that. The bonus damage is also nothing to sneeze at, as is the damage resistance for your frontline fighter.
Both Grapple and Shove are "special melee attacks", so you don't need to worry about rage ending prematurely for lack of attacking.
Remember: you can't cast spells OR concentrate on them while raging. A Rage-based grappler will almost always be a nonmagical grappler (Wildshaping Druids are an exception)
Unarmored Defense: There aren't a lot of good reasons to avoid armor as a grappler, unless you are changing shapes (where Unarmored Defense won't help anyway because your stats get replaced), or you are a Monk. If you do end up going Monk, you'll want the Barbarian's Unarmored Defense before picking up the Monk's. Grappler constitution scores will generally be higher than their Wisdom scores.
Reckless Attack: Some grappling builds won't make a lot of attacks, which means Reckless Attack is farily useless. Other builds rely on attacks, and that's where Reckless Attack will shine. It works great with natural weapon attacks made while Wild Shaped or Polymorphed, and it's unfair when you are using Fighter maneuvers in tandem with grappling.
Danger Sense: It feels like cheating that Danger Sense works, while you are grappling a single enemy, let alone 2 of them. Great when you are holding badguys in place while your team rains down area spells on their/your heads.
Fast Movement: More speed to drag people around with? Sign me up.
Extra Attack: Mandatory for any nonmagical grappler build. You can only make extra grapple/shove attempts as part of the Attack action, and Extra Attack is the only way to pick those up. Even magical/transformative grapplers should seriously consider the ability: most of their forms will be better grapplers with two attacks instead of one (remember: Multiattack is not an Attack action).
Feral Instinct: If you can grapple an enemy before their turn, you can completely lock them out of the fight. Instinct really helps you take that initiative.
Brutal Critical: Grapplers aren't really about damage. If they are, it's probably through a feature that isn't helped by this ability (e.g. Sneak Attack).
Relentless Rage: Strong ability for any frontline tank, even if it has no particular synergy with grappling.
Persistent Rage: Gives you more tactical options during the battle because you don't always need to be attacking. Most importantly, lets you Rage in advance of an encounter so you don't need to waste that valuable first bonus action by raging.
Indomitable Might: This isn't a bad ability: a guaranteed 20+ on an Athletics check means you don't have to worry abotu unlucky rolls. The problem is, even if you rolled a 2 for your check as a 20 Strength Barbarian with Expertise from Bard/Rogue, your minimum roll would still be a 19 (2 + 5 Strength + 12 Proficiency). But then you'd have all the Bard/Rogue benefits too, as opposed to an 18 level investment in Barbarian. This option becomes significantly better if your DM doesn't like multiclassing. Otherwise get out of Barbiarn earlier.
Primal Champion:: For 20 levels of Barbarian, you get a +2 bonus to grapple that you can't get elsewhere. Unless, of course, you just bought a Belt of Stone Giant Strength and settle for a +1 instead of a +2. As with Indomitable Might, this isn't a bad ability: it's just worth the opportunity costs of the 20 level investment.
Path of the Berserker: When I first wrote this guide on the Wizards forums, I severely underrated the Berserker archetype. Then I figured out how this archetype interacts with Fighter and the Battlemaster maneuvers, and I haven't looked back since. When it comes to nonmagical grapplers, there's no one more versatile and flexible than a Battlemaster/Berserker grappler, and it all begins with the Frenzy skill.
Frenzy: At first glance, this ability doesn't seem too special. Lots of other classes pick up a bonus action attack, and we can't even use that action to make a grapple check. We can, however, use that bonus action attack to deliver a Battlemaster maneuver. We also benefit from the bonus action attack while Raging and en route to the powerful Mindless Rage feature. You'll need to wait until the Fighter section to see how the maneuvers synergize with grappling, but know for now that Frenzy is one of the best ways to perform them.
Mindless Rage: If you're a grappler, being frightened sucks. Being charmed isn't much better. Unconditional, nonmagical immunity to these conditions is awesome, especially as your DM throws more anti-grappling monsters at you.
Intimidating Presence: Frightened opponents are worse grapplers (they get disadvantage on ability checks), but Charisma-based abilities are not what we want to be doing as a grappler. We also don't want to sacrifice our action just to scare someone. If you want to make someone afraid, just stick with the Fighter's Menacing Attack and get out of Barbarian before you pick this up.
Path of the Totem Warrior: If you're playing a damage-dealing grapple with flexible battefield control options, you're playing a Berserker. If you're just holding bad guys and tanking damage, you're playing a Totem Warrior. You can also play a Totem Warrior for some flashy Eagle-based flight builds, or to combine the durability of a Bear totem Barbarian with a Tripping Attack-style feature from the Wolf.
Totem Spirit: In most cases, you'll pick up the Beartotem at this level. Resistance against all damage, even all those weird magical and elemental types, is invauable on the front lines. The Eagleoption is a great way to pick up an equivalent ability to the Rogue's Cunning Action feature, although you'll miss out on Expertise. Going Wolf Totem is another frontline option, emphasing team damage-dealing instead of solo damage-absoprtion.
Aspect of the Beast: It's Bear or bust for this feature; the added carrying capacity gives you more dragging power after you shove enemies prone (plus hilarious options for lifting characters up walls/into the air once they are grappled). Once you get a climb and/or fly speed, the possibilities are limited only by your evil imagination and the terrain. Eagle and Wolf don't do anything at all for grappling.
Totemic Attunement: Although not grappling-specific, Bear is a great culmination to your Barbarian tanking features. Be aware that it can be a bit redundant if you already knocked two of the enemies prone. The Eagleroute gives you some hilarious options of picking up characters, flying away while holding them, and then dropping them to the ground. Or over a cliff. You can also pick up Wolf for the free trip attack, but this will generally be worse than either a direct shove attempt or tacking a maneuver onto a bonus action attack.
-Fighter
Two words: Action Surge. This ability alone makes Fighters one of the best dips you can take for grappling, along with Rogue for Expertise. Add in the maneuvers at level 3, a bonus feat/ability score increase at 4, extra attack at 5, and another bonus feat/score at 6 and you have one of the best base classes for grapplers around. Fighter is also the only class that gives you a third attack courtesy of Extra Attack, which encourages you to stick in the class until at least level 11. Fighters will still need to pick up Enlarge Person or some other way of getting grapple advantage (Eldritch Knight can do it at level 8), but the attacks alone make this an excellent all-around class.
HD - D10: Grapplers are tough. Fighters are tough. It's a good match.
Fighting Style: Three of these options don't actually work while grappling, and the fourth (Protection) is a poor substitution for just shoving a target. That leaves you with Defense, a handy but not particularly interesting +1 to AC, or Dueling for a small damage bonus. You won't benefit from Dueling if you are holding two opponents, but it still works if you are grappling a single enemy and have a weapon in the other hand.
Second Wind: Random bonus healing? We'll take
Action Surge: This gets my vote for most broken low-level ability in 5th Edition, especially because you only need a two-level dip to pick it up. In the early game, Action Surge is a perfect substitute for Extra Attack, allowing you to grapple/shove an opponent in the same turn. By level five and Extra Attack, Action Surge lets you grapple/shove not one but two opponents in one turn. Things get really crazy if you pick up Extra Attack (2) at level 11. As long as you can take semi-frequent short rests, Action Surge is an awesome way to open up fights and unload on a major badguy.
Ability Score Improvement: I mention this as a class-specific bonus because Fighter gives you an extra score increase/feat at evel 6. In feat-intensive builds with Alert, Mage Slayer, Grappler, Tavern Brawler, etc., this really helps you reach your optimized potential.
Extra Attack: Another place to pick up your more-or-less mandatory ability. Most optimizations will get Extra Attack through Fighter, just because they are already going to be three levels deep in the class for maneuvers. If you stick in Fighter until level 11, you'll get up to Extra Attack (2), which will give you more attacks, grapples, and shoves than you will know what to do with.
Indomitable: Just like Second Wind, random bonus saves never hurt anyone! Particularly strong if you are going to be facing down a lot of spellcasters or enemies with fear effects.
Martial Artchetype - Champion: By far the weakest of the Fighter archetypes, especially for grapplers. We just don't care enough about damage for the critical ranges to matter, mostly because we don't make enough attacks with a weapon (we spend more actions grappling/shoving than actually dealing damage). Abilities like Remarkable Athlete and Survivor are significantly weaker than other options at level 7 and 18 respectively.
Martial Archetype - Eldritch Knight: Surprisingly useful as a grappler. Knight is one of the best ways to pick up Enlarge Person, because you get it en route to Extra Attack (2) at level 11. You'll take Enlarge Person at level 8, which is a little later than most classes get it, but you'll be getting it as part of your valuable Extra Attack progression. You'll even have more feat pickup opportunities in Fighter, which synergizes nicely with the concentration-based Enlarge Person (you'll definitely need War Caster). Eldritch Strike is also more powerful than a lot of grapplers might give credit. As long as you have a free hand (i.e. grappling only one target), you can hit them with advantage on the attack and then bestow disadvantage on their next saving throw. Ater that, they are at the mercy of your evocation spells. Arcane Charge is also nothing to sneeze at, but unless you are going Fighter 20 to get Extra Attack (3), you can probably do better with a multiclass.
Martial Archetype - Battle Master: Grapplers get a lot of their power from flexibility and battlefield control. Battle Master maneuvers give you a wealth of options to mix and match with your grappling routine. Although none of the strikes directly interact with a shove/grapple attempt, you can easily stick them on bonus action attacks (e.g. from Frenzy or Martial Arts) and use them as part of your combat sequences. The only reason this isn't rated higher is that you can get maneuvers from the Martial Adept feat, which means you are often better off pursuing an Eldritch Knight and its level 8 Enlarge Person. Whether you use the maneuvers while progressing in Battle Master or from the Martial Adept feat, look for ways to stick them on bonus action attacks so you don't give up your valuable grapple/shove attempts.
Commander's Strike: Normally, you don't want to give up your action. But if you have two people prone and grappled, it might be better to just give the attacks to your stabby assassin friend than to save them for yourself. Make sure your party can take advantage of this before you invest in it.
Disarming Strike: One of the best abilities on the list, especially with grappling. If your opponent fails that strength check and drops the weapon, you can just drag them away and they will never touch it again. This is devastating for most enemies that rely on weapon attacks, and will completely end their contributions to the fight. Unfortunately, many people you disarm are going to have very high Strength saves, so this isn't always going to work. It's a bit redundant with the DMG Disarm variant, but a) your DM might not allow that and b) Disarm has some conditions around two-handed weapons and size categories that might make it worse.
Distracting Strike: Useless. Just knock them prone and you'll give all your allies advantage, at least those in melee range.
Evasive Footwork: Handy for darting around a battlefield, or for dragging your victims through threatend squares. Footwork requires no action at all (no bonus action, no reaction, no nothing) which makes it a great way to maximize action economy.
Feinting Attack: Use shove to get advantage and don't waste your valuable superiority dice.
Goading Attack: They'll have disadvantage anyway once you knock them flat on the ground.
Lunging Attack: This maneuver has some weird synergy with Tavern Brawler grapple attempts or other grapples made as part of an attack roll (not the normal Athletics check grapple roll). Depending on how you and your DM interpret it, it's either very good or very bad. At its best, you'll extend your reach, hit and start the grapple, and then either pull the opponent one square towards you or pull yourself one square towards them. At its worst, you lose the reach after the attack and then the grapple automatically ends.
Maneuvering Attack: In most situations, it's better to spend resources on grappling/shoving/being proactive. Maneuvering Attack is a bit of an exception because it helps your allies get closer to grappled/prone enemies. Particularly strong if you have a melee Rogue or other close-range damage-dealer that needs to join the action.
Menacing Attack: If you can chain Menacing Attacks together from turn to turn on a bonus action attack, it will be almost impossible for an enemy to escape a grapple. You'll have advantage on your own, plus your innately high check. They'll have their crappy check and disadvantage from the frightened condition. Only works against enemies with lower Wisdom saving throws, but as most monsters only have a +0 to +2, you'll succeed more often than not.
Parry: Can't go wrong with more tankiness! Good for grapplers who are mostly absorbing damage and clogging up the battlefield.
Precision Attack: This ability gets a lot better if you have attacks which impose effects when they hit. The Tavern Braweler bonus action attack would fall in this category. You're generally better off spending your superiority die elsewhere, and/or just getting Reckless Attack from Barbarian.
Pushing Attack: This is a really monstrous push distance, and grapple puts you in a great position for making that 15 feet of push into something much more lethal. It's a Strength-based save, so avoid using it against big strong fighters and save it for flimsy Wizards and archers and other creatures that don't want to get thrown off cliffs.
Rally: Don't heal your allies. There are much better things you can do with your bonus action.
Riposte: Doesn't work with your normal Attack action-based grappling, and doesn't even work with Tavern Brawler (the attack isn't made on your turn). You can still take advantage of the extra damage, which is the only thing saving this from red status.
Sweeping Attack: Even if you are using grapple-on-hit attacks, this doesn't actually trigger grapples on the followup attack. The second attack doesn't "hit" the target. It just deals damage to them. That terminological distinction makes this useless for even creatures that can grapple on a successful attack
Trip Attack: Strong at early levels when you have fewer actions and want to use your bonus action attack in place of a shove attempt. This is still a Strength saving throw, so not all creatures are going to be knocked down so easily, but it's an added layer of insurance to guarantee you get a target to the ground.
-Rogue
Like Fighters, Rogues are by far one of the best 2 level dip that a grappler can take. Unlike Fighter, there isn't much reason to stay in Rogue after that, which is why the class is overall rated a bit lower. A single level gives you both the respectable Sneak Attack (used in tandem with shove to deal additional damage per turn) and the almighty Expertise. One more level gives you Cunning Action, which lets you dash as a bonus action (real grapplers don't disengage or hide). Know what happens when you Dash as a bonus action while grappling? More move speed to cover distance while dragging your target! The vast majority of decent grappling builds, except those using Bards which already gets Expertise, are going to take at least a 1 level dip into Rogue if not 2. Of course, there are also some scary Sneak Attack-oriented builds you can put together, which you can consider as an alternate damage-dealing option to the Monk's unarmed playstyle.
HD-D8: Not great, but not as bad as the Bard D8 HD because many builds will just take 2 levels in Rogue.
Expertise: The only place to get this for a mere 1 level investment. The vast majority of builds will get at least a 1 level toe-in-the-water to get this core ability.
5. Feats
As a grappler, you might choose to play a raging mountain-man wrestler, a tactical lockdown artist, a murderous get-em-from-behind assassin, or a hungry crocodile who just "wants to play". No matter your path, feats are probably going to be an important consideration. In most cases, and unlike in previous editions, you don't actually need a lot of feats to grapple. Heck, you don't need any really; the basic combat rules let you do almost everything without any serious feat investment. That doesn't mean you shouldn't consider the PHB feats for your character, especially given you will be progressing well past 4th or even 8th level for a few classes.
This section will review all the feats in the PHB, rating them according to how useful they are for the aspiring grappler. If there's a feat that doesn't show up on the list, like Actor, it's just because it's irrelevant for in-combat grappling mechanics.
Athlete The cornerstone of the powerbomb suplex grapple technique (see builds later). Athlete lets you jump really high with your grappled target(s), throw them to the ground, and then land, stand, and re-grapple. All in one turn. Without Athlete, your jumps will be shorter, your standing will be slower, and the combat style will be much less efficient.
Crossbow Expert
Some readers might be surprised to see this ranked so highly. Turn your attention to the second bullet point which, RAW-wise, does not actually require you to wield a crossbow to benefit from. If you are playing a spellcasting grappler, you will need this to cast your ranged attack roll-based spells without disadvantage. You can knock an opponent prone to negate that disadvantage, but then you lose the subsequent advantage from attacking within 5 feet of the prone enemy (the two instances cancel each other out). Crossbow Expert returns advantage to your court, so fire away with whatever spell or weapon you want.
Grappler / Grappler The hands-down most disappointing entry in the PHB, Grappler is the ultimate trap ability. Its first ability is a worse version of the shove-to-prone combat option grapplers already have. Why invest in a feat for advantage when you can do it with basic combat actions? The second ability is what earns Grappler its green status. A restrained target suffers from disadvantage to all Dexterity saving throws, which works nicely with grapplers who use Dexterity-based spell damage. Or grapplers who have allies using that magic. This is a niche way to grapple but a fun one, so I leave it out there as an option for grapplers looking for new ways to enjoy the combat style. As for the last bullet point, it's a leftover of an earlier edition. As the PHB Errata clarifies, " Ignore the third benefit; it refers to a nonexistent rule". All told, this is the feat that should have made us tick and instead it's one of the first you'll ignore.
Heavily Armored Survivability is important for grapplers and, In many cases, multiclassing is the best way to get heavy armor. Just take the highest armor proficiency class at level 1 (like Fighter) and then multiclass out at later levels (to Bard/Rogue/Wizard/etc.). That said, there are some instances where a heavy armor class isn't part of your build. In those cases, this feat becomes a lot better. It even buffs your most important ability score as an added bonus! So if you are a College of Valor Bard going straight Bard with only a Rogue multiclass, pick this up right after you get medium armor proficiency. This is also a decent starting proficiency to work towards with the Human bonus feat.
Heavy Armor Master You don't want to die in combat, but you don't want to invest too many features into staying alive. +1 Strength is nice, but the flat 3-point damage reduction is underwhelming at best. It doesn't even affect magical weapons or spells.
Lucky Remember the Wizard's Portent ability? Lucky is a worse version of Portent, but it's one that any class can get. You generally won't use it against opponents (it only affects attack rolls which we probably don't care about), but you will frequently use it on your own checks. Think of it like triple advantage on Athletics, usable three times per day in between long rests. As far as luxury feats go (stuff like Alert), this one is probably the highest on the list because it's incredibly versatile (it even helps your saving throws) and is relevant in almost all fights at almost every level. Fighters will often get this if they stay in their class for long, just because they get so many feats.
Mage Slayer Back in 3.0 and 3.5, it was a nightmare to cast spells in threatened squares, especially against grapplers. 5th Edition took a lot of bite from that strategy, but Mage Slayer returns some of our former glory. Slayer doesn't prevent spellcasting, but it does put you in a strong enough position that it won't matter. Once grappled, enemy casters will always be within five feet of you, so you can smack them every time they try to cast a spell to get free. If they are concentrating on a spell, that's yet another attack they need to make to a save on. Oh yeah, and they make all their concentration checks at disadvantage, both against your normal attacks and the free reaction attack every single round. As if that weren't enough, you also get advantage on all saving throws against spells cast within five feet of you. Assuming you are holding down 1-2 mages, that's the only range spells will be inbound from. An overall excellent feat for campaigns with lots of spellcasting enemies.
Mobile +10 to your speed is all you need to know about this feat. That's two extra squares with a dash. Or two extra vertical squares with flying. Remember that dragging creatures is one of the best parts of grappling, so any way you can buff that speed is a great way to enhance your combat utility. Difficult terrain is also a big problem for grapplers who drag enemies, and Mobile addresses that too. Just combine this with Monk or Rogue class features to get a bonus Dash and you'll be bounding around the battlefield in no time.
Sentinel If you could grapple/shove as part of that provoked reaction, this would be an EASY sky blue rating, if not gold. Unfortunatly, those pesky RAW don't allow you to do that. You can only replace Attack actions with grapple/shove, and all the reaction-based AOOs in Sentinel don't qualify.
Shield Master One of two gold-rated feat in the PHB, although this one is admittedly limited to single-target grappler builds. But if you do pursue the single-target grappler build, Shield Master is easily one of the beats features in the book. Master gives you a free, bonus action-based shove attempt on your target, which frees up your valuable Extra Attack actions to deal more damage or keep an attacker locked down. Simply walk up to your target, grapple them, shove them prone, and then attack them for damage, all as early as level five. Or, even better, grapple them and then shove them prone as early as level one, provided you are a Human getting this feat at creation. The other benefits are just gravy, giving you a bunch of survivability against the most common saving throw effects in the game. You can theoretically drop a shield to use this against multiple opponents, but dropping takes a full action (PHB, 146), so your target might run away. Against a single enemy, however, there's really nothing better.
Tavern Brawler After Grappler, this is the second grappler feat in the PHB. To start, a big thanks to Wizards for putting not just one but two of these feats in the book; that's a big investment for a combat style that isn't always in the spotlight. It's also significantly better than Grappler, even if it still isn't quite the awesome feat we are hoping for. The Strength/Con bonus is a nice bone, but the second point is largely irrelevant (RAW, everyone is proficient in unarmed strikes) unless you are using lots of improvised weapons. Things get better again with the third benefit, a big unarmed damage increase for grapplers who aren't going into Monk but still need to grapple multiple enemies and deal damage from round to round. Going up from a flat 1 damage to 1d4 damage is big over a long battle, and you'll welcome it if your hands are full. As for the fourth bullet point, it's an Improved Grab lite ala 3rd Edition, but it forces us to commit our opening attack to a melee hit, not a grapple check. It also consumes a valuable bonus action. This gets a lot better when you are fighting spellcasters and need to disrupt their concentration, but it's still often weaker than just walking up to them, grabbing them, and then smacking them after the grapple gets started. Overall, there are a number of builds which will pick up Brawler as a luxury feat, but few that will rely on it as a core feature.
War Caster If you are a spellcasting grappler, you need this feat. Enhance Ability? Enlarge Person? Shapechange? All of that grappling goodness is concentration-based, and War Caster is the best way to make sure you keep your buffs up in real combat. Grapplers take a lot of damage on the front lines, which means lots of concentration checks to avoid losing your spells. If these break mid-combat, you are going to be in a really bad situation, which makes War Caster indispensable for anyone serious about magic-based grappling. Modes 2 and 3 serve a different sort of grappler, the kind who restrains things with Grappler and then lets them bake in a Wall of Fire or Flame Strike. That second benefit doesn't let you use somatic spells with two enemies in your hands, so you won't be restraining two guys and then casting your spell. But if you are rocking the Shield Master build, that's another story entirely. As for that third benefit, you'll get some reactions out of this, but most enemies won't be moving enough to provoke the AOO. As usual with War Caster, it's the first ability that drives the feat, and you'll need to get this if you want to stay relevant throughout your progression.
When picking feats, just be careful that your build and grappling style fits the feats you are selecting. For example, Monks don't make good Tavern Brawlers because they have too many competing bonus actions and they don't benefit from the unarmed damage die increase. Also, be mindful of how you want your character to play at ALL levels, not just level 20. You might need that heavy armor at level 4. You might need that saving throw bonus at level 8 when it turns out that your entire campaign is against scary (read: bestowing Frightened condition) undead.
More importantly, know when you don't actually need to pick a feat as a grappler! Many builds don't need it and will get more mileage out of a +2 Strength or +1 Str/+1 Con bonus than they will from some cool looking feats. This is often one of the hardest decisions to make (we D&D players love to pack on the features and abilities), but sometimes simpler is better when you're a grappler.
Overall, be flexible and critical with your feat selection and you will be guaranteed to have a powerhouse wrestler on the battelfield.
8. The Dojo: Grappling Tactics
We already went over some of the more common grappling sequences in the "Grappling Rules" section. Now that these basics are out of the way, we can look at a few combinations that are a little more involved, either from a rules perspective (drawing from the Dungeon Master's Guide or on some heavy RAW readings), or from a setup and encounter perspective. I'll also quickly summarize those basic mechanics from "Grappling Rules", just so all your options are in one place.
I used the Brazilian Jujitsu belt system in the "Grappling Rules" section in an earlier version of the guide, but I've since moved that ranking here because it makes more sense. It doesn't quite correspond to how I would expect BJJ practitioners to progress in the real world (if your academy teaches weapon attacks from mount to white belts, it's time to find a new gym), but it makes much more sense in the context of the game and how characters level up.
White Belts: Basic Techniques
These are the moves all D&D grapplers need to know. If you forget everything else in a session, just remember these seven options. Mechanically, White Belt techniques are all strict RAW options the PHB already makes available to you. The only exception to this is shoving after a grapple, which feels more Blue Belt-like but is so fundamental to effective D&D grappling that you need to learn it first.
Initiate a grapple: Gotta start somewhere! Remember that grappling (and shoving) use the Attack action and that Extra Attack gives you multiple grapple/shove attempts.
Shove an opponent prone: If they fail the Shove contest, they will be prone, unable to stand, suffer from disadvantage on their own attack rolls, and attack rolls against them will receive advantage.
Move an opponent with you: Drag an opponent at half speed. Note that the rules on dragging and weights will likely apply here, depending on your DM.
Keep an opponent in place: Prevent an opponent from moving at all.
Release an opponent: Let go of your opponent. Useful if the grapple is happening over a ledge, on a cliffwall, or in midair.
Attack with a weapon or unarmed strike: Make an attack roll against your target to damage. Will gain advantage if they are prone.
Cast a spell: As long as you have a free hand, you can still cast with Somatic components. If you lose that hand for whatever reason, you're stuck on Verbal.
Blue Belts: Developing Techniques
You've figured out the basics and you're ready to be more effective on the offensive and the defensive. From a rules perspective, the common theme of Blue Bel techniques is overlapping two different RAW mechanics to create an outcome the PHB doesn't explicitly discuss. Blue Belt moves also include action options presented in the DMG (p. 271), which your DM may choose to allow or disallow at their discretion.
Grapple a second opponent: Use a free hand to grapple another target. This will restrict your options later as you lose a free hand. Shoving does not require a free hand, so you can still shove enemies prone after you grapple them, even if you are grappling two at once.
Shove out of an enemy grapple: If an enemy grapples you and you want to get out, don't waste an action with an Athletics or Acrobatics check. Use the Shove action instead: it replaces your Attack so you might get more chances! The forced movement ends the unwanted grapple and also creates 5 feet of separation, which could be valuable in some situations.
Counter-grapple an enemy grappler: If your opponent is exceptionally sturdy or the encounter won't let you shove them away (maybe you are in a narrow tunnel), you can also initiate your own grapple check on an opponent. You will both be considered "grappled" until either you or the opponent ends it.
Climb onto Huge or Gargantuan creatures: The DMG lets you use an action, not an Attack, to make your Athletics check to clamber aboard big enemies. You won't be grappling them and you won't be able to shove them prone, but you'll still get advantage on attack rolls and it's something for you to do with your high skill check in battles against otherwise un-grappleable enemies.
Disarm an opponent: This DMG action requires you to make a weapon attack, so it won't work if you have two enemies grappled and no free hand to wield a weapon. You'll make an attack roll contested by the enemy's Athletics/Acrobatics check, and if you succeed they'll drop the item. Not quite as good as the Battlemaster maneuver but anyone can do it and you can still drag them away from their dropped item after you win the contest.
Shove away: Grapple an enemy, drag them somewhere unsafe, and then give them a push. If they lose the contest, they'll move 5 feet back into whatever hazard you lined them up with. Note this breaks the grapple (forced movement).
Shove aside: The last DMG action is probably the best. Unlike shoving away, which breaks the grapple, shoving aside keeps a target within reach. You just reposition them 5 feet in a different direction. Very useful for certain Purple Belt and higher techniques and for different battlefield configurations.
Purple Belts: Intermediate Techniques
Now that you have all the fundamentals in place, it's time to start attacking and moving in creative ways. Purple Belt techniques combine multiple RAW options into elaborate setups and situations. Unlike some of the later techniques, however, they don't generally require any additional spells, class features, movement modes, or other conditions.
The long drop: An oldy but a goody. Drag one or two enemies over to a ledge or some other hazardous drop and then shove them off. They'll take 1d6 damage per ten feet traveled. You can even jump with them, hauling them into the air with no shove required. Bonus points for trying to land on top of at least one of them for some amount of damage (your DM will determine using the "Improvising Damage" table on DMG 249).
Human shields: If an enemy is blocking at least half of your body, you'll get +2 to AC and Dexterity saving throws from half cover (PHB, 196). If you're grappling enemies, you have at least one, possibly two, enemies who will be more than happy to stand between you and danger. Simply grapple enemies and use the shove aside option from Blue Belt techniques to relocate them into harm's way.
Take it to the ground: If you are attacking prone enemies, you need to be standing so you don't suffer from disadvantage yourself. But if you are under fire from ranged attackers (or monsters with 10+ foot reach), you might need to improve your odds. Dropping prone (no action required) gives enemies greater than 5 feet away disadvantage on those attacks. As long as you maintain your grapple and keep your enemies prone, their prone disadvantage cancels out the advantage they'd gain from attacking you while prone. This is a useful sacrifice maneuver if you aren't worried about your two enemies and are more scared of their far-off friends. Combine with human shields to get bonuses on AC and saves!
Mistwell that's a fantastic guide and one I've been using as reference myself for this build. Do you or anyone else happen to have the rest of it however? I have not been able to find the sections detailing the builds Herculean Wrestler, Mage Slayer, Grizzlyman, and BJJ Master. The link I was working from is from EN World which in turn was copied from the old WoTC forums but doesn't look like it was copied in it's entirety.
I was going to suggest archive.org. During the final week of the WOTC message boards I went to archive.org and requested that they spider the entire optimization forum, and verified they got most of it at least.
So, mechanically how does a body slam work? As I understand it, using your inertia and body as the weapon (athletics check), if you succeed you and the enemies will be prone, and if you land on top it would be like a grapple, but if I'm understanding Mistwell's post it would be inefficient because the enemy would get cover from you, is that right?
As I understand it, and parts of this are going to be GM interpretation so YMMV, you would grapple your opponent and then jump. That would be part of your movement so then you could use your action to slam them to the ground after reaching the apex of your jump. They would take fall damage based on the height of your jump (1d6 per 10 feet) and then any additional damage your DM would allow for landing on them. You then use the rest of your movement to stand back up.
In my last game, I played a Dwarven Battlerager who primarily grappled his opponents. Started out with Str 17 and Con 16, and at 4th level I took Tavern Brawler (increasing Str to 18).
I found that Tavern Brawler had some distinct advantages for a grappler. First was the ability to initiate a grapple as a bonus action if attacking unarmed or with improvised weapon; that was great before 5th level..punch, grab, spike! It was also nice because he used a shield to help defense, so unarmed strike as an improvised weapon covered knees, headbutt, shield bashing...so free hand to grab and hold, off hand for shield, but he could still hurt his opponent. It was also fun to hit people with chairs, benches...other people...GOOD TIMES!
Dwarven Battlerager (barbarian path) was good for grappling due to their spiked armor (3 damage to opponent on successful grapple check), along with the Athletics and P/S/B resistance granted by Rage. And after a certain level the Battlerager can attack with armor spikes as a bonus (while raging)...so that's an extra attack!
So i see that this is a bit old, but i have a similar build and i was just curious to how your character is faring. I like you have a Goliath grappler. Currently he is lvl 10 in Adventures League. Stone Fist is Monk 7 Barbarian 2 and Rogue 1 and is currently equipped with a Belt of Giant Strength, Boots of Striding and Springing, and Bracers of Defense. He is probably the most fun I have ever had with a character. So far I have challenged and defeated many enemies on his own, all for the sake of being the strongest. I have grappled and pinned a Dragon and a Beholder, on separate occasions, leading to a decisive victory for me and my party. Barbarian and rogue are easy choices that you can probably figure out, most people question why i choose Monk in my build. I chose monk for unarmed damage (magical d10), ki(17), flurry of blows(four chances at grappling), step of the wind(double jump distance), slow fall (no damage on myself when i land from my jump), evasion ( this combined with danger sense is gold), Way of the open hand subclass ( my guy hits really hard). How has your character played out, how is its damage, any problems you came across that couldn't be solved by grappling it, has your character sacrificed himself or died in the middle of a fight?
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I've been working on a grappler build that I'd really like to try out but I'm looking for some feedback to tweak it to really get the most out of it. Here is the basic layout, any and all comments are welcome. The main idea of the character is to grab people (often two) and pin them down to be beat on or toss them off things. I won't be focused on doing a great deal of damage as I"m mostly going to be grabbing baddies so my pals can knock the snot out of them.
Goliath Barbarian 8 (totem bear)/Fig 11 (battlemaster)/Rogue 1, point buy
Starting stats Str 17 Dex 15 Con 15 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 8
5 total ASIs to spend
1st ASI Alert
2nd ASI Str (19)
3rd ASI Mobile
4th ASI Str/Con (20/16)
5th ASI Resilient Dex (16)
I feel the Resilient in Dex is a bit overkill due to already having advantage on Dex saves I can see plus having resistance to many types of dmg when raging.
My Athletics will be at +17 and have advantage if I'm raging.
Other feats I've considered:
Athlete- so I can grab guys and jump into the air and slam them down. Unfortunately if my math is right I will be just shy of being able to do 2d6 falling dmg however.
Mage Slayer- being as mobile as I am I could close very quickly and put the hurt on ranged folks fast.
Shield master- would limit me to grappling only one foe but do get the added free shove plus dmg reduction potential.
I have to ask, you want to make a Grappler, but you're not using the "Grappler" feat?
The main change in Grappling in this edition is all it really does is reduce the target's speed to zero. It doesn't interfere with attacking, defending, casting spells, etc... I assume this being a reaction to grapple monsters being stupid broken in 3.5, but that's conjecture.
The main advantage of Grappler is to give you Adv on attacks if you already grapple someone, and so let you Restrain them (which actually does real penalties, YAY! but you're also Restrained, BOO!) In addition size restrictions are ignored so you can try to "wrestle a Dragon"... looking over Adult Red Dragon they aren't Trained in Athletics, but have a +8 Strength... so it's possible to luchador one... *this* I want to do now... Keep in mind BOTH of you are restrained, so you both have DisAdv on attack rolls and give Adv for Defense, so you hit each other normally! It goes mean the Dragon will have DisAdv to attack any party members!
On the other-hand Prone causes most of the same penalties a being Restrained (target has DisAdv on attack rolls and give Adv for Defense). This means if your first feat is Shield-Master. You can as a Bonus Action make an Athletics check to try to knock them prone, then make 1 of your attack actions to Grapple them. Now they are on the ground and grappled, while you are standing. They can't get up from Prone until they break the Grapple. This means your primary hand is holding the enemy and your off hand is holding a shield. Now, your only option to is beat them to death with the rim of your shield for 1d4+Str damage. Whether you get your Proficiency Bonus to attack is GM digressions (I would argue "yes" because it is "similar object as if were that weapon") Shields are club like and hitting people with the rim of the shield, is a classic tactic.
Grappler:
Creatures that are one size larger than you don’t automatically succeed on checks to escape your grapple.Grappled:
Restrained:
Prone:
Improvised Weapon:
In many cases, an improvised weapon is similar to an actual weapon and can be treated as such. For example, a table leg is akin to a club. At the DM’s option, a character proficient with a weapon can use a similar object as if it w ere that weapon and use his or her proficiency bonus.
Thank you for the feedback and detailed response. The main reason why I hadn't elected to go with the grappler feat was ideally I'd be grappling/pinning two enemies at a time thus no need to be actually attacking them. Being a goliath I already count as being one size larger (for carry/lift/drag which I interpret to include grapple) so the advantage of being able to grapple something bigger wasn't that huge, and as you said something of that size would typically have a pretty good Str modifier.
In your dragon example I would actually climb the dragon which would give me advantage on attacks against the dragon. Also as you mentioned knocking them prone after grappling them conveys what I'm really going for- they are stuck on the ground and can't get up thus allowing everyone else to attack with advantage.
This is ktkenshinx's grappler's manual. I've reduced some sections to account for the type of build you're planning. Hope it helps.
~The Grappler's Manual~
Taking 5th Edition Combat to the Ground (2.0)
NOTE: This guide originally appeared on the Wizards Community forums, but was migrated over to EN World and updated in September 2015.
When rating different class features, races, mechanics, etc., I will use the following color coding system.
1. Why grappling?
Ever wanted to armlock an ogre? Drag that cowardly, bow-sniping Ranger over a cliff? Hold down two orcs while kicking the third? Grappling can help you do all this and more.
Why grapple? Easy; Grappling is mechanically unfair. To start, most enemies in D&D derive their strengths from unrestricted movement, free reign to cast spells, ability to target certain PCs in the party, high ACs, etc. All this is totally shut down by a good grappler. Although it looks like an innocuous condition, being "Grappled" (and/or Prone/Restrained on top of that) is a serious hindrance for most enemies. If you can impose these conditions at will, you will dominate the battlefield.
When thinking about mechanics, I like to think about their axis of interaction. Attack rolls are opposed by AC. Spells are opposed by saving throws. High damage is opposed by high HP. Looking over the Monster Manual, most enemies are generally well prepared to fight attack rolls/spells/damage, by virtue of high AC, high saves, and/or high HP. Not every monster has those traits (bless your soul, little goblin), but over the course of your travels, you will often encounter monsters that directly counter these angles of interaction.
Then there's grappling. Grappling is a skill contest (not an attack roll!) based on the Athletics skill. Most monsters, even those with high strength scores, have the Athletics/Acrobatics checks of a 1st level commoner. Sure, you will fight monsters that can't get grappled (Ghosts...why did it have to be ghosts...), but the vast majority of monsters will be crying uncle against a good grappler. That lets you dictate how the enemy moves, who they attack, how they take hits, etc. That is a degree of battlefield control most classes can't boast.
Overall, here are the pros and cons of grappling in 5.0.
Grappling Strengths
Grappling Weaknesses
2. Grappling Rules
Before we can start bringing our jujitsu to the battlefield, we need to know exactly how D&D 5.0 grappling works. Ever since I started playing in 3rd Edition, grappling has always been regarded as one of the most complicated and unintuitive mechanics in the game. Thankfully, 5.0 has done a great job at cleaning up the old issues with the rules, while still preserving a lot of its power level.
Let's start with the basics: What exactly is a grapple? (The complete grappling rules can be found on page 195 of the PHB). Here's the rule broken down into steps, with quotes pulled out where needed.
GRAPPLING 101: DEFINITIONS
The biggest thing to remember is that grapple checks are not attack rolls. Repeat after me: Grappling is NOT an attack roll. So stuff like True Strike or the Barbarian's Reckless Attack feature will not give you advantage on the roll (because, remember, it is not an attack roll). But grappling IS an ability check, so it interacts with all sorts of effects and features that function on ability checks (e.g. the Enhance Ability spell).
Enough basics. Time to start wrestling.
GRAPPLING 101: INITIATING A GRAPPLE
The important point to remember here is that grappling replaces an attack as part of your attack action. Because it uses the attack action, you ordinarily won't be able to use it as part of a reaction. You also won't be able to grapple if you used that action to do something else, like cast a spell. This shouldn't come up a lot because if you are doing stuff other than grappling, you aren't doing your job.
GRAPPLING 101: BEING IN A GRAPPLE
This is where the 5.0 rules really start to deviate from earlier editions. The grappler isn't grappled himself, and you can move the creature with no check. Unfortunately, you can't pin the target as per 3.0/3.5 rules (at least, not without a sub optimal feat we will discuss later), but we'll discuss other options for the grapple initiator.
As they say in the grappling arts, this style of fighting is all about position before submission. Up until now, we've been setting up our position. Now it's time for the submissions.
INTERMEDIATE MOVES: BASIC ATTACKS/OPTIONS WHILE GRAPPLING
In the 3.5 rules, the grappling section listed all the things you could do while grappling. Because 5.0 simplified this system, it doesn't explicitly list all those options. Don't worry: they are still all RAW and all available to you from level 1 onward. Some feats and class features might give you better options, as will some of the "Black Belt" techniques below, but these are good places to start on your grappling journey. These mechanics are also at play in the more advanced grappling techniques, so you need to know them before you can do more complicated/fun combat sequences.
Speaking of fun combat sequences..
INTERMEDIATE MOVES: MORE ATTACKS/OPTIONS WHILE GRAPPLING
There are endless combinations of these more advanced and creative grappling techniques, but these are my favorite. The first option, shoving an enemy prone, is easily the most important grappling combination you can execute, and also one of the most powerful. Shoving uses the exact same modifiers and bonuses as the grapple check (Athletics), so you are already positioned to use it. This shoving/grappling combo comes up in almost every good grappling build I know of, and it's the main reason grapplers are so valuable in combat.
While talking about dragging prone opponents in the comments, an interesting point on encumbrance came up. Although moving a prone creature while grappling them is totally RAW, there are also some RAW entries on dragging, lifting, carrying capacity, and encumbrance we need to account for. Here are the most important rules in that category:
ENCUMBRANCE AND DRAGGING WHILE GRAPPLING
This is not an exhaustive discussion of grappling rules, and weird situations WILL come up in your sessions. So keep the PHB ready to handle rules questions, and feel free to post any new ideas to the thread. We'll go over these techniques again, and add in some new ones, in the later "Grappling Tactics" section.
Goliath
4. Class Overview
There is no single best way to grapple. Almost every class has its own strengths and weaknesses, and many grappler builds will require at least a few levels of multiclassing anyway. To get you started on your own grappling optimizations, here's a feature-by-feature evaluation of each class and its grappling abilities.
-Barbarian
It should come as no surprise that Barbarians make outstanding grapplers. Rage really is just as good as it sounds. In fact, it's probably better than it sounds, because until you play a Barbarian grappler, you won't realize quite how often advantage lets you win grapple rolls and fights. Add strong tanking features, a ton of HP, extra damage, and a bunch of other useful abilities, and you have what is probably easily one of the top three best grappling classes in the game.
-Fighter
Two words: Action Surge. This ability alone makes Fighters one of the best dips you can take for grappling, along with Rogue for Expertise. Add in the maneuvers at level 3, a bonus feat/ability score increase at 4, extra attack at 5, and another bonus feat/score at 6 and you have one of the best base classes for grapplers around. Fighter is also the only class that gives you a third attack courtesy of Extra Attack, which encourages you to stick in the class until at least level 11. Fighters will still need to pick up Enlarge Person or some other way of getting grapple advantage (Eldritch Knight can do it at level 8), but the attacks alone make this an excellent all-around class.
-Rogue
Like Fighters, Rogues are by far one of the best 2 level dip that a grappler can take. Unlike Fighter, there isn't much reason to stay in Rogue after that, which is why the class is overall rated a bit lower. A single level gives you both the respectable Sneak Attack (used in tandem with shove to deal additional damage per turn) and the almighty Expertise. One more level gives you Cunning Action, which lets you dash as a bonus action (real grapplers don't disengage or hide). Know what happens when you Dash as a bonus action while grappling? More move speed to cover distance while dragging your target! The vast majority of decent grappling builds, except those using Bards which already gets Expertise, are going to take at least a 1 level dip into Rogue if not 2. Of course, there are also some scary Sneak Attack-oriented builds you can put together, which you can consider as an alternate damage-dealing option to the Monk's unarmed playstyle.
5. Feats
As a grappler, you might choose to play a raging mountain-man wrestler, a tactical lockdown artist, a murderous get-em-from-behind assassin, or a hungry crocodile who just "wants to play". No matter your path, feats are probably going to be an important consideration. In most cases, and unlike in previous editions, you don't actually need a lot of feats to grapple. Heck, you don't need any really; the basic combat rules let you do almost everything without any serious feat investment. That doesn't mean you shouldn't consider the PHB feats for your character, especially given you will be progressing well past 4th or even 8th level for a few classes.
This section will review all the feats in the PHB, rating them according to how useful they are for the aspiring grappler. If there's a feat that doesn't show up on the list, like Actor, it's just because it's irrelevant for in-combat grappling mechanics.
The cornerstone of the powerbomb suplex grapple technique (see builds later). Athlete lets you jump really high with your grappled target(s), throw them to the ground, and then land, stand, and re-grapple. All in one turn. Without Athlete, your jumps will be shorter, your standing will be slower, and the combat style will be much less efficient.
Crossbow Expert
The hands-down most disappointing entry in the PHB, Grappler is the ultimate trap ability. Its first ability is a worse version of the shove-to-prone combat option grapplers already have. Why invest in a feat for advantage when you can do it with basic combat actions? The second ability is what earns Grappler its green status. A restrained target suffers from disadvantage to all Dexterity saving throws, which works nicely with grapplers who use Dexterity-based spell damage. Or grapplers who have allies using that magic. This is a niche way to grapple but a fun one, so I leave it out there as an option for grapplers looking for new ways to enjoy the combat style. As for the last bullet point, it's a leftover of an earlier edition. As the PHB Errata clarifies, " Ignore the third benefit; it refers to a nonexistent rule". All told, this is the feat that should have made us tick and instead it's one of the first you'll ignore.
Survivability is important for grapplers and, In many cases, multiclassing is the best way to get heavy armor. Just take the highest armor proficiency class at level 1 (like Fighter) and then multiclass out at later levels (to Bard/Rogue/Wizard/etc.). That said, there are some instances where a heavy armor class isn't part of your build. In those cases, this feat becomes a lot better. It even buffs your most important ability score as an added bonus! So if you are a College of Valor Bard going straight Bard with only a Rogue multiclass, pick this up right after you get medium armor proficiency. This is also a decent starting proficiency to work towards with the Human bonus feat.
You don't want to die in combat, but you don't want to invest too many features into staying alive. +1 Strength is nice, but the flat 3-point damage reduction is underwhelming at best. It doesn't even affect magical weapons or spells.
Remember the Wizard's Portent ability? Lucky is a worse version of Portent, but it's one that any class can get. You generally won't use it against opponents (it only affects attack rolls which we probably don't care about), but you will frequently use it on your own checks. Think of it like triple advantage on Athletics, usable three times per day in between long rests. As far as luxury feats go (stuff like Alert), this one is probably the highest on the list because it's incredibly versatile (it even helps your saving throws) and is relevant in almost all fights at almost every level. Fighters will often get this if they stay in their class for long, just because they get so many feats.
Back in 3.0 and 3.5, it was a nightmare to cast spells in threatened squares, especially against grapplers. 5th Edition took a lot of bite from that strategy, but Mage Slayer returns some of our former glory. Slayer doesn't prevent spellcasting, but it does put you in a strong enough position that it won't matter. Once grappled, enemy casters will always be within five feet of you, so you can smack them every time they try to cast a spell to get free. If they are concentrating on a spell, that's yet another attack they need to make to a save on. Oh yeah, and they make all their concentration checks at disadvantage, both against your normal attacks and the free reaction attack every single round. As if that weren't enough, you also get advantage on all saving throws against spells cast within five feet of you. Assuming you are holding down 1-2 mages, that's the only range spells will be inbound from. An overall excellent feat for campaigns with lots of spellcasting enemies.
+10 to your speed is all you need to know about this feat. That's two extra squares with a dash. Or two extra vertical squares with flying. Remember that dragging creatures is one of the best parts of grappling, so any way you can buff that speed is a great way to enhance your combat utility. Difficult terrain is also a big problem for grapplers who drag enemies, and Mobile addresses that too. Just combine this with Monk or Rogue class features to get a bonus Dash and you'll be bounding around the battlefield in no time.
If you could grapple/shove as part of that provoked reaction, this would be an EASY sky blue rating, if not gold. Unfortunatly, those pesky RAW don't allow you to do that. You can only replace Attack actions with grapple/shove, and all the reaction-based AOOs in Sentinel don't qualify.
One of two gold-rated feat in the PHB, although this one is admittedly limited to single-target grappler builds. But if you do pursue the single-target grappler build, Shield Master is easily one of the beats features in the book. Master gives you a free, bonus action-based shove attempt on your target, which frees up your valuable Extra Attack actions to deal more damage or keep an attacker locked down. Simply walk up to your target, grapple them, shove them prone, and then attack them for damage, all as early as level five. Or, even better, grapple them and then shove them prone as early as level one, provided you are a Human getting this feat at creation. The other benefits are just gravy, giving you a bunch of survivability against the most common saving throw effects in the game. You can theoretically drop a shield to use this against multiple opponents, but dropping takes a full action (PHB, 146), so your target might run away. Against a single enemy, however, there's really nothing better.
After Grappler, this is the second grappler feat in the PHB. To start, a big thanks to Wizards for putting not just one but two of these feats in the book; that's a big investment for a combat style that isn't always in the spotlight. It's also significantly better than Grappler, even if it still isn't quite the awesome feat we are hoping for. The Strength/Con bonus is a nice bone, but the second point is largely irrelevant (RAW, everyone is proficient in unarmed strikes) unless you are using lots of improvised weapons. Things get better again with the third benefit, a big unarmed damage increase for grapplers who aren't going into Monk but still need to grapple multiple enemies and deal damage from round to round. Going up from a flat 1 damage to 1d4 damage is big over a long battle, and you'll welcome it if your hands are full. As for the fourth bullet point, it's an Improved Grab lite ala 3rd Edition, but it forces us to commit our opening attack to a melee hit, not a grapple check. It also consumes a valuable bonus action. This gets a lot better when you are fighting spellcasters and need to disrupt their concentration, but it's still often weaker than just walking up to them, grabbing them, and then smacking them after the grapple gets started. Overall, there are a number of builds which will pick up Brawler as a luxury feat, but few that will rely on it as a core feature.
If you are a spellcasting grappler, you need this feat. Enhance Ability? Enlarge Person? Shapechange? All of that grappling goodness is concentration-based, and War Caster is the best way to make sure you keep your buffs up in real combat. Grapplers take a lot of damage on the front lines, which means lots of concentration checks to avoid losing your spells. If these break mid-combat, you are going to be in a really bad situation, which makes War Caster indispensable for anyone serious about magic-based grappling.
Modes 2 and 3 serve a different sort of grappler, the kind who restrains things with Grappler and then lets them bake in a Wall of Fire or Flame Strike. That second benefit doesn't let you use somatic spells with two enemies in your hands, so you won't be restraining two guys and then casting your spell. But if you are rocking the Shield Master build, that's another story entirely. As for that third benefit, you'll get some reactions out of this, but most enemies won't be moving enough to provoke the AOO. As usual with War Caster, it's the first ability that drives the feat, and you'll need to get this if you want to stay relevant throughout your progression.
When picking feats, just be careful that your build and grappling style fits the feats you are selecting. For example, Monks don't make good Tavern Brawlers because they have too many competing bonus actions and they don't benefit from the unarmed damage die increase. Also, be mindful of how you want your character to play at ALL levels, not just level 20. You might need that heavy armor at level 4. You might need that saving throw bonus at level 8 when it turns out that your entire campaign is against scary (read: bestowing Frightened condition) undead.
More importantly, know when you don't actually need to pick a feat as a grappler! Many builds don't need it and will get more mileage out of a +2 Strength or +1 Str/+1 Con bonus than they will from some cool looking feats. This is often one of the hardest decisions to make (we D&D players love to pack on the features and abilities), but sometimes simpler is better when you're a grappler.
Overall, be flexible and critical with your feat selection and you will be guaranteed to have a powerhouse wrestler on the battelfield.
8. The Dojo: Grappling Tactics
We already went over some of the more common grappling sequences in the "Grappling Rules" section. Now that these basics are out of the way, we can look at a few combinations that are a little more involved, either from a rules perspective (drawing from the Dungeon Master's Guide or on some heavy RAW readings), or from a setup and encounter perspective. I'll also quickly summarize those basic mechanics from "Grappling Rules", just so all your options are in one place.
I used the Brazilian Jujitsu belt system in the "Grappling Rules" section in an earlier version of the guide, but I've since moved that ranking here because it makes more sense. It doesn't quite correspond to how I would expect BJJ practitioners to progress in the real world (if your academy teaches weapon attacks from mount to white belts, it's time to find a new gym), but it makes much more sense in the context of the game and how characters level up.
White Belts: Basic Techniques
These are the moves all D&D grapplers need to know. If you forget everything else in a session, just remember these seven options. Mechanically, White Belt techniques are all strict RAW options the PHB already makes available to you. The only exception to this is shoving after a grapple, which feels more Blue Belt-like but is so fundamental to effective D&D grappling that you need to learn it first.
Blue Belts: Developing Techniques
You've figured out the basics and you're ready to be more effective on the offensive and the defensive. From a rules perspective, the common theme of Blue Bel techniques is overlapping two different RAW mechanics to create an outcome the PHB doesn't explicitly discuss. Blue Belt moves also include action options presented in the DMG (p. 271), which your DM may choose to allow or disallow at their discretion.
Purple Belts: Intermediate Techniques
Now that you have all the fundamentals in place, it's time to start attacking and moving in creative ways. Purple Belt techniques combine multiple RAW options into elaborate setups and situations. Unlike some of the later techniques, however, they don't generally require any additional spells, class features, movement modes, or other conditions.
You might want to put some of that information into spoiler tags to help tidy up. Right now it's a pretty huge block of text.
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Mistwell that's a fantastic guide and one I've been using as reference myself for this build. Do you or anyone else happen to have the rest of it however? I have not been able to find the sections detailing the builds Herculean Wrestler, Mage Slayer, Grizzlyman, and BJJ Master. The link I was working from is from EN World which in turn was copied from the old WoTC forums but doesn't look like it was copied in it's entirety.
Anyone have the complete guide anywhere?
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468737-The-Grappler-s-Manual-(2-0)-Grappling-in-5th-Edition
Found it!
https://web.archive.org/web/20150917000752/http://community.wizards.com/comment/51293186#comment-51293186
So, mechanically how does a body slam work?
As I understand it, using your inertia and body as the weapon (athletics check), if you succeed you and the enemies will be prone, and if you land on top it would be like a grapple, but if I'm understanding Mistwell's post it would be inefficient because the enemy would get cover from you, is that right?
As I understand it, and parts of this are going to be GM interpretation so YMMV, you would grapple your opponent and then jump. That would be part of your movement so then you could use your action to slam them to the ground after reaching the apex of your jump. They would take fall damage based on the height of your jump (1d6 per 10 feet) and then any additional damage your DM would allow for landing on them. You then use the rest of your movement to stand back up.
In my last game, I played a Dwarven Battlerager who primarily grappled his opponents. Started out with Str 17 and Con 16, and at 4th level I took Tavern Brawler (increasing Str to 18).
I found that Tavern Brawler had some distinct advantages for a grappler. First was the ability to initiate a grapple as a bonus action if attacking unarmed or with improvised weapon; that was great before 5th level..punch, grab, spike! It was also nice because he used a shield to help defense, so unarmed strike as an improvised weapon covered knees, headbutt, shield bashing...so free hand to grab and hold, off hand for shield, but he could still hurt his opponent. It was also fun to hit people with chairs, benches...other people...GOOD TIMES!
Dwarven Battlerager (barbarian path) was good for grappling due to their spiked armor (3 damage to opponent on successful grapple check), along with the Athletics and P/S/B resistance granted by Rage. And after a certain level the Battlerager can attack with armor spikes as a bonus (while raging)...so that's an extra attack!
So i see that this is a bit old, but i have a similar build and i was just curious to how your character is faring. I like you have a Goliath grappler. Currently he is lvl 10 in Adventures League. Stone Fist is Monk 7 Barbarian 2 and Rogue 1 and is currently equipped with a Belt of Giant Strength, Boots of Striding and Springing, and Bracers of Defense. He is probably the most fun I have ever had with a character. So far I have challenged and defeated many enemies on his own, all for the sake of being the strongest. I have grappled and pinned a Dragon and a Beholder, on separate occasions, leading to a decisive victory for me and my party. Barbarian and rogue are easy choices that you can probably figure out, most people question why i choose Monk in my build. I chose monk for unarmed damage (magical d10), ki(17), flurry of blows(four chances at grappling), step of the wind(double jump distance), slow fall (no damage on myself when i land from my jump), evasion ( this combined with danger sense is gold), Way of the open hand subclass ( my guy hits really hard). How has your character played out, how is its damage, any problems you came across that couldn't be solved by grappling it, has your character sacrificed himself or died in the middle of a fight?