5e grappler - how would you do it?

[Klorox]

I want a full out, over the top luchador.

How would you do it?

I think I remember a guide on the WotC boards, but, well, you know. :smalltongue:

[CaptAl]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468737-The-Grappler-s-Manual-%282-0%29-Grappling-in-5th-Edition

There's your guide. Basically you want 2 attacks or more and Athletics proficiency, plus rage for advantage on said checks, or expertise or both if you want to ensure you never fail. So Fighter 11, Bear Totem Barbarian 3, Rogue 6 would be my end goal.

[JellyPooga]

Basically you want 2 attacks or more and Athletics proficiency, plus rage for advantage on said checks, or expertise or both if you want to ensure you never fail.

For these reasons, a straight Valour Bard does remarkably well as a grappler. His magic backs him up well on that front, as well. Also, if we're talking about Luchadores, then a bit of Performance has got to creep in there somewhere, right?

[RickAllison]

For these reasons, a straight Valour Bard does remarkably well as a grappler. His magic backs him up well on that front, as well. Also, if we're talking about Luchadores, then a bit of Performance has got to creep in there somewhere, right?

Monk 2 could be good as well to capture the luchador feel. Combine Step of the Wind with Jump for high-flying shenanigans. Make sure to pick up Enlarge for both advantage and the size increase. Talk with your DM about potentially becoming a werebear, so you could then grapple everything :smallbiggrin:

[Klorox]

Monk 2 could be good as well to capture the luchador feel. Combine Step of the Wind with Jump for high-flying shenanigans. Make sure to pick up Enlarge for both advantage and the size increase. Talk with your DM about potentially becoming a werebear, so you could then grapple everything :smallbiggrin:
LOL, or a moon druid dip!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468737-The-Grappler-s-Manual-%282-0%29-Grappling-in-5th-Edition

There's your guide. Basically you want 2 attacks or more and Athletics proficiency, plus rage for advantage on said checks, or expertise or both if you want to ensure you never fail. So Fighter 11, Bear Totem Barbarian 3, Rogue 6 would be my end goal.
THANK YOU!

Gonna go check it out now!!

[RickAllison]

LOL, or a moon druid dip!

THANK YOU!

Gonna go check it out now!!

I ran with this ridiculous idea a month ago that had a Monk/Druid/Rogue grappler. Basically, his idea was to go either giant octopus, giant eagle, or giant constrictor snake as his grappling form while pulling monk shenanigans. The octopus could grapple up to eight creatures at ten feet, so it would have been the crowd-control form; the giant eagle had enough random shenanigans to lock ancient dragons out of the sky, so he was the aerial grappler; finally, the giant constrictor snake was able to grapple anything and the escape DC for his grapple was so high that the only creatures in the MM with a chance for escape were a few giants.

Unfortunately, it was limited by the fact that the forms still had awful HP :smallbiggrin:

[bid]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468737-The-Grappler-s-Manual-%282-0%29-Grappling-in-5th-Edition
The short shrift:
- fighter 2 / rogue 1 : expertise in athletics, action surge if you miss. Then fighter 5 for extra grapple.
- lore 3 : expertise in athletics, cutting words to make them fail. Then you need fighter 2..5 for action surge and extra grapple.
- valor 6 : expertise in athletics, extra grapple. All the goodies of a pure caster.

[Klorox]

The short shrift:
- fighter 2 / rogue 1 : expertise in athletics, action surge if you miss. Then fighter 5 for extra grapple.
- lore 3 : expertise in athletics, cutting words to make them fail. Then you need fighter 2..5 for action surge and extra grapple.
- valor 6 : expertise in athletics, extra grapple. All the goodies of a pure caster.

Thanks!

Bard really works for a Luchador! :smallbiggrin:

[Lines]

Off the top of my head:

Variant human
1 Fighter, archery fighting style, crossbow expert feat
2 Barbarian
3 Awakened Mystic (mind vault, psionic weapon), expertise: athletics
4 Fighter
5 Fighter, battlemaster (tripping attack, precision attack, disarming attack)
6 Fighter, grappler
7 Fighter
8 Fighter, +2 strength

Capable, very grapply, can also throw nets around like nobodys business.

[Cespenar]

Barbarian 3+/Rogue 3+. Get Expertise on Athletics. Go into a rage so your Athletics checks get advantage. Grapple, then bonus action Dash for that 60 ft. move. Get Thief archetype for Second Story Work. Then climb with your target 30 ft. into up a building and drop him. Or drop with him, I dunno.

[Lines]

Barbarian 3+/Rogue 3+. Get Expertise on Athletics. Go into a rage so your Athletics checks get advantage. Grapple, then bonus action Dash for that 60 ft. move. Get Thief archetype for Second Story Work. Then climb with your target 30 ft. into up a building and drop him. Or drop with him, I dunno.

Totem barbarian, grapple and then stand in a moonbeam or something. Or even better, walk in and out of it. You take half damage and have a good chance of saving for a further halving, and every 10 feet you walk (in and out again) is another spell level d10 damage.

[PoeticDwarf]

I want a full out, over the top luchador.

How would you do it?

I think I remember a guide on the WotC boards, but, well, you know. :smalltongue:

Rogue barbarian
Shove and grapple

That is all you need

[joaber]

moon druid x/ rogue 2/ monk 5(optional and efficiency depends of your DM).

as a moon druid you can grapple gargantuan creatures (being huge one). You have spike growth, you can grab and drag the enemy in this for lots of damage. You don't care about a free hand because you always have that, so you don't need to choose about bad damage and grapple or no grapple. You have great options agaisn't anemies you can't grapple. You have guidance to add 1d4 in your first grapple. As a huge beast you can drag much more weight and can drag medium creatures without speed penalties.

rogue 2 you get expertise in athletics, and cunning action, now you can dash as bonus action and cause even more damage dragging enemies in spike growth.

grab mobile for even more damage and dash without terrain penalties. You have longstrider for even more mobility. You have enchance ability to drag more weight and have advantage in grapple, but you should you your concentration for spike growth.

monk can make your AC a little bigger in some forms (need to choose or unarmored defense or natural armor). Add speed, can make unarmed attacks after grapple with furry blow and get target prone at same time (DM may not allow unarmed attacks in beast form), can get extra attack and stunning strike at lvl 5.

DM may not allow grappling any some beast forms

if DM allow mystic, you can deep 1 lvl as awakened mind instead of rogue to get expertise, psionic weapon, darkvision, telephaty and more mobility. But you need Int 13.

what is good to have in your party: someone with hex, to make avoid grappling harder, someone with enlarge to let you drag even large creatures without penalty, drag more weight and grab with advantage. Bard with inspiration dice. Haste for more dash. Fighter with command strike for reaction movement.

An enlarged dire wolf (moon druid 3/rogue 2) with longstrider and mobile (human v.) could drag an medium enemy in spike growth (move, dash, bonus action dash) for 84d4 of damage per turn. And you can do this at lvl 5.

[MadBear]

If I was to do it I'd go with barbarian 2/ Open Hand Monk X.

This would keep it nice and simple.

The Barbarian would give you:

- Advantage on Attacks when needed
- Advantage on grapples when raging
- Damage bonus when attacking
- Damage reduction while raging

The Monk would give you:
- Multiple attacks (opportunities to grapple)
- Open hand would get you a decent chance at prone/push/no reactions
- Stunning strike and unarmed bump in damage over time

The biggest weakness is that this is quite a bit mad with you needing 13 str/13 dex/13 wis and still wanting to have a decent CON. My recommendation would probably be normal human.

Str 16
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 9
Wis 16
Char 9

At levels 6/10 bump your strength, and levels 14/18 get your Wisdom up.

At late levels you're doing ok damage with 4X1d10+7 per hit with advantage which averages near the 40's. You also you knocking enemies prone and taking 1/2 damage. All in all, very playable and not too complex.

(Although the rogue dip looks tempting, but I'm personally not a big fan of huge MC characters).