Grappling slight rehaul

[Cikomyr2]

I have been slightly dissatisfied with the grappling mechanics of 5e and its use during combat.

So respecting 5e's love of the rule of 3, i will present the three stages of wrestling:

1- Grappled
2- in a lock
3- Pinned

First successful athletic check makes you Grappled. Grappled means your movement speed is reduced to 0, but this is it.

"in a lock" means you have disadvantage on all your physical checks, attacks and saving throws. Id argue you need an opposed sleigh of hand check if you want to cast a spell with material component as the grappling (that check is not done at disadvantage).

Being pinned means being physically incapacitated until released. You cant take action, reaction or bonus action.

Now here's the biggest rule change: a wrestling match is akin to a tug of war. If you are being grappled and you try to roll athletics to get out of it (or be the grappler), failing the roll is considered a further win by the person initially grappling you.

Similarly, if the grappler spends an action to try to get you in a lock and fail, they lose their established grapple. Ultimately, grappling is never *static*

[JackPhoenix]

So what are you saying that someone with Extra Attack can grapple and lock a victim in a single action (because let's be honest, PCs can get much better Str (Athletics) check result than any enemy easily), and unless they have magical means to escape, the victim is screwed, because with disadvantage, they're now even more likely to disable themselves completely if they'll try to escape, and prevent any further escape attempts?

Yeeeaaaah....

[Cikomyr2]

So what are you saying that someone with Extra Attack can grapple and lock a victim in a single action (because let's be honest, PCs can get much better Str (Athletics) check result than any enemy easily), and unless they have magical means to escape, the victim is screwed, because with disadvantage, they're now even more likely to disable themselves completely if they'll try to escape, and prevent any further escape attempts?

Yeeeaaaah....

A grapple attempt (to dis-grapple one's self or to grapple the opponent) is a standard action, not an attack. So unless you Action surge you couldnt lock in a single turn.

But yes you got the gist of it.

[PhoenixPhyre]

A grapple attempt (to dis-grapple one's self or to grapple the opponent) is a standard action, not an attack. So unless you Action surge you couldnt lock in a single turn.

But yes you got the gist of it.

Not by default. A default grapple attempt is an attack and replaces one attack in an Extra Attack sequence.

And I share the concerns. For one thing, if failure on the check counts as an extra success, there's only two degrees--in a lock and pinned. Because failing to resist the grapple is a failure on an opposed grapple check, and thus counts as two successes.

And what about the buckets of monster abilities that grapple/restrain automatically? Are they basically assured lockdown for anyone in them? Unless of course, you're of the master race master classes that get teleportation. They're above such things.

Hard no from me.

[Joe the Rat]

My field test is doing a two-step - 1st level grapple, 2nd level restrained. The one wrinkle I haven't settled on is if the restraining combatant loses movement or not.
There's also whether or not using Str to escape grapple should allow an immediate reversal (as opposed to using Dex to simply get away).


A grapple attempt (to dis-grapple one's self or to grapple the opponent) is a standard action, not an attack. So unless you Action surge you couldnt lock in a single turn.

But yes you got the gist of it.

So now martials have less reason to grapple, as they have to use an Action, rather that making a shove/grab as a special attack.