Can [X] Grapple?

[Cheesegear]

"Using at least one free hand..."

This came up regarding an Artificer's Steel Defender, and whether or not it has two or four legs, and surely if it has four legs, maybe one can Grapple?

But under my own reasoning, it turns out that RAW, a lot of creatures shouldn't be able to Grapple unless they have a special ability that allows them to (e.g; Roper, Shambling Mound).

Many creatures, don't have hands.
Can they Grapple?

[ImproperJustice]

Not sure about the specific rules, but my pug can grapple a cat with only its mouth.

I can grapple two toddlers with an arm each, sometimes a third or fourth with my legs.

Grapple just means you grab something and hold it in place, maybe drag it around some, as far as 5e is concerned.

[Lunali]

In order to grapple, NPCs (that don't have their own grapple ability) have to take the attack action instead of any of the actions listed for them, replacing the one attack they get (since NPCs don't get extra attack) with a grapple.

[Nagog]

I can grapple two toddlers with an arm each, sometimes a third or fourth with my legs.

And now I want to play a Simic Hybrid with extra appendages specifically built for grappling, with the backstory that they used to run a daycare full of nightmare children and killing monsters is the easier of the two.

Can an attack be replaced with a grapple as a part of the Multiattack action or is it specific to the Attack action?

[OldTrees1]

Maybe, has the DM considered letting it grapple at disadvantage? Maybe even disadvantage and the victim gets advantage?

[Kyutaru]

Grapple is kind of rules light and you can do with it what you want. Ideally they're be an entire chapter on grappling with charts for the varying weight classes and MMA move counters and the effect of having multiple appendages that can be assigned to perform multiple grapple actions per round.

But since there's none of that you either come up with what makes sense to you or you let anything with a single free hand bear hug the wizard to keep him spellcasting.

[Cheesegear]

Not sure about the specific rules...

I italicized the relevant rule. Grappling requires a free hand.

What, is a 'hand'? Can creatures without hands, Grapple, without a special ability that allows them to do so (e.g; Giant Octopus)?


In order to grapple, NPCs (that don't have their own grapple ability) have to take the attack action instead of any of the actions listed for them

In order to Grapple, you must have a free hand.


Can an attack be replaced with a grapple as a part of the Multiattack action or is it specific to the Attack action?

It is specific to the Attack action.
Multiattack, and Extra Attack, are not the same thing.


Maybe, has the DM considered letting it grapple at disadvantage? Maybe even disadvantage and the victim gets advantage?

I have not. I wanted to see the response to the question, first.

[ImproperJustice]

And now I want to play a Simic Hybrid with extra appendages specifically built for grappling, with the backstory that they used to run a daycare full of nightmare children and killing monsters is the easier of the two.

Can an attack be replaced with a grapple as a part of the Multiattack action or is it specific to the Attack action?

I think it was the latest Shadowrun Video Game, had an NPC that was basically an Orc Monk whose main gig was babysitting the children of adventurers (runners). She pointed out that you can make good money when Mommy and Daddy need someone to watch half dragon Junior at 3am, while they go raid the latest mega corp.
And well, sometimes bad guys think going after the kids is the best way to get at Mommy and Daddy, so it pays to be able to vanish into thin air and know the paralyzing palm technique. Works great at hide and seek and tantrums too.

[Unoriginal]

By RAW, a creature without a free hand cannot grapple unless they have a specific ability saying the contrary.

A hand is an appendage capable of grabbing, with an opposable thumb.

So RAW the Ape can use the Grapple option, but the Wolf can't.

If a Steel Defender has a free hand it can grapple, but just having limbs don't work.

[stoutstien]

"Using at least one free hand..."

This came up regarding an Artificer's Steel Defender, and whether or not it has two or four legs, and surely if it has four legs, maybe one can Grapple?

But under my own reasoning, it turns out that RAW, a lot of creatures shouldn't be able to Grapple unless they have a special ability that allows them to (e.g; Roper, Shambling Mound).

Many creatures, don't have hands.
Can they Grapple?

RAW you need a thumb to grapple. RTMS the absence of a thumb should not bar you from realistically a very limited and soft type of control.

RAW the SD cannot grapple because they do not have the attack action.
RTMS the SD is already fairly strong so I could see an infusion that expanded it options on combat to include grappling.

[Keravath]

"GRAPPLING:
When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them. The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you, and it must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making a grapple check"

1) RAW, grappling requires at least one free hand. If a creature does not have a hand, it can not grapple unless it has a special ability to do so.

2) Grappling works fine with special abilities like Extra Attack, if you have the ability to take multiple attacks with the Attack action then grappling replaces ONE of them. This likely means that creatures using the Attack action with the ability to make more than one attack can also make more than one grapple check.

"MULTIATTACK
A creature that can make multiple attacks on its turn has the Multiattack ability. A creature can't use Multiattack when making an opportunity attack, which must be a single melee attack."

3) For monsters the Multiattack action is distinct and different from the Attack action. RAW, it is not the same as the class Extra Attack feature. Multiattack varies by monster. Sometimes it allows multiple general attacks and other times it allows the creature to make multiple specific attacks (e.g. 1xbite, 1xclaws).

Monsters can also take all of the basic actions including the Attack action.

RAW, this means that a monster that wants to grapple can take the Attack action and if they have a hand free can make a single grapple attack. If they take the Multiattack Action they are not taking the Attack action which is required (RAW) for the creature to use a grapple.

However, that said, many DMs might decide this makes no real logical sense especially in the case of humanoid NPCs like the Thug which has the Multiattack ability allowing two melee attacks. One option is to play it RAW and just say that a Thug has to give up two attacks to grapple. The other is to house rule it so that any creature just needs to have a hand free and spend one attack in order to make a grapple attempt - whether that creature obtains their additional attacks from the Extra Attack feature or from the MultiAttack feature.

However, RAW, monsters with the MultiAttack feature lose all additional attacks when making a grapple attempt while monsters or NPCs constructed using the character creation rules with the ExtraAttack ability only lose one attack for making a grapple attempt.

[JNAProductions]

I'd let a Steel Defender grapple one person, using its mouth. Not RAW, since as you said, RAW requires at least one hand, but hardly gonna break the game.

[da newt]

Is there anything RAW that prohibits a Steel Defender from having hands? It does say you get to choose its appearance including if it has 2 legs or 4. If I decided my steel defender looked like a gorilla ...


BUT:
Steel Defender. In combat, the steel defender shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, or Search action.

There is no grapple or make a melee attack in it's stat block, so I guess RAW is NO even if it had hands.

[NorthernPhoenix]

Pretending Bears, Wolves and other animals without hands can't grab people because of "RAW" has got to be one the worst interpretations against the spirit of 5e i've seen on this forum in a while.

[Unoriginal]

Pretending Bears, Wolves and other animals without hands can't grab people because of "RAW" has got to be one the worst interpretations against the spirit of 5e i've seen on this forum in a while.

That's not what people wrote. It is not "people are pretending bears and wolves can't grab people because of RAW", it's "people are saying that by RAW they can't".

RAW isn't biding, there is nothing that can be enforced "because of RAW".

[NorthernPhoenix]

That's not what people wrote. It is not "people are pretending bears and wolves can't grab people because of RAW", it's "people are saying that by RAW they can't".

RAW isn't biding, there is nothing that can be enforced "because of RAW".

But surely that's about as relevant to actual play as 3.5's infamous drown-healing?

[Unoriginal]

But surely that's about as relevant to actual play as 3.5's infamous drown-healing?

More or less. As I said RAW isn't binding nor enforceable, it's up to each individual DM.

I can see a DM ruling that wolves and bears don't grapple as much as they Shove then use their AoO on the fleeing enemies. Or decide that wolf's or bear's bites are just not strong enough compared to, say, a crocodile's to allow them to grapple adventurers. And I can see a DM saying that the bear and the wolf should definitively always have a grappling effect on their bite attacks.

[Cheesegear]

And I can see a DM saying that the bear and the wolf should definitively always have a grappling effect on their bite attacks.

IMO, canine-like creatures should get Pounce, same as feline-like creatures.
Their Bite should also have a Grapple ability, if the target is Prone.

Round 1. Canine Pounces, and knocks you on your arse.
Round 2. If you're still on your arse, dog bites you again, and now you're Grappled and Prone.

It bothers me that canines can knock you Prone from a standstill.
But them's the rules.

[Unoriginal]

But them's the rules.

Them's the rules, but you's the Dungeon Master.


There is a reason why "master" is in the title.

[Dr. Cliché]

IMO, canine-like creatures should get Pounce, same as feline-like creatures.
Their Bite should also have a Grapple ability, if the target is Prone.

I think it should be the opposite - they should bite and grapple first and then be able to pull the target prone in the second round if it's still grappled.

I suggest this because I'm pretty sure wolves and such will actually just try and grab hold of prey initially, and then try and pull it down, to stop it running (often helped by additional wolves also grabbing hold).

[Chaosity]

Most of my monsters can replace an attack with a grapple or shove if it makes sense to me
For example a wolf biting a character their boots might not be able to penatrate it to do meaningfull damage but that would sure stop that character from moving until he broke free
It tends to really flavor up combat

The only times i found it really becomes dangerous is with flying enemies who are strong enough to lift the character. Those d6 per 10 feet rapidly accumilate even if you count half speed because of grappling

[Vogie]

My monsters do that. They will attack, shove, grapple, disarm, et cetera. Some of those I build into the statblocks, some I don't. For example, I tend to use what I call "Angry Zombies", based on AngryGM's article, who have a main attack that does minor damage and auto-grapples, then the ability to bite grappled targets for a lot more damage.

I tend to hate monsters with generic Slam attacks, so I mix things up a whole lot.