Best monk grapple build

[stewstew5]

So in a friend's campaign, I am playing as a STRonk. Since she has had a couple serious and silly grapples occur, I've decided to lean into it, since monks get a couple grappling bonuses as well. So, what's the best build/ strategy to focus on grappling and stay as my party's frontline dps?

[Biggus]

The simple way to improve grapple checks is to increase your size. If you have a Sorcerer or Wizard in the party, just buy them a few 1st level Pearls of Power for 1,000GP each and they can cast Enlarge Person on you whenever you need it while only using up one 1st-level spell slot. If not, there's the Belt of Growth (MiC) which allows you to use Enlarge Person 1/day. It only costs 3,000GP so you could buy several by mid-levels.

If you really want to focus on grappling, there's the Reaping Mauler prestige class (CW).

Freedom of Movement only becomes a really big problem at very high levels, as the ring costs 40,000GP. Clerics and Druids get it at 7th level, but in most campaigns there's not going to be one of those in every group of enemies you fight, and also it's only practical to keep it active all day at high levels.

[Quertus]

Maugg hands (AFB, I forget the actual name of this graft) will give you a ridiculous +10 bonus. Each.

For freedom of movement, I find that if you fight monsters, it's rarely an issue. So, after low level, avoid fights with humanoids (Dragons after mid), and you'll usually be OK.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

The best monk grapple build is a Large (or effectively Large) psychic warrior. They get free size boosts via expansion (so a half-giant psywar can count as Huge size by level 2) and they get native access to dispel effects to take down freedom of movement whenever it's an issue. They also have numerous other very useful buffs, and they can access other power lists with naught but a feat.

Just take the Tashalatora feat to progress all of the important monk abilities via psychic warrior, and you're good to go.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Start taking Psychic Warrior (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psychicWarrior.htm), and pick up the feats Monastic Training and Tashalatora. This way your Psychic Warrior levels will progress your Monk unarmed damage, AC bonus, and Flurry of Blows. Learn powers like Expansion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/expansion.htm), Grip of Iron (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/gripofIron.htm), Inertial Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/inertialArmor.htm), Force Screen (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/forceScreen.htm), etc. You can also take the feat Beast Strike and learn Claws of the Beast (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/clawsoftheBeast.htm), so your claw damage gets added to your unarmed strike damage. That's right, a Psychic Warrior is better at being a Monk than a single-classed Monk is.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Start taking Psychic Warrior (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psychicWarrior.htm), and pick up the feats Monastic Training and Tashalatora. This way your Psychic Warrior levels will progress your Monk unarmed damage, AC bonus, and Flurry of Blows. Learn powers like Expansion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/expansion.htm), Grip of Iron (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/gripofIron.htm), Inertial Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/inertialArmor.htm), Force Screen (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/forceScreen.htm), etc. You can also take the feat Beast Strike and learn Claws of the Beast (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/clawsoftheBeast.htm), so your claw damage gets added to your unarmed strike damage. That's right, a Psychic Warrior is better at being a Monk than a single-classed Monk is.Most classes can be better monks than monks. Hell, a single-classed barbarian is a better monk than monk. Unless you start getting weird with the rules, anyway. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?285801-Tippy-s-Terrifically-Terrible-Trial/page25&p=15474863#post15474863)

[Max Caysey]

So in a friend's campaign, I am playing as a STRonk. Since she has had a couple serious and silly grapples occur, I've decided to lean into it, since monks get a couple grappling bonuses as well. So, what's the best build/ strategy to focus on grappling and stay as my party's frontline dps?

Ill send a King (from tekken) build when I get home! Its a monk/ fighter build!

[Biggus]

Oh yeah, a couple of items from the MiC you might want to consider:

Brawler's Gauntlets: cheap (1,000GP) +2 to grapple 3/day

Gloves of the Titan's Grip: expensive (14,000GP) but give +8 to grapple 3/day

EDIT: anything which improves your unarmed damage makes you a better grappler as well as a better DPS. So consider the Improved Natural Attack feat or get a Fanged Ring (DM) and Superior Unarmed Strike (ToB).

[Max Caysey]

How to become KING from Tekken

1) Initially you charge (and hit) to activate scorpion’s grasp. (Use flying kick or Sandals of the Tiger Leap)

2) If you succeed in the following grapple check (get high grapple check), you automatically (per the grapple rules), deal unarmed damage (get high unarmed dam).

3) By dealing min 10 damage, you activate knock down.

4) When tripping someone (get high trip), you activate great throw, which deals unarmed damage, thus activating scorpion’s grasp again.

5) If the following grapple check is successful both are now on the floor, grappling...

[StreamOfTheSky]

Monk's not a great route for grappling, but with a psionic class and Tashalatora it can be ok, as mentioned.

Anyway, I'll list off some toys I enjoyed with my trip and grapple-focused monk. It was using a homebrew version of the class that was much stronger, but I figure the tools themselves are useful to anybody.

Feats:
Scorpion's Grasp (Sandstorm): Basically gives you Improved Grab, except better since it works on anything your size or smaller (instead of just smaller than your size) and negates the -4 penalty to attack the victim in melee while grappling them.
Snap Kick (ToB): Another unarmed attack per round is another chance to grapple; works even outside of full attacking
Anchoring Blow (Dragon mag #306, p. 53-54): Burn a stunning fist usage to apply Dimensional Anchor to the target of your unarmed strike. No teleporting out of the grapple for you!

Class feature variants:
Invisible Fist (Exemplars of Evil): If the touch attack to start a grapple wasn't easy enough already, now you can do it against flat-footed touch AC, too! Ok, this one is less grapple-oriented, but just too good to not mention.

Gear:
Scorpion Claw (Sandstorm): A weapon you can wear like an oven mitt that gives +4 bonus on grapple checks (don't need to use it for the grapple attack).
Brute Gauntlet (MIC): Very inexpensive item to get a small boost on str checks as a swift action. Similar effect to Brawler's Gauntlets but half the price.
Fanged Ring (MIC): Grapple deals unarmed damage, so...
Lesser Revelation weapon crystal (MIC): Foe you strike becomes visible for one round (since once you're grappling you no longer need to make attack rolls and can damage w/ grapple checks, it's a nifty way to help out your team)

[ericgrau]

Most classes can be better monks than monks. Hell, a single-classed barbarian is a better monk than monk. Unless you start getting weird with the rules, anyway. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?285801-Tippy-s-Terrifically-Terrible-Trial/page25&p=15474863#post15474863)

Eh it's about break even for both classes. The barbarian has to use armor spikes to almost keep up on damage. He can enchant them but that's not worth the investment for most levels. Likewise you could boost unarmed strike damage, perhaps more easily than spike damage. He has a higher modifier but he has fewer attempts. Depending on how many items and buffs you get the modifier can quickly get ridiculous and become less important, or with less optimization you may merely keep up and then the higher modifier is kind of nice. With too much optimization you might 1 hit kill either way, and then why restrain the foe at all?

Psychic warrior is great at getting modifiers. It might be good to combine with ways to get more damage, more attacks, other disabling effects, etc.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Scorpion Claws from Sandstorm give you a lovely +4 typeless bonus to grapple (each? They come in pairs, so I think you get +8 total). You need EWP to use them effectively as weapons (which makes perfect sense; I mean look at the things), but getting that grapple bonus only requires wielding them. The fact that your hands are occupied doesn't bug you because you've got Improved Unarmed Strike anyway.

The similarly named Scorpion's Grasp feat from the same book is another must have. Let's you initiate a grapple just by striking an opponent, which keeps your damage up. Depending on how you read it, it also gives you an extra attack each round, but definitely double check with your DM on that one because it's probably just bad editing (though the extra attack interpretation is comparable to the similar three-feat-chain of Combat Reflexes+Improved Trip+Knock-Down). Combine this feat with a reach weapon for hilarity; I'd recommend the kusari-gama (DMG), but the whip (PHB) also works great if you're willing to drop it upon entering the grapple.

The Girallon Arms soulmeld gives one of the best grapple bonuses in the game just for shaping it (and allocating essentia to it). The Kraken Mantle also gives a nice bonus, but you need to bind it to your arm slot, which requires quite a bit of investment (either feats or class levels). Totemists in general make great grapplers; it's well worth at least two levels in the class.

Actually, there's already a handbook for this, so rather than repeating everything it says, Imma just post a link (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=585.0).