1 yr. ago • 89%

How can I make my grappler build better either for grappling or for fighting in general?

Hei all!

Been playing my Orc Rune Knight Fighter for a while now and it has been a blast! He grapples basically anything that the DM throws at us including an Owlbear and a Giant (rune knight, fuck yeah). Of course, sometimes he grapples successfuly, sometimes he doesn't.

I think the build is pretty solid but surely there are ways to improve. I'm not sure if I want to keep grappling that much or if I want to go more the direction of brute force fighting.

I've been playing with a warpick and a shield to get that juicy +2 for AC and use it to steamroll enemies but not sure if I should keep the shield.

Current stats at level 7:

STR: 20
DEX: 14
CON: 16
INT: 12
WIS: 15
CHA: 14

I already took the "Skill Expert" feat to get expertise in Athletics and now have a juicy +11 in that skill. If I activate my frost rune, I get another +2 on top of that.

So, any ideas for fighting styles, multiclassing, ASI, feats, weapons or anything else that could make him even more of a badass while fighting?

14 comments

Did you grab tavern brawler? It has some grapple related actions.

9
- Hmmm for some reason I've not thought about picking it but will definitely check it again!
  
  3
  
  It's pretty decent. On top of the grappling bonus action, it gives you proficiency with improvised weapons. This helps when you're using your shield as an improvised weapon because your other hand is holding someone.
  
  3
Something that doesn't directly affect grappling, but that could definitely be beneficial, would be looking at ways to increase your movement speed. The faster you are, the easier it is to drag enemies to the edges of cliffs

7
- Good idea! I already have the "Aggressive" trait from being an Orc but this only allows movement towards an enemy. I'll look around for ways to improve speed.
  
  3
How are you grappling if you have both hands full?

3
- I dish out some damage with the warpick and usually throw it at an enemy or simply drop it in the middle of combat. Sometimes I throw away the shield too or use it to grapple, like topple an enemy and then use the shield to pin them down as a 'grapple'. I try to flavor it differently, depending on combat situation, as not to make it too boring for everyone while just going "Imma grapple them".
  
  5
  
  I mean, if your DM is letting you grapple with a shield definitely keep doing that lol.
  
  But apart from that, remember the old grapple-shove combo. A prone creature cannot stand up while grappled. So if you can do both to the same target, they can't move until they beat you in 2 athletics contests, and they have disadvantage on attacks while prone.
  
  6
A player in our party recently got a magic item that can boost your athletics and double your move speed once per day. I didn't get how useful it could be until I saw him grapple an evil priest and just fucking drag him from one side of the map to the other.

Turns out grapple + double move speed + dash action is super awesome for getting enemies out of position and screwing up their formation.

So my recommendation is to look for ways to boost move speed. This quora post lists some ways: https://www.quora.com/What-are-all-the-ways-to-increase-movement-speed-in-D-D-5e

I'm sure you can find more if you talk to your party members or DM though. Off the top of my head, Glamour Bards have an ability that lets the whole party move up to their movement speed as a reaction. Then there's Haste obviously. Ask your party if they have any spells or features that can make you fast 😃

2
- I'll make sure to check with them! Looking through Feats right now to see if there is something to boost speed.
  
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