Start with a variant human, take shield master, str and con. Take 1 lvl of rogue (expertise - athletics), 3 lvls barb (totem), and 6 lvls fighter (rune knight, defense style). Put the asi's into str and con. Take half plate and a shield. You now have str and con 18, dex 14, ac 19, 105 hp. More importantly, if your best friend is a druid or a mage, you can grow to Large size, then have them cast Enlarge on you bringing you to Huge. Huge things can grapple and shove Gargantuan things.
This means you can now run up to an ancient red dragon, rage, shove it prone, then grapple it. The red dragon has +10 to resist your shove and grapple. You have +12, advantage from rage, +2 from cloud rune, and action surge if you need to try again. Once it's proned and can't get up without breaking your grapple, the red dragon has disadvantage to hit you meaning about a 90% hit rate (significantly better with shield of faith or other bonuses), bringing it down to about 31 dmg per round from bite and claws after half damage from raging. You never use reckless attack. If it breathes on you, bear totem rage reduces the dmg to 45 or 0 from shield master if you make your save 25% of the time. Again a little extra bonus here goes a long way. You can't HURT the dragon much, but you can keep it from escaping as you drag it into whatever AOE or zone of death your friends can come up with.
Theoretically this build could even survive one round with the Tarrasque (huge is swallow proof). After that I hope you brought a healer.
Obviously the dragon has lair actions, spells, a million ways of getting out. Magic is not this character's dept that's for the mages to worry about. I just thought this was a funny build but the idea annoyed my buddy so much I figured I would post it for everyone to enjoy :D
I don't think anyone says Barbarian or Fighter are bad, especially not Totem or Rune Knight! I have a Rune Knight Artificer multiclass in my campaign right now and he loves to double enlarge himself up to huge size - he stands shoulder to shoulder with the Wizard who's polymorphed into a T Rex, for crying out loud.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Well the idea is that you want to tank the biggest stuff... so you're taking huge hits meaning a really high con save. If con is broken you shrink down and it's game over the monster eats you in one gulp like the Rampage arcade game. Putting the Enlarge concentration on somebody else was a very deliberate choice. Earthbind's a great mix but yeah you're right it does take concentration as well... you could ride a broom while you wrestle :D If they're a normal flyer they hit the ground when their move drops to 0 so that's a free barb pile driver. If they can hover I believe they're still prone just... hovering up there with you holding them... down? Of note: an air elemental is immune to pretty much every one of this character's strengths, so don't wrestle those. ...and in regards to what Van Zoeren said I been seeing vids from youtubers who seem very bad at math claiming that casters not only do more damage than martials but defend better than them too and to that I say in my experience an all caster party gets chased around the room for the whole fight with their con getting broken over and over. You know, like a dragon fight usually goes.
Oh I just realised that Earthbind probably wouldn't work... it says "an airborne creature affected by this spell safely descends at 60 feet per round until it reaches the ground or the spell ends." There's an argument to be made that the dragon isn't actually airborne, but held aloft, but that's up to the DM.
You could apply a lot of speed reductions (Ray of Frost, Lance of Lethargy etc.) or use the Claw of the Wyrm Rune, which can apply this effect to a 100ft sphere if you have 8 hours to prepare "While in the 100-foot-radius sphere, any dragon has disadvantage on saving throws and can have a flying speed no higher than 10 feet." It doesn't need to be 0, just low enough to not affect the fall damage, in XGtE it says "f you’d like a flying creature to have a better chance of surviving a fall than a non-flying creature does, use this rule: subtract the creature’s current flying speed from the distance it fell before calculating falling damage."
Alternatively, wear a Cape of the Mountebank, cast Dimension Door using to go 200+ feet up while grappling the dragon, use Action Surge and knock the dragon prone (if it isn't already) and let go. Make sure someone has Feather Fall for you.
I just really like the concept of weaponising gravity (ironically not the Graviturgy Magic wizard subclass)
Oh I just realised that Earthbind probably wouldn't work... it says "an airborne creature affected by this spell safely descends at 60 feet per round until it reaches the ground or the spell ends." There's an argument to be made that the dragon isn't actually airborne, but held aloft, but that's up to the DM.
Earthbind's whole shtick is bringing flying creatures to the ground. If a DM didn't allow me to cast it on a dragon I'd probably riot. (Or at the very least politely ask to have a free spell swap to get rid of an apparently useless spell)
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I mean using Earthbind as a way to remove the dragon's flying speed so that it can't stop itself from falling. The spell's wording (probably) bars that spell as a method to cause fall damage.
You're right the broom has a weight limit I forgot. You need Winged Boots. Which and Artificer can imbue. And they can cast Enlarge:) And imbue a +1 shield and a ring of protection :D
Muahahaha you WANT to fall it's known as the barb piledriver: you're taking half damage because rage, so essentially it's a free 2d6 for every 1d6 you're willing to take, up to a max of 20d6 (200 ft is the limit on fall damage). Furthermore, you are both automatically proned (no saves, and no shove needed from you like ground enemies). The difference is you as the grappler can stand right back up for half your movement, but your grappled victim does not have that privilege until they break your grapple (the grapple is not ended by the fall). This is why you don't want to just make them fall while you hover safely - you must keep that grapple on at all costs or the whole build falls apart. The normal version of the piledriver is to grab them then do a magical or Tabaxi boosted jump. In fact our dragon wrestler should be doing jumping piledrivers starting in round 2 if they don't have anywhere to drag the dragon as they have no other good ways to inflict damage. Halved fall damage from raging is a very special barb power most monsters only get the power to take half damage from blunt ATTACKS not other sources like falling.
OH I completely missed that Rage halves fall damage! I've made a few grapple-and-drop barbs (Aarakocra Eagle Totem for dash, and a Satyr with Boots of Striding and Springing + Ring of Jumping + Ring of Feather Falling and Beast barb Jumping) in theorycrafting, hoping to deploy them at the table at some point. I usually just dropped them and avoided the fall damage by flying or the Ring in mock fights, but keeping the grapple and falling with them would be cool.
Yeah you can always fly up and drop em if you don't want to take any more damage but if you don't want to have to regrapple or waste movement coming back down, just using your action to Dash and drag em up into the sky then falling every round is a great tool.
Start with a variant human, take shield master, str and con. Take 1 lvl of rogue (expertise - athletics), 3 lvls barb (totem), and 6 lvls fighter (rune knight, defense style). Put the asi's into str and con. Take half plate and a shield. You now have str and con 18, dex 14, ac 19, 105 hp. More importantly, if your best friend is a druid or a mage, you can grow to Large size, then have them cast Enlarge on you bringing you to Huge. Huge things can grapple and shove Gargantuan things.
This means you can now run up to an ancient red dragon, rage, shove it prone, then grapple it. The red dragon has +10 to resist your shove and grapple. You have +12, advantage from rage, +2 from cloud rune, and action surge if you need to try again. Once it's proned and can't get up without breaking your grapple, the red dragon has disadvantage to hit you meaning about a 90% hit rate (significantly better with shield of faith or other bonuses), bringing it down to about 31 dmg per round from bite and claws after half damage from raging. You never use reckless attack. If it breathes on you, bear totem rage reduces the dmg to 45 or 0 from shield master if you make your save 25% of the time. Again a little extra bonus here goes a long way. You can't HURT the dragon much, but you can keep it from escaping as you drag it into whatever AOE or zone of death your friends can come up with.
Theoretically this build could even survive one round with the Tarrasque (huge is swallow proof). After that I hope you brought a healer.
Obviously the dragon has lair actions, spells, a million ways of getting out. Magic is not this character's dept that's for the mages to worry about. I just thought this was a funny build but the idea annoyed my buddy so much I figured I would post it for everyone to enjoy :D
Grapplers are great fun, I played a Grappler in my last one-shot and it turned into one of the more enjoyable session I've had. This was my build:
Dhamphir
STR 16 (15+1)
DEX 10
CON 17 (15+2)
INT 13
WIS 10
CHA 8
Level 1-8 Fighter (Rune Knight), Rune I took: Cloud, Frost, Hill
Fighting Style: Unarmed Fighting
ASI: Skill Expert (CON, Expertise in Athletics), CON x2, Fey Touched (INT, Hex)
Level 9-10 Wizard (War Magic)
Spells: Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, Toll the Dead, Absorb Elements, Shield, Silvery Barbs, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, and some utility Rituals I never used lol
I don't think anyone says Barbarian or Fighter are bad, especially not Totem or Rune Knight! I have a Rune Knight Artificer multiclass in my campaign right now and he loves to double enlarge himself up to huge size - he stands shoulder to shoulder with the Wizard who's polymorphed into a T Rex, for crying out loud.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
lololol that is AWESOME
if you can manage the Concentration saves yourself, go Duergar for the innate casting of Enlarge/Reduce so you don't eat someone else's conc. slot
if you can fly/climb/otherwise go up, have someone cast Earthbind (or somehow disable the dragon's wings) and drop it.
Well the idea is that you want to tank the biggest stuff... so you're taking huge hits meaning a really high con save. If con is broken you shrink down and it's game over the monster eats you in one gulp like the Rampage arcade game. Putting the Enlarge concentration on somebody else was a very deliberate choice. Earthbind's a great mix but yeah you're right it does take concentration as well... you could ride a broom while you wrestle :D If they're a normal flyer they hit the ground when their move drops to 0 so that's a free barb pile driver. If they can hover I believe they're still prone just... hovering up there with you holding them... down? Of note: an air elemental is immune to pretty much every one of this character's strengths, so don't wrestle those.
...and in regards to what Van Zoeren said I been seeing vids from youtubers who seem very bad at math claiming that casters not only do more damage than martials but defend better than them too and to that I say in my experience an all caster party gets chased around the room for the whole fight with their con getting broken over and over. You know, like a dragon fight usually goes.
lol good luck finding a broom that can hold a Large/Huge/Gargantuan creature. Maybe one meant for group transport?
now I have a mental image of a huge person awkwardly perched on a tiny little broom while wrestling with a dragon
Oh I just realised that Earthbind probably wouldn't work... it says "an airborne creature affected by this spell safely descends at 60 feet per round until it reaches the ground or the spell ends." There's an argument to be made that the dragon isn't actually airborne, but held aloft, but that's up to the DM.
You could apply a lot of speed reductions (Ray of Frost, Lance of Lethargy etc.) or use the Claw of the Wyrm Rune, which can apply this effect to a 100ft sphere if you have 8 hours to prepare "While in the 100-foot-radius sphere, any dragon has disadvantage on saving throws and can have a flying speed no higher than 10 feet." It doesn't need to be 0, just low enough to not affect the fall damage, in XGtE it says "f you’d like a flying creature to have a better chance of surviving a fall than a non-flying creature does, use this rule: subtract the creature’s current flying speed from the distance it fell before calculating falling damage."
Alternatively, wear a Cape of the Mountebank, cast Dimension Door using to go 200+ feet up while grappling the dragon, use Action Surge and knock the dragon prone (if it isn't already) and let go. Make sure someone has Feather Fall for you.
I just really like the concept of weaponising gravity (ironically not the Graviturgy Magic wizard subclass)
Earthbind's whole shtick is bringing flying creatures to the ground. If a DM didn't allow me to cast it on a dragon I'd probably riot. (Or at the very least politely ask to have a free spell swap to get rid of an apparently useless spell)
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I mean using Earthbind as a way to remove the dragon's flying speed so that it can't stop itself from falling. The spell's wording (probably) bars that spell as a method to cause fall damage.
You're right the broom has a weight limit I forgot. You need Winged Boots. Which and Artificer can imbue. And they can cast Enlarge:) And imbue a +1 shield and a ring of protection :D
yeah, an Artificer could do all the magicky stuff for you
it is very sad that they can't infuse a Ring of Feather Falling
Muahahaha you WANT to fall it's known as the barb piledriver: you're taking half damage because rage, so essentially it's a free 2d6 for every 1d6 you're willing to take, up to a max of 20d6 (200 ft is the limit on fall damage). Furthermore, you are both automatically proned (no saves, and no shove needed from you like ground enemies). The difference is you as the grappler can stand right back up for half your movement, but your grappled victim does not have that privilege until they break your grapple (the grapple is not ended by the fall). This is why you don't want to just make them fall while you hover safely - you must keep that grapple on at all costs or the whole build falls apart. The normal version of the piledriver is to grab them then do a magical or Tabaxi boosted jump. In fact our dragon wrestler should be doing jumping piledrivers starting in round 2 if they don't have anywhere to drag the dragon as they have no other good ways to inflict damage. Halved fall damage from raging is a very special barb power most monsters only get the power to take half damage from blunt ATTACKS not other sources like falling.
OH I completely missed that Rage halves fall damage! I've made a few grapple-and-drop barbs (Aarakocra Eagle Totem for dash, and a Satyr with Boots of Striding and Springing + Ring of Jumping + Ring of Feather Falling and Beast barb Jumping) in theorycrafting, hoping to deploy them at the table at some point. I usually just dropped them and avoided the fall damage by flying or the Ring in mock fights, but keeping the grapple and falling with them would be cool.
Yeah you can always fly up and drop em if you don't want to take any more damage but if you don't want to have to regrapple or waste movement coming back down, just using your action to Dash and drag em up into the sky then falling every round is a great tool.