A gentle nerf to grappling

[Norfleet]

The fact remains that grapplefu operates by a nearly entirely seperate mechanic from regular combat.

Whenever you have two seperate mechanics, one of which a character may excel in, it behooves a combatant to force the combat into a mode in which the combatant holds the largest advantage: For these large creatures with significant bonusses, this means grapplefu.

There's no real "way" around it, it's a direct side effect of having two different mechanics for fighting.

 

[pyk]

any creature which is grappling will incur AoO from non-grappled enemies if it is in their threatened area

This mechanic is in place already. In the grapple section it adds that if the AoO from the opponent you're attempting to grapple succeeds you fail the grapple automatically. You don't have the automatic fail from other opponents. However, even though you lose Dex to AC, opponents get the -4 to attacks in melee, and the chance of hitting their own ally, with proper exceptions. And, grapplers no longer threaten areas, so no AoOs from them.

Of course, that's the way it was in 3.0. I don't do 3.5.