are dedicated grapple builds too niche to be good?

[Bannan_mantis]

So first off I'd like to say that I'm not saying grappling isn't a good strategy, your damage overtime will be overall increased and enemy damage overtime is overall decreased and you're able to keep a enemy with you which is good for people who want to tank. Grappling as a whole is fine but after some observations it seems to be good only in specific situations which is mostly fine except for dedicated grapple builds.

Essentially I've found grappling only to be useful against specifically tanky enemies as (after calculating it) if an enemy wouldn't survive you attacking it constantly for 2-3 rounds then it becomes useful (and that's even with extra damage dealing characters), enemies that aren't targeted by ranged characters (grappled creatures pushed prone give ranged attacks disadvantage) and then it's restricted by size (huge+ is a no go unless you have spells.) With that considered the enemies you'd want to target have to be enemies that aren't bigger than large, aren't going to be targeted by your ranged damage dealers and then are specifically tanky and while those type of enemies do come up they're not really common in most encounters. When those enemies do pop up, grappling is a very effective strategy and overall more effective than just doing normal attacks but outside of that it starts to fall off.

So basically the thing I've taken from this and would like to get people's opinions on is that grappling, while effective, shouldn't be something you are built completely around and should instead be a side option you should have for certain situations. Do most people agree with that statement or have I missed somethings out which would make this statement untrue?

[NNescio]

Well, you can build a Goliath Bear Totem Barb with Tavern Brawler and start using your grappled foes as improvised weapons and ammunition. To inflict grevious bodily harm grievous harm with a body, so to speak. Need to clear it with your DM first though, since the rules aren't not exactly clear-cut (particularly with regard to damage dice).

Alternatively you can try abusing fall damage by jumping, dropping your enemy, than falling on top of them. They wind up prone, letting you get advantage with subsequent attacks. Flavor it as a Zangrief-style spinning piledriver. Monk dip would help here (more movement, and it helps avoid taking fall damage and going prone yourself, if landing from a jump still counts as falling); so would the Jump spell. This has less RAW ambiguity.

Yeah, it's still not the best of options compared to a usual two-handed beatstick build. (Plus it has major issues with larger-sized enemies that you can't grapple or carry around.) But it's incredibly fun if your DM lets you get away with it.

Another alternative is a Moon Druid "grappler", who uses animal forms with built-in free grapples on attacks (and has Jump on his class list). Gets useless at higher levels (Wildshape scales poorly), but so do most grapplers, really. It is pretty potent at lower levels though, and unlike other grappler builds the Druid doesn't really need to invest much (or at all) in order to be competent (at lower levels), and is still a primary spellcaster even if the grappler shtick is completely ineffective for that particular combat.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Ravnica gave a small shot in the arm to Grappling builds with Simic Hybrids, since you no longer have to give up an entire attack to grapple, just make one with your (less damaging) tentacles (or crab pincers, but lets face it, it's going to be tentacles). This is similar to Tavern Brawler but the tentacles do slightly more damage and, since you're grappling with an extra limb, you can still wield a two handed weapon against the target you've grabbed-- including using Great Weapon Fighting if you can hit their AC reliably (perhaps because of advantage, say by shoving them prone). So, Simic Hybrid Barbarian is fun. Yeah, grappling is still a bit niche but you don't have to give up much to do it, since Simic Hybrids can be +1 Strength +2 Con, which is good for Barbarians and Barbarian can give you advantage on Athletics checks (by raging, which means you don't even really need Expertise.

[Aprender]

Grappling is fun.
D&D should be fun.
That was enough for me.

Grappling builds won't be the most powerful, but that's OK. Enemies with misty step abilities, creatures that are 2 sizes or more bigger than you, and enemies that want you up close (ex damaging aura effects) make grappling less appealing, but it is still fun to lock down a bad guy by grabbing them and then shoving them to the ground and holding them there.

Ask your DM to allow you replace any attack with a grapple check and if you can use your left hand as a light weapon for an off hand attack. That way you start at 1st level with a grab and a shove each round. It's not RAW, but a lot of DMs will allow it.

[Chronos]

Does your DM allow you to gag a spellcaster with another check once you've grappled them? It's not explicit in the rules, but it falls neatly into the "other similar actions" clause, and IIRC there's a tweet from one of the developers supporting it. A spellcaster who can't cast spells is already as good as defeated, regardless of how quickly or slowly you actually wear down their HP.

Also, a character who's really good at grappling will generally be really good at shoving, too, which can be very useful against flying enemies (assuming that you have a way to fly up to meet them).

[MrStabby]

It is a bit too niche... but there are some upsides.

Firstly, being great at grapples is pretty easy. Not totally dumping strength and a single level of rogue for expertise is enough. It is the kind of thing you can pick up whilst building any strength character.

The downside is that it becomes less relevant. Firstly more enemies are immune to the grappled condition. Still few enough to not be a big deal.

The bigger issues are that at higher levels you start to see a bit of a switch towards more spells which have more than a 5 ft reach so reducing movement speed to 0 doesn't hurt so much. More save effects so disadvantage from pushing prone is less of a big deal.

Average size of creatures increases, especially melee creatures. This will also provide some limitations.

Even enemies that are impacted tend to have sufficiently high to hit bonuses that it drops a little in effectiveness.

Now it is campaign and DM dependant but at higher levels you can also face more enemies not just tougher enemies. Against a horde grappling is just a bit less good.

Add all of these together and you get a tactic that is pretty cool at low levels but becomes less so later on.