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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6735251" data-attributes="member: 6787650">By "dedicated" do you mean "dedicated to that task during this combat," or "dedicated to that tactic for my whole life long"? In general 5E isn't a good edition for uberspecialists, since Bounded Accuracy ensures diminishing returns. (E.g. Stealth +28 and Stealth +17 play out almost identically in practice.)Observations:Grappling in particular isn't a great thing to specialize in because it's actually a counter to other tactics, and it's not very useful if the thing you're countering isn't in play in the first place. Specifically, where I've seen Grapple shine is when somebody (e.g. Chuuls on a failed morale check) decides that he's going to ignore opportunity attacks and just charge the softest targets he sees. At that point the deterrence factor of opportunity attacks, and role playing considerations, fly out the window and you need somebody to physically restrain the attacker from bursting through your line. This can be done by simply standing in the right place, if size disparity isn't too big, but if DMG Overrun/Evade rules are in use there's always the chance the bad guy will simply run you over or otherwise get past you. (Yet another thing that Sanctuary wouldn't affect either way, BTW.) In this case, Grappling is essential to get the combat back under control. It's also useful for preventing enemies from running away, preventing them from Dodging, and of course preventing them from arising once you've knocked them prone.The overall effectiveness of grappling/athletics is limited primarily by two things: 1.) size limitations; 2.) advantage/disadvantage is binary. Since there are actually a fair number of ways to gain advantage (esp. manipulating vision and obscurement), and many of them don't require you to keep a hand free during combat, grappling suffers diminishing returns as level increases and tactical options grow.I have seen good results from a non-specialist employing grapple as a primary tactic during some combats. It's a good tactic when it's appropriate (e.g. grapple somebody with one hand on turn one and subsequently Dodge while everyone kills it)--but I have no desire whatsoever to build a dedicated one-trick-pony grappler who relies on that tactic exclusively.</blockquote>

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