How can grapplers survive in the harsh world of D&D?!

[Zappo]

At 20th, a fighter has, what, 18 feats? There's no way that you can only grapple. A high level fighter has enough feats to be really good at three or four things.

Apart from that, a character that can only grapple will get killed when faced with 10 meters tall creatures. I can't quite see how it could be otherwise. Find some way to get polymorphed, or try to get the DM to introduce a stackable feat that adds to the grapple modifer (I wouldn't allow it).

 

[3catcircus]

grapplers seem decent at low levels to mid levels but once he/she faces big bad beasts with monsterous grapple checks and/or creature with access to freedom of movement, his career looks grim at best. how can a 20th level fighter who focuses on grappling survive in such a world?!?

Don't just focus on grappling - work the whole unarmed combat suite - kicks, punches, trips, disarms, etc. And you might consider, instead of *just* unarmed/grappling, a CQB-type of fighter with the ability to also use a small weapon like a dagger - take some of theses feats: Knifefighter, Clever Wrestling Close-Quarters Combat, Combat Brute, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, the Dodge feat tree, Improved Feint, Improved Disarm, Improved Grapple, etc. and take some levels of Master Thrower to take advantage of the idea of sticking a few holes in your opponent with throwing daggers before you close for the kill...

 

[alsih2o]

Grappling tends to be an art of last resort. I think the rules reflect this well.

Grappling is respected against other martial forms, but when everyone else grabs a weapon grappling becomes quaint at best. It may be best to accept this or make some grapple feats for oyur campaign.

 

[Tetsubo]

The Red Star Campaign book has a number of grappling feats. Some of which allow the grappler to do damage to the target of the grapple.

 

[Planesdragon]

grapplers seem decent at low levels to mid levels but once he/she faces big bad beasts with monsterous grapple checks and/or creature with access to freedom of movement, his career looks grim at best. how can a 20th level fighter who focuses on grappling survive in such a world?!?

With higher-level variants of Enlarge and a ring of anti-magic.

If you can turn yourself into a gargantuan you, you can grapple a dragon. If you can negate the minor magical items that caster has, you can grapple him into the ground.

FWIW, though, grappling big creatures is probably never going to work. Although with multiclassing, you can get some interesting benefits from doing so. (i.e., a True strike spell to grapple should let you knock even a dragon down for one round, letting your companions get a round to either buff, manuver, or strike a weaker foe.)

 

[Sigurd]

He/She Becomes the persuader

I always love a grapplers chance of pinning a likely informant and convincing them they should talk because they can't get away, and if they did they'd be caught again.

As parties go up in level they become more powerful with a greater need for information.

Grappling might not be the best way to remove a Boss but its a good way to squeeze his organization for info.

S

 

[Plane Sailing]

Basically the central problem is this. Any high level character who is a one-trick pony is doomed to failure as soon as he comes up against anything his one trick doesn't work on.

The early replies may be humorous but they are also accurate. By about 12th level any character that relies soley on melee attacks and who isn't almost as good with missile weapons or flying gets hosed when he faces giants and dragons if he has to go toe to toe with them.

You cannot expect one tactic to win in all situations. Even the one who focusses on grappling must have back up plans or he will fail.

Cheers

 

[nimisgod]

I'd hazard that the best kind of grappler is a Psi-warrior. He's got the diverse powers to do other stuff and improve on his grappling (expand to Huge size and others). If you can find a PrC that improves your BAB progression while maintaining manifester level progression, even better.

Don't expect to win any grapples with gargantuan and larger creatures though.

I admire the goal, though. Adapting ineffective fighting styles is one of my hobbies within the hobby. Still trying to make a decent halfling toe-to-toe fighter within Living Greyhawk rules.

 

[BOZ]

they need some kind of ability, like the ability to deal nonlethal (or lethal!) damage while grapplling.

 

[Greylock]

Grappling tends to be an art of last resort. I think the rules reflect this well.

Grappling is respected against other martial forms, but when everyone else grabs a weapon grappling becomes quaint at best. It may be best to accept this or make some grapple feats for oyur campaign.

Thus speaks the DM who tried to have his BBEG ogre grapple a player's heroic fighter char in a dramatic underwater river battle tour-de-force. Dratted AoO, right alsih2o?

Mark's Ogre Champion had the upper hand in this battle right up until he attempted the grapple. My char promptly sliced though one of the Ogre's lower intestines with his AoO, and the water turned red. I tend to agree with everyone here that it is a poor career choice unless you are playing a Monk. Even then, erhhh....