I was looking at the last two UA's, and it looks to me that with the addition of the Rune Knight and the new options for Fighters, a grappler is now a viable option.
I'd made a grappler once. We rolled stats, so by lvl4 he had 20, 20, 18, 17, 15 and 12. I went with Variant Human Draconic Sorcerer, took Enlarge/Reduce, with the Prodigy Feat that gave him expertise in Athletics checks, and put the two 20's in Strength and Charisma, with decent Con and Dex, too. He was a powerhouse. He didn't do much damage himself, but at lvl 5 he had a +11 to Athletics Checks, could Quicken Enlarge/Reduce to make himself Large, which would give him Advantage on Athletics and the ability to grapple Adult Dragons. Which he did. A successful shove prone, and a +11 with Advantage meant the Dragon spent most of its time trying, but failing, to break free of the grapple, and the rest of the time trying, and failing, to attack with disadvantage. The rest of the party just unloaded on him from a distance. My DM was pissed. We we're only lvl 5.
But now I'm looking and apparently this build would be even better with a Rune Knight, with the new UA giving the Fighter more versatility. Here's the build:
Lvl 1: Variant Human. Prodigy Feat, take Athletics as your Expertise skill.
Lvl 2: Fighting Style: Unarmed. Fists are now as good as a Quarterstaff, and you deal extra damage when grappling on every hit.
Lvl 3: Rune Knight. The Runes are cool, and the Frost Rune is the only required one. It allows you to have +2 Strength for a minute. But the real bread and Butter is that Giant Might ability, which is basically using the Enlarge portion of Enlarge/Reduce. Makes you Large, grants Advantage to Athletics checks (which Grappling is), and gives you an extra d6 of damage to every hit. Also, it doesn't require concentration, which means you're free to wail!
As for stats, assuming Standard array, you've got a 16 Strength at lvl 1, Pick up Martial Adept at lvl 4, and then get your strength to 18 at lvl 6 and 20 at lvl 8,
So at lvl 4, when you are large and using the Frost Rune, you have a +8 (3 Str, 1 Frost Rune, 4 Expertise Athletics) Athletics Check with Advantage. You also have a d6 you can add to your score if you use your Superiority Dice. Also, if you do succeed on the grapple, you're doing a d6 (free hand) + d4 (Unarmed fighting) +d6 (Giant Might) + 3 Str.
At lvl 6, you have two attacks, and your Athletics Check is +11 with Advantage + D6. He now has 2 attacks that do d6+d4+d6+3 damage.
At lvl 9 you now have a +14 Athletics check with Advantage +d6 if need be.
At lvl 20, you have a +18 Athletics Check and a D6 if need be.
All the while, you're doing a d6+d4+d6 every time you hit someone while grappled, which at lvl 5 is twice, 11 is three times and 20 is four times, and the attacks are often with advantage, either from the Superiority Dice or just using an attack to shove them prone. And that's only using ONE of the Runes he has, so the other Runes can open up out of combat utility. And everything regenerates on a Short rest. And he can grapple Huge creatures without worrying about having his concentration broken.
I think I've finally found the Fighter I've been looking for.
I'd made a grappler once. We rolled stats, so by lvl4 he had 20, 20, 18, 17, 15 and 12. I went with Variant Human Draconic Sorcerer, took Enlarge/Reduce, with the Prodigy Feat that gave him expertise in Athletics checks, and put the two 20's in Strength and Charisma, with decent Con and Dex, too. He was a powerhouse. He didn't do much damage himself, but at lvl 5 he had a +11 to Athletics Checks, could Quicken Enlarge/Reduce to make himself Large, which would give him Advantage on Athletics and the ability to grapple Adult Dragons. Which he did. A successful shove prone, and a +11 with Advantage meant the Dragon spent most of its time trying, but failing, to break free of the grapple, and the rest of the time trying, and failing, to attack with disadvantage. The rest of the party just unloaded on him from a distance. My DM was pissed. We we're only lvl 5.
But now I'm looking and apparently this build would be even better with a Rune Knight, with the new UA giving the Fighter more versatility. Here's the build:
Lvl 1: Variant Human. Prodigy Feat, take Athletics as your Expertise skill.
Lvl 2: Fighting Style: Unarmed. Fists are now as good as a Quarterstaff, and you deal extra damage when grappling on every hit.
Lvl 3: Rune Knight. The Runes are cool, and the Frost Rune is the only required one. It allows you to have +2 Strength for a minute. But the real bread and Butter is that Giant Might ability, which is basically using the Enlarge portion of Enlarge/Reduce. Makes you Large, grants Advantage to Athletics checks (which Grappling is), and gives you an extra d6 of damage to every hit. Also, it doesn't require concentration, which means you're free to wail!
As for stats, assuming Standard array, you've got a 16 Strength at lvl 1, Pick up Martial Adept at lvl 4, and then get your strength to 18 at lvl 6 and 20 at lvl 8,
So at lvl 4, when you are large and using the Frost Rune, you have a +8 (3 Str, 1 Frost Rune, 4 Expertise Athletics) Athletics Check with Advantage. You also have a d6 you can add to your score if you use your Superiority Dice. Also, if you do succeed on the grapple, you're doing a d6 (free hand) + d4 (Unarmed fighting) +d6 (Giant Might) + 3 Str.
At lvl 6, you have two attacks, and your Athletics Check is +11 with Advantage + D6. He now has 2 attacks that do d6+d4+d6+3 damage.
At lvl 9 you now have a +14 Athletics check with Advantage +d6 if need be.
At lvl 20, you have a +18 Athletics Check and a D6 if need be.
All the while, you're doing a d6+d4+d6 every time you hit someone while grappled, which at lvl 5 is twice, 11 is three times and 20 is four times, and the attacks are often with advantage, either from the Superiority Dice or just using an attack to shove them prone. And that's only using ONE of the Runes he has, so the other Runes can open up out of combat utility. And everything regenerates on a Short rest. And he can grapple Huge creatures without worrying about having his concentration broken.
I think I've finally found the Fighter I've been looking for.
Last edited:
).
