D&D 5E The Grappler's Manual (2.0) - Grappling in 5th Edition

[Zene]

If it hasn't changed from UA, the racial feat Squat Nimbleness will be a huge boon to dwarf grapplers, giving athletics expertise in a versatile half-feat (+1 to dex, con, or str). So fighter or barbarian builds can now pick up expertise without a rogue or bard dip. Related to that, it'll mean there will be builds with extra attack and expertise by level 5 (one level sooner than previously possible in published material, I believe).

Oh wow, I just read the half-elf/human racial feat Prodigy was changed to give expertise in a skill. So move over dwarves, vhumans will be the fighter and barbarian grappling kings.

Also, from what I hear so far, Cavalier Fighter may make a very interesting grappling tank.

 

[Zene]

Oh s**t, I just read the half-elf/human racial feat Prodigy was changed to give expertise in a skill. So move over dwarves, vhumans will be the fighter and barbarian grappling kings.

Also, from what I hear so far, Cavalier Fighter may make a very interesting grappling tank.

And I just further heard, that half orcs also got prodigy. Orc cavalier here I come.

 

[Mistwell]

And I just further heard, that half orcs also got prodigy. Orc cavalier here I come.

Well I am glad they're only a few decades behind the times.

 

[Phion]

And I just further heard, that half orcs also got prodigy. Orc cavalier here I come.

Ditto. I am making a half-orc with the mounted combatant feat (to attack against most creatures with advantage increasing the chances of crits which is great for the Half-orcs savage attacker trait) and possibly the polearm feat. Hit and mark creatures with reach, ride off if needs be. If I want to tank more, switch to a sword and shield so marked creatures have disadvantage against anyone but myself.

 

[Harrumphreys]

Has anyone made a Naga (from the Planeshift PDF) grappler? Automatic Restrain on a natural weapon has to have potential. Best class? Mystic?

 

[Zene]

Ok I may have found a fun one in XGE.

Oath of Conquest paladin 7, hexblade 1, divine soul sorcerer x.

Be a half-elf so you can take prodigy for athletics expertise, and (eventually) elven accuracy for attacks with superadvantage. The OoC aura means enemies Frightened in your aura have speed of 0 —so basically, free grapples, and Frightened means they have disadvantage on resisting Shove checks. The sorcerer levels let you quicken cause fear, or quicken earth tremor for aoe knockdown. But you can also just Shive with your expertise in athletics. The hexblade 1 then allows you to attack those (prone, immobilized) enemies with charisma as your attack stat.

Variants:

1) Forget the expertise, and just rely on spells to fear/knockdown. I know this makes it technically not a grappling build, but still, it’s enemy lockdown via prone and 0 movement, so very similar. Also, even without expertise, if the enemy has disadvantage on athletics checks due to the Frightened condition, you can probably shove them pretty easily anyway if you wanted to.

2) Since you don’t need free hands to initiate/maintain grapples in this build —your aura is doing it for you—you can go two-handed and really smack the heck out of people with elven accuracy and great weapon master. Since hexblade 1 only lets you use a 1-handed weapon with charisma, you’d need to take hexblade to 3 for this. Or, forget the hexblade and elven accuracy, and just do it with s strength build. This is giving up superadvantage and SAD-ness, but saves you 3 levels and a feat... so it actually may be a better way to go when all is said and done. This would also free you up to go dragonborn instead of half-elf, and take the dragon fear trait, which has some nice synergy with this build.

3) An alternate route would be to just forget the sorcerer levels entirely, since an oath of conquest / hexblade has quite a few things to use its bonus action on already. This would free you up to take more hexblade levels, even getting the option to double smite at hexblade 5. It still might be worth it to take a divine soul 1 dip at some point, for access to absorb elements, guidance and earth tremor

 

[Lenaen]

I have a battlefield control-focused 6 Bard/6 Fighter that I have an option to give a +3 Scimitar or a Cube of Force to. I've been leaning towards the Cube for additional lockdown shenanigans, but it's been frustrating to go up against incorporeal creatures and the like without a decent magical weapon. Have any of my fellow grapplers used the Cube and found it beneficial?

 

[Goken100]

Has anyone played a valor bard grappler build to L18-plus? Seems to me like it'd be the most fun grappler build for high levels, with shapechange via magical secrets and extra attack. If you've played one, any advice or lessons learned? Tactics, spells, items? Thinking about building one myself, and since I find bards a bit confusing (especially with making good magical secrets picks) I figured I'd ask. Thinking Duergar for race if that helps.
Magical secrets at 10: Maybe Spiritual Weapon, or another good spell to use bonus action? Shield?
At 14: Maybe Contingency? Death Ward?
At 18: Wish, Shapechange. I'd love to get antimagic field, but wish is just too good.

The new Swords Bard is a better Grappler than Valor, but that aside: Yes, and I have thoughts:
Spiritual Weapon? A thousand times no. You should have the Tavern Brawler feat and your bonus action should be busy. Or maybe Shield Master. Either way, there are amazing things to do with Magical Secrets, and wasting your bonus action isn't one of them:
Level 10: Spike Growth, Enlarge, Wall of Fire - Solid choices, particularly when you get to level 14 (see below). But you probably should also get Counterspell, so that limits your choices.
Level 14: SIMULACRUM, SIMULACRUM, and SIMULACRUM. One of you creates a field of death, the other drags someone into it. One of you Enlarges the other, the other grapples the giant. It's probably the most OP spell in the game. For your second spell, Contingency is also hard to beat. Enlarge is a necessary evil, particularly as high level play involves increasing amounts of Huge enemies, so having a way to get big and still do your thing without wasting a round is huge.
Level 18: Prismatic Wall - This spell is a REASON to play this build. Lots of characters can do amazing things at Tier 4. But you? You can create a Prismatic Wall and have your Simulacrum drag a couple of opponents through it in the same round. 50d6 damage plus a host of unpleasant after effects will render most enemies instantly just done. Wish is a good choice to create free Simulacrums.

 

[johnlent]

Goken - Shapechange, Wish and Prismatic Wall are all 9th level spells. How do you intend to do them all? Also how do you get past the language "When a creature attempts to reach into or pass through the wall" implying voluntary movement? It's not attempting anything. If there is any attempt is to resist going through the wall.

If you can settle those things for me, then I will give you a bonus. You create the vertical wall in a zig zag pattern (like a shoji screen). So by walking 45 feet (requires a speed of 90, or a speed of 45 and a bonus dash - trivial at this tier with haste), your target passes through the wall 18 times or more (you can walk back). So that is 900d6, not 50d6.

 

[Goken100]

Goken - Shapechange, Wish and Prismatic Wall are all 9th level spells. How do you intend to do them all? Also how do you get past the language "When a creature attempts to reach into or pass through the wall" implying voluntary movement? It's not attempting anything. If there is any attempt is to resist going through the wall.

If you can settle those things for me, then I will give you a bonus. You create the vertical wall in a zig zag pattern (like a shoji screen). So by walking 45 feet (requires a speed of 90, or a speed of 45 and a bonus dash - trivial at this tier with haste), your target passes through the wall 18 times or more (you can walk back). So that is 900d6, not 50d6.

I didn't say anything about Shapechange. Shapechange is an odd spell that deserves its own careful consideration as far as building a grappling character, so let's put that aside for now. As far as Wish goes, you wouldn't cast that on the same days that you use Prismatic Wall.
As far as voluntary movement, that is worth thinking about. I'm fairly certain the designers did not intend this uber-wall to be surpassed by just having one member of a group toss each of the others through it with nary an ill effect. I know of one adventure where a Prismatic wall is featured, and I know for a fact that suggesting such a solution would be met with mocking laughter from just about any DM. That said, it's ambiguous so a DM could certainly rule that it's voluntary-movement-only if they wanted to be contrary.

Edit: Good call with the zig zag line, that's some spicy damage!