D&D 5E The Grappler's Manual (2.0) - Grappling in 5th Edition

[Mosrial]

I've been reading this thread for 2 days or so now, and it's a fantastic read. And I started reading the BJJ techniques for the build some had linked from original post. And I have a question, why not make the Monk aspect Way of the Shadow, and use shadow step to jump 60 ft into the air for free? (assuming you can grapple in an area of low light of darkness.) Though as I just read the shadow step rule its a bonus action, but still is effective.

 

[Solandros]

And I have a question, why not make the Monk aspect Way of the Shadow, and use shadow step to jump 60 ft into the air for free? (assuming you can grapple in an area of low light of darkness.) Though as I just read the shadow step rule its a bonus action, but still is effective.

If memory serves shadowstep only works from dim light/darkness into dim light/darkness, would mean you could shadowstep in the air during the evening and night I suppose. The bigger problem though is that I'm not entirely sure that it's possible to take your victim with you when you shadowstep (you're effectively moving away no?).

 

[Istbor]

There are two answers to this question.
For one, damage is not the primary goal of the grapple. So one hand to grapple and one hand to shield shove gets the grapple's job done. Then you can hold him while others unload damage with advantage, or drag him off a cliff, or whatever.
The second answer is that unarmed strikes do not require a free hand, so that's what you'd do if you don't have a better option after locking down an opponent. You knee or head butt or whatever. If you have the Grappler feat or a level in Monk, it will even do base 1d4 damage instead of 1.

Hah! You're right, totally forgot about unarmed strikes coming from kicks or headbutts. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Rickerdoo]

Such a great guide. I hope you are able to get your builds back on soon. I am wanting to make a rock gnome grizzly man for my next game.
What stats would you pick starting out?

 

[Elredion]

Question: Do you think it would be too overpowered to allow a monk character to use an Athletics (Dex) check to initiate grapples instead of Athletics (Str)? Maybe just for the first arm grapple but not the second? Our monk used Str as a dump stat

It does seem realistic but I'm not sure mechanically it would be too strong

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Question: Do you think it would be too overpowered to allow a monk character to use an Athletics (Dex) check to initiate grapples instead of Athletics (Str)? Maybe just for the first arm grapple but not the second? Our monk used Str as a dump stat

It does seem realistic but I'm not sure mechanically it would be too strong

That removes one of the major reasons to go Str over Dex. It's about as balanced as letting someone use Str for initiative.

Even with dump stat Str, a monk can still be pretty decent at grappling regular monsters, because of Extra Attack and the fact that monsters rarely have Athletics proficiency. A monk with Athletics +6 will still usually grapple a Troll (Athletics +4). If you want to boost the monk's ability at grappling for flavor reasons, allow Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows to be used for grapples as well as unarmed strikes. Four attempts at +6 should grapple pretty much anything that can be grappled. (Even moreso if a warlock in the party has got the target Hexed.) E.g. you'll have an 86% chance to grapple a Pit Fiend (in four attempts or less), 96% if it's Hexed.

 

[Arandomperson]

Reminder that barbarian+druid is the only combo (that is also good at early game grappling) that can grapple gargantuan creatures since you can drink a potion of growth and then wild shape into a bear which is large size to begin with.

 

[Destructopuppy]

Sentinel

I think that Sentinel is better for a grappler than its rating here may suggest, though its value may be somewhat niche in my experience. Consider this: You have a nasty guy grappled and held down and 90+% of the time you'll be fine on grapple checks, but that one time the guy breaks your hold they usually attempt to run/chase after the squishes and this feat is your contingency plan. Additionally, despite what one might believe, this feat actually counters the Freedom of Movement spell that causes us grapplers so many headaches.

"the target’s movement is unaffected by difficult terrain, and
spells and other magical effects can neither reduce
the target’s speed nor cause the target to be paralyzed
or restrained."

Yes, they can spend 5ft of movement to escape the grapple, but if you hit them with your opportunity attack as the pesky mage tries to run, they're going nowhere. The reason for this is that Sentinel is not a magical effect nor are does it restrain, you simply reduce their speed to 0 by non-magical means. It also works (at least by RAW, I've had a couple of GMs overrule it on realism grounds) on all creature sizes, so even in you can't grapple that dragon, technically you can stop it from ignoring you and chasing your poor wizard.

Bonus subjective uses:

• 
  The extra DPS can be nice in a hybrid build.

• 
  Works well to prevent a melee glass cannon being targeted as you get free slaps when they ignore you.

• 
  Prevents disengages even by ungrappled targets.

Again, I don't think this is a must take by any means, I view it as the silvered weapon of my grappling feats it is one of those things that the 5% of the time you do need it, you REALLY need it.

 

[Arandomperson]

Isn't misty step more troubling than freedom of movement though?

 

[Goken100]

Misty Step is certainly a much more common spell than Freedom of Movement, so should be the first thing that a grappler thinks about countering. I think ktkenshinx would probably say that Silence is your friend here. Silence will prevent most future castings, but not existing spell effects such as Freedom of Movement.