Creating the Ultimate Wrassler

[Barcode]

Is it just me, or is there a dearth of good feats for creating a Grapple specialist?

As far as I can see, Improved Grab is not available as a feat. Close Quarters Fighting (from S&F) is good for avoiding grapples, but useless for starting them or doing well in them. Clever Wrestling (from MotW) is an escape-a-grapple feat, and only good against Large and larger creatures.

What am I missing?

-B-

 

[LokiDR]

I think there is a feat in OA that deals with grappling, removing the AoO for a grapple attempt, but I don't own the book.

 

[Deset Gled]

There are three feats in OA that help grappling: Improved Grapple, Choke Hold, and Earth's Embrace. They all seem to be designed with monks in mind.

CHOKE HOLD [GENERAL]
You have learned the correct way to apply pressure to render an
opponent unconscious.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Stunning Fist.
Benefit: If you pin your opponent while grappling and maintain the pin for 1 full round, at the end of the round your opponent must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 your level + your Wisdom modifier). If the saving throw fails, your opponent falls unconscious for 1d3 rounds.

EARTH'S EMBRACE [GENERAL]
You can crush opponents when you grapple them. This feat is called tsuchi-do in Rokugan.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Str 15+.
Benefit: While grappling, ifyou pin your opponent, you deal critical damage (double normal unarmed damage) each round that you maintain the pin. You hold your opponent immobile as normal, but you must also remain completely immobile, giving opponents (other than the one you're pinning) a +4 bonus on attack rolls against you (but you are not helpless).

IMPROVED GRAPPLE [GENERAL]
You are skilled in martial arts that emphasize holds and throws.
Prerequisite : Improved Unarmed Strike .
Benefit: If you hit with an unarmed strike, you deal normal damage and can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. No initial touch attack is required . You can deal normal damage while grappling, rather than subdual damage, without suffering a penalty on your grapple check.
Normal: Characters without this feat make a melee touch attack to grab their opponent and provoke an attack of opportunity when doing so .They also suffer a -4 penalty on their grapple checks when trying to inflict normal damage in a grapple.

 

[Sejs]

Also check out Quintessential Monk - there's rules for alternate fighting schools in there, including Earth Dragon Wrestling - a grappling focused school. They way they do it is replace some of the normal monk special abilities with substitute ones. Earth Dragon Wrestling gains an ability that raises the studen's effective size category by one step for purposes of grappling (who you can grapple, relative size bonuses, etc).

Neat stuff.

 

[DM with a vengence]

One thing you'll certainly want to do as a Grappler is to get an Ioun Stone of Spell Storing loaded with an Antimagic Field. If you can get an enemy spellcaster inside an antimagic field and keep him there while you pull his arms off, you're almost certain to kill him. Fighters may be a little more tricky, but you can still counter their primary advantages.

Another grappling option is to go Fighter/Barbarian, use high strength and power attack to keep up the damage dealing potential of the monk.

 

[Epametheus]

Improved Grapple is the must-have feat to take if you want to play a wrestler.

One of my recent characters was basically a dwarven kung-fu knight. Ogres get very unhappy when dwarves in spiked full-plate put them in headlocks.

Having wrestled both a mind flayer and a juvenile blue dragon with this character, I can say with reasonable confidence that grappling-based characters are great for freaking out the DM.

Incidentally, you should look up armor spikes. Both the PH and the SRD indicate that you can use the things in grappling attacks.

Anyways, grappling attacks are good against casters, and they're surprisingly good against fighters who use two-handed weapons.

Also, what I found to be the biggest drawback to the fighting style is that it takes forever kill anything with it.

 

[Angcuru]

Well, since killing stuff takes forever with grappling, I suggest something like this.

NECK SNAPPIN' FUN [GENERAL]
You have learned the correct way to apply pressure to render an
opponent very, very dead.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Stunning Fist, Choke Hold, Strength 13+.
Benefit: If you get your opponent in a choke hold you can immediately make another Grapple check against your opponent, who must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 your level + your Strength modifier). If the saving throw fails, you twist your oppenent's neck around at a VERY unhealthy angle, causing him to become dead, not mostly dead, but ALL dead. The character must make a Will Save (DC 10 + 1/2 the slain creature's level or CR{whichever is higher} to avoid looking through the dead creature's pockets for loose change. This attack can only be used against a creature of equal or lesser size.

 

[Sejs]

NECK SNAPPIN' FUN [GENERAL]
You have learned the correct way to apply pressure to render an
opponent very, very dead.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Stunning Fist, Choke Hold, Strength 13+.

Neat, so a human monk can take it at first level then?

 

[Garnet Schist]

Neat, so a human monk can take it at first level then?

You don't think they spent all those years in the mountains training the days away just to find inner peace, do you?

 

[Gunslinger]

Neat, so a human monk can take it at first level then?

How is a 1st level monk going to have 3 feats?