How to be creative with your Attacks?

[Chained Birds]

I just turned level 5 with a Bearbarian who picked up the Grappler feat (Variant Human). Now I could try for just attacking, but we already have a Frenzy Barbarian who is quite good at killing things by hitting stuff with her Axe (The party is big; 6-8 people at times). I feel a little disappointed that I have not received an ability to use my bonus action quite yet (besides Rage), so my actions have felt pretty limited.

Due to our relative large party size, I wanted to be able to control my opponents by holding them down and away from the less survivable allies, but it felt really lackluster due to only having 1 attack per round.
Now that I have 2 Attacks, I was wondering what things I can do to mess with my opponents using my Advantage Athletics, Bonus Action (If I can do much with this), and the Grappler feat (If it matters)?

[Human Paragon 3]

I have a grapply barbarian as well. I have done stuff like hold orcs heads under (sewer) water to drown them, pick up a stone sarcophagus and drop it onto a zombie's head, flip over a cart to knock trolls prone, and other stuff.

Whenever I look at an encounter, I ask myself "what could I lift, break, drag, or crush to make this harder on my opponents?" If I can impose a condition on multiple enemies at once, I usually go for that, since we have multiple party members with sneak attack.

[Aetol]

The Grappler feat is kind of a trap in fact. None of its feature is really useful.

What you should do is grapple opponents, then shove them prone (you have advantage on the Athletics check for both) all in one action : they can't stand up (because grappled), they have disadvantage for attacking, and melee attacks against them have advantage. Then you can drag them around, shove them in a lava pit or other hazard if available, separate them from their allies, etc.

If it fits your character concept, you could dip 3 Fighters levels and get the Battle Master maneuvers. Here you'll get such goodies as Disarming Attack (disarm your grappled opponent then drag them away, so they can't attack at all), or Commander's Strike, Feinting Attack and Rally to make use of your bonus action.

[Gwendol]

You don't need a battlemaster for that, simply say that you want to disarm them, or sunder their weapon: these combat options are given as examples of contests in the DMG.

But yes, the grappler feat isn't very good. Pinning is generally not the way to go since you impose the restricted condition on yourself as well. Simply shove them to the ground and attack with advantage.

[Human Paragon 3]

For my bonus action, I frequently toss a throwing axe. Rage bonus damage applies to off-hand attacks, so it's a pretty economical use.

[Aetol]

Unless I missed something, you need to use a light weapon in your main hand to be able to do that. Or have the Dual Wielder feat.

[Louro]

2 attacks, that's cool.

Round 1:
Grapple orc #1
Grapple orc #2
Round 2:
Hit orc #1 with orc #2
Hit orc #2 with orc #1

[Aetol]

2 attacks, that's cool.

Round 1:
Grapple orc #1
Grapple orc #2
Round 2:
Hit orc #1 with orc #2
Hit orc #2 with orc #1

Hmm. Orcs are improvised weapons obviously, do they do only 1d4 ? They're pretty massive, but they don't really ressemble any actual weapon. You don't exactly wield them like a maul.

[Chained Birds]

I am aware the Grappler feat's benefits are fairly lackluster in that having advantage on grappled foes and pinning haven't really come up too much. But it is the only way to grapple Large foes, which includes a huge number of potential targets that I would not be able to deal with otherwise.

Luckily, the DM allows my allies to gain advantage on targets I'm grappling due to the feat, which really helps out the 2 rogues in the party.

Thanks for reminding me on the disarm and sunder stuff. With 2 attacks, I can make some good use out of removing weapon or arcane/druid/divine focus threats and grappling them on the same turn.

I guess I really wish I had something to use my Reaction and/or Bonus Action on... Are there any magic items I should look for? And general Grappler improving Magic Items? I keep on drawing blanks whenever I'm given the opportunity to potentially purchase some magic doodads.

[Aetol]

Actually you can grapple Large foes without the feat (PHB p. 195). Errata on the Grappler feat : "Ignore the third benefit; it refers to a nonexistent rule."

You can give yourself and your (melee) allies advantage by shoving the enemy prone, you don't give advantage to incoming attacks by doing so, and it only takes one attack (as opposed to an entire action to use the feat's second benefit). The only thing the feat can be useful for is giving advantage to your ranged allies. And maybe to your AoE casters too, but you'll be in the blast and at disadvantage for the save too.

[Louro]

Hmm. Orcs are improvised weapons obviously, do they do only 1d4 ? They're pretty massive, but they don't really ressemble any actual weapon. You don't exactly wield them like a maul.
Yes, but instead of thinking about them as weapons just think you are crushing their heads against each other. DM might allow a chance for stunnin them.

[Chained Birds]

Actually you can grapple Large foes without the feat (PHB p. 195). Errata on the Grappler feat : "Ignore the third benefit; it refers to a nonexistent rule."

You can give yourself and your (melee) allies advantage by shoving the enemy prone, you don't give advantage to incoming attacks by doing so, and it only takes one attack (as opposed to an entire action to use the feat's second benefit). The only thing the feat can be useful for is giving advantage to your ranged allies. And maybe to your AoE casters too, but you'll be in the blast and at disadvantage for the save too.

Wait? So the Grappler Feat literally does nothing more than give you an advantage roll after using an attack prior (The initial Grapple) and the wonderful ability to restrain yourself (and the opponent)...

I'm going to have to speak with my DM about changing it up for something like Mage Slayer. At least that would give me the option to be the bane of spellcasters.

[Aetol]

To be fair, grapple + prone has the drawback of giving disadvantage to attack the enemy at range, while restraining gives advantage (just not to you). You said your strikers are two Rogues, if one or both is ranged you might make use of the feat for boss battles. The disadvantage to DEX saves might be useful if you manage to secure an item of resistance to your AoE caster's favorite damage (assuming you have one).

Or you can homebrew and decide with your GM that you aren't restrained yourself (maybe just unable to move?).

[MaxWilson]

The Grappler feat is kind of a trap in fact. None of its feature is really useful.

Grapple + Pin is superior to Grapple + Prone is at least one circumstance: when you have a lot of friendly archers on your side. E.g. hobgoblin mercenaries or skeletons. Proning the enemy would give the disadvantage to hit, but pinning him gives them advantage instead.

Grappling is also good for dragging vampires out into the sunlight (disadvantage on everything, no regeneration, and 20 points of damage per round), and Pushing is good for pushing enemies off cliffs. (You might need to use the Shove-aside maneuver from the DMG rules: Athletics with disadvantage to shove someone sideways instead of straight back.) In general, taking advantage of grappling will require environmental features to interact with, whether that is cliffs or rings of fire or ropes or barrels of oil or chandeliers.

[Coidzor]

I just turned level 5 with a Bearbarian who picked up the Grappler feat (Variant Human). Now I could try for just attacking, but we already have a Frenzy Barbarian who is quite good at killing things by hitting stuff with her Axe (The party is big; 6-8 people at times). I feel a little disappointed that I have not received an ability to use my bonus action quite yet (besides Rage), so my actions have felt pretty limited.

Due to our relative large party size, I wanted to be able to control my opponents by holding them down and away from the less survivable allies, but it felt really lackluster due to only having 1 attack per round.
Now that I have 2 Attacks, I was wondering what things I can do to mess with my opponents using my Advantage Athletics, Bonus Action (If I can do much with this), and the Grappler feat (If it matters)?

Can you see if you can trade out Grappler for Tavern Brawler instead so you can attack unarmed, auto-grapple, and then use your second attack to shove your victim. Or shove them and then punch them/Improvised Weapon them and auto-grapple?

[Malifice]

Actually you can grapple Large foes without the feat (PHB p. 195). Errata on the Grappler feat : "Ignore the third benefit; it refers to a nonexistent rule.

No you cant.

Grapple is limited to: The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you, and it must be within your reach.

The errata just made that even more clear.

[Malifice]

I am aware the Grappler feat's benefits are fairly lackluster in that having advantage on grappled foes and pinning haven't really come up too much. But it is the only way to grapple Large foes, which includes a huge number of potential targets that I would not be able to deal with otherwise.

You cant grapple bigger foes man. You're stuck with +1 size max.


Luckily, the DM allows my allies to gain advantage on targets I'm grappling due to the feat, which really helps out the 2 rogues in the party.

The Rogues would get sneak attack from just you standing there next to the creature threatening it.

You dont need advantage to get sneak attack. An adjacent ally is all you need.


Thanks for reminding me on the disarm and sunder stuff. With 2 attacks, I can make some good use out of removing weapon or arcane/druid/divine focus threats and grappling them on the same turn.

Yeah, disarm, sunder, shove. With advantage on Str (athletics) checks when raging, you'll kick ass with those checks.

If you want a use for your bonus action, swap the Grappler feat for either Polearm master or GWM. One of those (or both) are mandatory on a Barbarian.

[JoeJ]

No you cant.

Grapple is limited to: The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you, and it must be within your reach.

The errata just made that even more clear.

So he can. The OP is a variant human, which is size medium. Large is one size bigger than medium.

[Chained Birds]

Okay. So I can't grapple Large foes as a Medium character? I'm a bit confused...

Either way, I'm going to get rid of Grappler (If DM allows) for Mage Slayer. Reason: I'm still trying to be a guy who can essentially make a single or 2 enemies useless without killing them with wake-it-with-big-stick action. We've got a lot of new players, and I don't want to steal the spotlight from them with a more optimized Damage Dealer (Especially when we already have another Barbarian who went Frenzy). Think of it like tying up a bear to a tree and giving the kids a gun so they can say they killed a bear.

Mage Slayer will allow me to stop casters from being jerks.

Can't think of much else that would make me able to do more as a grappler... Kind of sucks when I think about it...

[JoeJ]

Okay. So I can't grapple Large foes as a Medium character? I'm a bit confused...

If you're size medium you can grapple large creatures, but not huge or gargantuan ones. If somebody casts Enlarge on you, then you can grapple huge foes as well.

[Malifice]

Okay. So I can't grapple Large foes as a Medium character? I'm a bit confused...

Yeah, you're limited to +1 size bigger. That's it.


Can't think of much else that would make me able to do more as a grappler... Kind of sucks when I think about it...

Tavern Brawler feat.

Allows you to grapple as a bonus action (when you hit with an unarmed strike).

If you don't care about DPR, then a (1d12+str+rage) axe hit, then a (1d4+str+rage) punch in the face, followed by a free grapple check is probably right up your alley.

[Lindonius]

Yeah, you're limited to +1 size bigger. That's it.

Large is one size bigger than medium. I think you're getting "large" and "huge" mixed up.

[Malifice]

Large is one size bigger than medium. I think you're getting "large" and "huge" mixed up.

No, you can grapple Large if you're Medium. Just not any bigger than +1 size.

[Lindonius]

Okay. So I can't grapple Large foes as a Medium character?


Yeah, you're limited to +1 size bigger. That's it.

Sorry I read that as you confirming to Chained Birds that you can't grapple Large foes as a Medium character.

My bad.

[Aetol]

The Rogues would get sneak attack from just you standing there next to the creature threatening it.

You dont need advantage to get sneak attack. An adjacent ally is all you need.

Of course, but Sneak Attack with advantage is better than just Sneak Attack. And the advantage can work as negative disadvantage too if need be (you can't Sneak Attack with disadvantage, even with a flanker).