Greywander
2019-05-06, 02:25 AM
There's a couple of ways to build a grappler, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. These can broadly be divided into two groups: shapeshifting grapplers and, uh, "not-shapeshifting" grapplers.
For the shapeshifting grapplers, they benefit from not needing to invest at all into grappling, instead relying on Wild Shape or spells like Polymorph or Shapechange. Need to grapple? Just turn into a giant octopus! These kinds of grapplers won't have as good of a grappling bonus (even a STR of 30 barely competes with expertise), but can grapple many creatures, get longer reach, and (relevant to this topic) turn into something big enough to grapple Gargantuan creatures.
The non-shapeshifting kind usually try to get Athletics expertise (usually with a level of rogue) and advantage to Athletics (or Strength) checks, often with either barbarian rage, Enhance Ability, or (relevant to this topic) Enlarge/Reduce. Enlarge/Reduce tends to be the best of the three because it also increases your size, letting you grapple larger creatures.
The thing is, WotC seems to have a thing against letting PCs play Large races, so as a Medium creature getting Enlarged to Large, you'll only ever be able to grapple Huge creatures, while Gargantuan creatures remain out of your grasp. You could get around this by Reducing the target, but Enlarge/Reduce is a concentration spell, so you need a second caster, and it also requires a failed saving throw, and only applies to that one creature (which may be enough).
Enter the werebear.
Werebears don't modify the base race, so you're still stuck as a Medium creature. This can be good, though, as some races have really nice bonuses for grappling. What the werebear can do is morph into a Large hybrid or full bear form. This allows the PC to become a Large creature, who can then be Enlarged to Huge. Being Huge allows you to finally grapple Gargantuan creatures. This means you can grapple anything.
Let's ignore the other aspects of lycanthropy (namely, the immunity to non-silvered weapons, and the uncontrolled, murderous rampages during full moons), as I can imagine a watered down version of lycanthropy that only includes the shapeshifting (in fact, I think I'll post a thread about that momentarily). Adding werebear status to a grappler seems like an excellent way to improve them.
For the shapeshifting grapplers, they benefit from not needing to invest at all into grappling, instead relying on Wild Shape or spells like Polymorph or Shapechange. Need to grapple? Just turn into a giant octopus! These kinds of grapplers won't have as good of a grappling bonus (even a STR of 30 barely competes with expertise), but can grapple many creatures, get longer reach, and (relevant to this topic) turn into something big enough to grapple Gargantuan creatures.
The non-shapeshifting kind usually try to get Athletics expertise (usually with a level of rogue) and advantage to Athletics (or Strength) checks, often with either barbarian rage, Enhance Ability, or (relevant to this topic) Enlarge/Reduce. Enlarge/Reduce tends to be the best of the three because it also increases your size, letting you grapple larger creatures.
The thing is, WotC seems to have a thing against letting PCs play Large races, so as a Medium creature getting Enlarged to Large, you'll only ever be able to grapple Huge creatures, while Gargantuan creatures remain out of your grasp. You could get around this by Reducing the target, but Enlarge/Reduce is a concentration spell, so you need a second caster, and it also requires a failed saving throw, and only applies to that one creature (which may be enough).
Enter the werebear.
Werebears don't modify the base race, so you're still stuck as a Medium creature. This can be good, though, as some races have really nice bonuses for grappling. What the werebear can do is morph into a Large hybrid or full bear form. This allows the PC to become a Large creature, who can then be Enlarged to Huge. Being Huge allows you to finally grapple Gargantuan creatures. This means you can grapple anything.
Let's ignore the other aspects of lycanthropy (namely, the immunity to non-silvered weapons, and the uncontrolled, murderous rampages during full moons), as I can imagine a watered down version of lycanthropy that only includes the shapeshifting (in fact, I think I'll post a thread about that momentarily). Adding werebear status to a grappler seems like an excellent way to improve them.