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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 2798185" data-attributes="member: 3146">Step one: what spells do you use in the first few rounds of combat? And who else is in your party? What do they do?A. TacticsIf you're a 7th level wizard and the first few rounds of combat are you casting enlarge person on your allies, then that's part of the problem. It's a great tactic at 1st or 3rd level, but by 7th level, you need something better than enlarge person as an opening move. You could learn mass enlarge person and enlarge your entire party in the opening round. That would save you time as well as give you +5 on your grapple checks. (+1 strength, +4 size). At the same time, it stays well within the parameters of your current tactics so the party wouldn't need to adjust too much. Other possibilities include: haste on your party--if the fighters blenderize the bad guys more quickly, maybe they won't risk the AoOs, slow on the enemies (this will cut down on their ability to close with you and make them easier targets for the fighters; in any event, they won't be able to close with you AND attack), solid fog/stinking cloud/wall of ice/sleet cloud to control the battlefield and slow the enemies' approach to you, and fireball (preferably empowered with a metamagic rod) to simply kill your enemies before they reach you.B. Your alliesDeterence. If there's a 7th level rogue with even marginal melee skills in your group, grappling you is like voluntarily failing a save against fireball. It's sneak attack city for the rogue. (Targets in a grapple are denied their dexterity vs. enemies outside of the grapple). If he's got two weapon fighting, just haste him, park him next to you and wait for the bad guys to grapple. One or two blenderized foes later, grappling you won't seem like such a good target.Prevention. If you've a 7th level cleric in the group, have him cast freedom of movement on you. At 10 min/level, it should work for any battle you are expecting or have minimal warning about.Introduce your party's fighters to the concept of tripping too. If they are enlarged melee fighters, they should be competent at this even without Improved Trip. If they DO have Improved Trip, people trying to make it past them should end up on the ground and get pounded to a paste before they even have the opportunity to provoke more pounding by standing up on their next turn. If they have decent dexterity and enemies are simply sucking up the first AoOs so that others can get by, suggest that they pick up Combat Reflexes.C. Spells of your ownconsider a few possibilities:1. blink (or a stilled blink for use after you're grappled) will give you a 20% miss chance on your spells but it should keep you from being grappled.2. polymorph. Taking the form of a troll won't solve all your problems, but it will make you a much better grappler and enable you to rend your enemies after they fail their grapple checks.3. Dimension door. This has been mentioned already. It's the best "get out of grapples" spell in a wizard's arsenel.4. fly, sudden fly, and overland flight. If your enemy can't reach you, they can't grapple you. Use sudden fly to fly up to a ledge or the top of a tree. Use overland flight to remain aloft for the entire battle. Casting fly during a battle is probably a waste of an action, but if you have a chance to prepare, you can do it before the battle--provided you're not running out of spells.D. Prevention you can do:Make sure you are able to take an AoO at all times. If your DM doesn't let you threaten with a quarterstaff in a round you cast a spell, ditch the staff for a club or dagger. (And get the club or dagger made masterwork). If your enemies don't have Improved Grapple, a successful AoO will prevent the grapple.And if, after all this, you're still unable to avoid being grappled, at least be grateful that grapples deal non-lethal damage. If nothing you can do stops your enemies from grappling you, at least they aren't killing you.</blockquote>

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