D&D (2024) One D&D Grappling

[Yaarel]

I think that's taken care of with the size restrictions. (And riding an elephant doesn't require grappling it, rules-wise, though I'm sure a DM could choose to do it that way.)

At first I wrote riding a gargantuan dragon, but edited it with the two sizes difference in mind.

In any case, if the elephant is unwilling, then riding it is hostile, and requires grappling.

The size restrictions dont really make sense. Because the size that is bigger is more likely to determine the movement.

When dealing with same size, one can try to "hold on" in a way that impedes the movement of the opponent, or in other words inflicts the Restrained condition. If the creature is restrained, then moving at Slow speed might make sense.

In any case, grappling is a normal part of combat. And it should happen more frequently, if realism is of interest. It is better to describe grappling by means of combat mechanics, instead of skill mechanics.

 

[squibbles]

I'd be willing to bet that the Grappler feat will interact in interesting ways with this condition, allowing for people to build around it.

So, as of today, we have a new Grappler feat:

GRAPPLER
4th-Level Feat
Prerequisite: Strength or Dexterity 13+
Repeatable: No
You’re an accomplished wrestler, granting you the following benefits:

• Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• Attack Advantage. You have Advantage on Attack Rolls against a creature Grappled by you.
• Fast Wrestler. You aren’t Slowed when you move a creature Grappled by you, provided the creature is your Size or smaller.
• Punch and Grab. When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike as part of the Attack Action on your turn, you can deal damage to the target and also grapple it. You can use this benefit only once per turn.

What do we all think?

IMO:

1. The advantage on attack rolls makes it more rewarding for martial-types to succeed on a grapple, though they miss out on one full damage attack to initiate the grapple, and need to have a free hand. This is probably a net loss of dpr but, due to the other penalties of the grappled condition, would be good under a relatively common set of circumstances. It also makes following up with and unarmed attack shove easier, so that's nice.
2. The removal of the slow condition means that a grappler can drag his/her target 30 feet if the initial hit roll succeeds, which is probably good enough to chuck a baddie off a cliff or into battlefield control.
3. Overall, these rules are more coherent, point to some obvious grapple builds, and more-or-less fit the fiction of a big strong wrestler dude able to grab, punch, and drag folks around.
4. But, again, it seems as though grappling will be somewhat weaker than it is currently, due to the higher difficulty of maintaining a grapple, i.e. you can force the baddie into the battlefield control, but can't reliably hold it there.

We will, of course, need to see the changes to the warrior class group, spell list, etc, etc, to know for sure.

 

[NotAYakk]

That (grappler feat) also works really well with monks. Their unarmed strikes are good damage often.

So they punch twice; if either hits, they grab. Then their flurry has advantage. And they can drag the target their fast move speed away. Oh, and they have slow fall, so they can drag them off cliffs with some safety.

And I'm ok with that combo. It has a real kinetic fun to it.

Monks clearly need a climb speed.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

That also works really well with monks. Their unarmed strikes are good damage often.

So they punch twice; if either hits, they grab. Then their flurry has advantage. And they can drag the target their fast move speed away. Oh, and they have slow fall, so they can drag them off cliffs with some safety.

And I'm ok with that combo. It has a real kinetic fun to it.

Monks clearly need a climb speed.

Wuxia