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

[kalani]

Max fall damage is 20d6 - or was there something in the build that only dealt 10d6 and I missed seeing it?

 

[zaratan]

Max fall damage is 20d6 - or was there something in the build that only dealt 10d6 and I missed seeing it?

True, I was thinking in storyteller and 10d10, lol.

 

[der_gonza]

Will Spike Growth and Bestow Curse work together? Example: I drag the enemy under Bestow Curse on Spike Growth. Both spells created by me (Bestow Curse in slot level 5, and needs no maintenance). In the description of Bestow Curse is the following phrase (While the target is cursed, your attacks and spells deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to the target.) Spike Growth the spell, and when I drag it of the enemy, he receives 2d4 damage. Whether he will get a further 1d8 for every 5 feet?


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[Goken100]

Regarding the "Grizzlyman" Build
Since this thread has been recently necro'ed, I have found numerous problems with this build, that I would like to correct.

Multi-classing requires a minimum of 13 Strength and 13 Wisdom for this build.

While debatable, it is a fair interpretation that longstrider only affects your base humanoid speed, and not the speed of your character while in wildshape. This would be a DMs call as the rules aren't entirely clear one way or another.

There's nothing about the spell that suggests that it would not continue to apply if you change shape. In fact, the spell increases speed, not walking speed. That means that climbing, swimming, burrowing, and fly speeds are all increased just like walking speed.

You cannot substitute the bears attacks with grapples when using the Multiattack action. Unlike the Attack action, monsters cannot substitute the specified attacks with any other attack. A bears Multiattack is always a Claw + Bite. If the bear wants to use a grapple, they have to resort to the Attack action instead.

While technically true, many DMs rule that individual attacks from monsters with multiattack can be swapped out for shoves and grapples. If you look at the Knight NPC, for example, the Multiattack feature is clearly analogous to the heroic Fighter's Extra Attack. This is a ruling that actually levels the grappling and shoving playing field between PCs and NPCs, and I highly recommend it. That said, I personally would only allow grapple attempts to be substituted when limbs are involved. So the Bear's claw could become a grapple, but the bite would remain bitey. Just my 2cp.

One perk of the Multiattack action however, is the ability to Ready a multiattack. This cannot be done with Extra Attacks as you can only make additional attacks with this ability on your turn (limiting you to a single attack should you Ready the Attack action).

Neither the Claw nor Bite are finesse weapons. In fact, according to the Monster Manual and PHB errata, they aren't weapons at all. You cannot sneak attack with a Claw/Bite. Expertise, and other Rogue abilities more than make up for the lack of Sneak Attack however, although personally I would substitute levels in Bard instead (Cutting Words, bonus skills, and spell slot scaling); although the jumping abilities of the Thief Rogue does have a certain appeal if you want to combine the Wildshape with the Suplex build (jumping Earth Elementals anyone?)

While not erroneous, point of note is that like the Suplex Build, your viability in this form is limited by your Carrying Capacity which is only 480lbs in Giant Eagle form (16 x 30 = 480). If you were a goliath orc, or bugbear, this would double to 960lbs (Powerful Build FTW).

Minor error - Resist all except psychic.

While you can always bite while grappling an opponent, logic would dictate that you cannot make a claw attack while you have two enemies grappled in your paws (since you have grabbed an enemy with each claw). This is analogous to a humanoid being unable to make unarmed strikes with their fists while grappling two enemies (although they can still make unarmed strikes with other body parts as normal).

Agreed to all the above, except for the Bard recommendation. 3 levels is way too much for a level dip to get expertise; I'd only recommend that if Bard was an important part of the build is some other way.

 

[Goken100]

Will Spike Growth and Bestow Curse work together? Example: I drag the enemy under Bestow Curse on Spike Growth. Both spells created by me (Bestow Curse in slot level 5, and needs no maintenance). In the description of Bestow Curse is the following phrase (While the target is cursed, your attacks and spells deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to the target.) Spike Growth the spell, and when I drag it of the enemy, he receives 2d4 damage. Whether he will get a further 1d8 for every 5 feet?


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EDIT: Oh, now I see, the Concentration requirement drops away with 5th level slots or higher! Very nice, great combo! I would certainly rule that you get the extra 1d8 every time the target takes damage from one of your spells, which means each step (5 feet). But some might rule that it's only 1d8 extra each round or whatever.

 

[Yunru]

Cool idea, but they are both Concentration spells. So no dice, sorry.

Check it again.
Hint: Read stuff in parentheses.

 

[stoolpigeon87]

Hey so there's a really cool new toy for grappling fans. New Ranger subclass in UA called Primeval Guardian, which is a free, at will, stacking size increase as well as some other tanking abilities. It's a bonus action to activate, makes you large (enlarge/reduce says it just increases it one step, not that it's capped at large), gives you temporary hit points each round, and gets some other benefits later. The downside is your speed becomes 5 while in this form.

Also, as an aside, the new Skill Feats also in UA have one called Brawny that gives +1 str, expertise in athletics, and a carrying capacity increase. Useful to note for people who don't want to dip into Rogue or Bard, especially considering the ability score issue a multiclass character has.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/ranger-and-rogue

 

[Nicholai Bush]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already, but Eldritch Knight can only take abjuration/evocation, so Enlarge Person is out of the question.


For my part I'd rather go Fighter/Bard anyways, but I wanted to bring that up.

"The spells you learn at 8th, 14th, and 20th level can come from any school of magic" PHB 75

 

[Zene]

Hi grappling fans,
I need some leveling advice on my grappling build. Didn't want to clutter the thread, so I made a new thread for it. But I'd definitely appreciate the advice of the folks in here. If you get a minute to check it out, here's the direct link:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?551410-Grappler-build-looking-for-Tier-3-leveling-advice

 

[raelik777]

Another possible option is the UA Mystic. At first level, pick Order of the Immortal, choose Master of Air for your base discipline (just for the psychic focus of not taking fall damage), and then take Brute Force and Giant Growth as your bonus Order disciplines. On a given turn (for a total of 4 psi points), you can activate Ogre Form as a bonus action, grapple as your action, and then use Mighty Leap from Brute Force to jump 40 feet straight up as part of your move. You'll take no damage from the fall, they'll take at least 4d6 (more if you can jump 40 feet to somewhere more interesting to jump off of), and they'll still be grappled next turn for you to beat the snot out of them with your Ogre Form. This grows in effectiveness as you level (Giant Form, more points to jump higher with Mighty Leap).