D&D 5E Low Level Grapple-Shove Builds

[DND_Reborn]

Ohhh damn, you're making an excellent point! I completely forgot about Valor Bard got Shield proficiency, saving me a feat (I had to take moderately armored for rogue). Darn, now I am wondering if I want to go Valor Bard again... It's a toss up between:

• Rogue (Arcane Trickster): Sneak Attack, Cunning Action (to drag grappled people away), Uncanny Dodge / Evasion but one less feat and less spells and mostly confined to Illusions / Enchantment
• Bard (Valor): Spells, Jack of All Trades, free shield proficiency but no sneak attack so lower damage output potential and later expertise (lvl3) meaning early game plan is a little different. And it's going to be more tiresome to RP as well with his bombastic personality.

Yeah, for you the loss of sneak attack hurts. Our table multiclasses, so for me it isn't a big deal and I might get a couple levels of rogue eventually for some bonus SA damage as well as cunning action.

My character concept is a street kid turned cabin boy, taken by pirates, and taught a lot (a la "The Dread Pirate Roberts") by the pirates as he grew up. Tavern Brawler makes sense (lots of fights and drinking in taverns while ashore) and the bard is because he picked up some magic from the ship spellcaster and telling stories at sea passed the time more enjoyably. I plan to role-play him with lots of ship-phrase references and tall tales of sea monsters, etc. Should be fun!

 

[Scottoz]

These builds look very interesting to play, i even made an account here to contribute!

I dont understand how the attack routine goes if you decide to roll as rogue with moderately armoured feat at lvl 1.

How are you generating sneak attack with unarmed strike? If you have a free hand with the other wielding a sheild on the first round then shove on your second then how do you attack with a finese weapon on the third while still maintaining grapple if other hand has a shield?

If you don't weild a shield until level 4 when you pick up sheild master then that makes sense but even then you lose a round to doffing your sheild to maintain grapple to attack with a finese weapon so why even bother taking two feats to make use of a sheild?

 

[DND_Reborn]

These builds look very interesting to play, i even made an account here to contribute!

I dont understand how the attack routine goes if you decide to roll as rogue with moderately armoured feat at lvl 1.

How are you generating sneak attack with unarmed strike? If you have a free hand with the other wielding a sheild on the first round then shove on your second then how do you attack with a finese weapon on the third while still maintaining grapple if other hand has a shield?

If you don't weild a shield until level 4 when you pick up sheild master then that makes sense but even then how do you drop your shield to keep grapple and do damage after your round one of attack ( grapple ) into shove bonus action when you have already used your action to attack. ( Doffing a shield is an action? )

Welcome to the boards!

First, as the OP isn't allowed to multiclass, the idea was (once Shield Master is available):

Round 1: Use the Attack Action to make a grapple. If successful, use the bonus action from Shield Master to knock the target prone.

Round 2: Drop the shield and draw a finesse weapon, such as a short sword. All of this is part of movement. Then use the Attack Action with advantage against prone target to gain sneak attack.

Yes, he would need Moderately Armored to gain proficiency in Shields as a Rogue, and then not get Shield Master until 4th level.

You could make this as a Fighter build and take Shield Master at level 1 as a human. But without rogue you are not getting sneak attack damage. At our table, we do multiclass, so going level 1 Fighter and then rogue would be easier and you could do the maneuver by 2nd level.

 

[Scottoz]

I edited before you quoted me .

If he is indeed dropping his shield after he uses an action to take it off then he isnt attacking until round three so why even bother taking two feats when he can attack in round three without the sheild and 2 feats anyway.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I edited before you quoted me .

If he is indeed dropping his shield after he uses an action to take it off then he isnt attacking until round three so why even bother taking two feats when he can attack in round three without the sheild and 2 feats anyway.

I was assuming from his OP that his table plays removing the shield didn't require an action. Or maybe he doesn't know that removing the shield is an action?

 

[Scottoz]

Either way ditching your sheild in combat after doing one combo feels and looks strange to me. Although a swashbuckler running into a crowd to grab one unlucky guy and dashing out to set up that solo sneak attack feature would be hilarious.

 

[Adamant]

I'm kind of wondering why the barbarian hasn't come into consideration, since with the prodigy feat at level 1 you get both advantage and expertise on your grapples. It's essentially a simplified build of one of the ones in the grappling guide, and likely would have been suggested as a baseline if prodigy had existed when the guide was written. At level 5 you spend your first turn raging, grappling, and shoving, then you simply attack with your other turns. It's a lot simpler than messing with a shield. You are also very durable, which helps when you are getting in the face of your opponents.