Grappler Feat (rework)

[Yakk]

* You can grapple creatures of any size. If they are more than 1 size larger than you, their movement speed is not hindered by your grapple, and you cannot move them; instead, you move along with them.
* When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can move up to half of your speed and attempt to grab them as a reaction.
* You can attempt to grab a creature you have hit with a unarmed strike or natural weapon as a bonus action.
* Creatures you have grappled have disadvantage on the first attack roll they make on a turn, and must make a concentration check (DC 8+your proficiency bonus+your strength bonus) to successfully cast a spell.

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The goal is a feat that makes grappling a core part of your combat technique. The movement speed lets you do this against creatures with reach mainly.

The reaction and bonus action grabs deal with the action economy problem of grappling (it is in place of damage), so your grappling is less likely to result in longer combats.

The ability to grapple larger creatures (but no hinder their movement) lets you use your techniques on a dragon or giant. They can choose to ignore you, but you are hindering them somewhat via the 4th point.

[GalacticAxekick]

You can grapple creatures of any size. If they are more than 1 size larger than you, their movement speed is not hindered by your grapple, and you cannot move them; instead, you move along with them.DMG Pg. 271 already allows everyone to do this. It's an optional rule, but I think any table openminded enough to allow homebrew feats is going to allow optional rules anyway. So I'd just remove this bullet point.


When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can move up to half of your speed and attempt to grab them as a reaction.This is mechanically balanced and handy, but the extra movement introduces some gameplay-story segregation that would bug me personally, and may or may not bug your players. Similar to videogames where dodging or attacking is faster than running, the extra movement makes tackling faster than sprinting.

One way around that would be to make the movement come after a successful grapple attempt instead of before the attempt. "I caught your pike / whip / tail and used it to pull myself in" makes more sense, to me, than "I bolted towards you with speed I only have in this circumstance to try and grapple you".

You could even let the player pull the enemy in, if they aren't too large!


You can attempt to grab a creature you have hit with a unarmed strike or natural weapon as a bonus action.Great! I'd honestly expand this, so you can attempt the grapple even on a miss, and maybe even expand it to include shoving.

This would bring the grapple-shove combo down from a two-round affair to a one-round affair for characters who lack Extra Attack, and make grappling decisive in even shorter encounters.


Creatures you have grappled have disadvantage on the first attack roll they make on a turn, and must make a concentration check (DC 8+your proficiency bonus+your strength bonus) to successfully cast a spell.Thematically, it's strange that the disadvantage only applies to one attack, but mechanically it's fine.

If you decide to make the grapple-shove combo available, though, I'd ditch the disadvantage clause. If the player wants to hinder attacks, they can shove for cheap!

Altogether I'd recommend the following:


Grappler Feat (Rework):
When you use your action to make an unarmed strike, natural weapon attack, grapple attempt, or shove attempt, you can use your bonus action to make a grapple attempt or shove attempt against the same target
When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can make a grapple attempt against them as a reaction. You can make this attempt even if they are outside of your reach.
If you successfully grapple a creature outside of your reach, and if they are larger than you, you grab hold of their weapon and pull yourself into an unoccupied space within 5 feet of them.
If you successfully grapple a creature outside of your reach, and if they are smaller than you, you grab hold of their weapon and pull them into an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you.
If you successfully grapple a creature outside of your reach, and if they are your size, you can choose whether you pull yourself or pull them.
Creatures you have grappled must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your strength modifier) to cast a spell.

[Yakk]

The bonus action grapple after a grapple/shove doesn't match the "I want some damage to be output" sub-goal. It just makes you better at a successful grab. And while that is in-theme, it doesn't suit other design goals here as well.

Having it work on a miss makes sense. The attempt is enough, and simplifies wording.

I am aware of the grapple/shove optimal move. It is a bit strongly defensive, and I'm aiming for a more offensive bias if I can.

My first pass had "disadvantage on all attacks", but that was getting strong. Part of the goal here is to make grabbing a dragon still be mechanically useful (besides just hitching a ride), as well as soft-nerfing the grapple-prone combo (you already impose disadvantage once).

Using Concentration Check instead of Constitution Saving Throw is slightly different. (Namely, feats like warcaster applies to it.)

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How about this:

* When you use your action to make an unarmed strike or natural weapon attack, you can use your bonus action to try to grab the target.
* When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can make a grab attempt against them as a reaction. You can make this attempt even if they are outside of your reach. If you succeed, you can move up to 1/2 of your movement speed and must end your movement within reach of them or the grab fails.
* When a creature you have grappled attempts to cast a spell, you can expend a reaction to make a melee attack on them first. If your attack hits, they must succeed on a concentration check against the damage or the spell fails.
* When a creature you have grappled hits with an attack, you can expend a reaction to make a melee attack on the first. If your attack hits, they have to reroll their attack with disadvantage.
* You can grapple creatures more than 1 size larger than you. Their movement speed is only reduced by half by being grappled by you.

It is getting a bit long.

Also, the grab check - success - movement is so awkward. I really do like the simplicity of the "move half your speed" version.

The "react and grab" is very dynamic and action-hero-y, and I don't want to lose it.

Making the grab action work on larger foes feels like it should be something left in. IIRC, the DMG rule isn't actually grappling. So the other riders won't work. Adding half movement speed might be wrong; a human slowing a huge creature is plausible, but a tarrasque seems wrong.

The interfere with the target's actions while you have them grappled also feels very dynamic. Gives a reason why the dragon would care about the puny mortal bothering it.

I could cut out the bonus action grab line.

[GalacticAxekick]

The bonus action grapple after a grapple/shove doesn't match the "I want some damage to be output" sub-goal. It just makes you better at a successful grab. And while that is in-theme, it doesn't suit other design goals here as well.

[...]

I am aware of the grapple/shove optimal move. It is a bit strongly defensive, and I'm aiming for a more offensive bias if I can.
I think giving the whole party advantage on attacks against a creature is a very aggressive move, and should contribute well to your damage output. As a Fighter, you're giving up 1 attack and your bonus action to gain advantage on all the attacks that follow. As a Rogue, you're giving up on one round to almost guarantee a Sneak Attack next round. Etc.



Using Concentration Check instead of Constitution Saving Throw is slightly different. (Namely, feats like warcaster applies to it.)Ooh, good to know!


Also, the grab check - success - movement is so awkward. I really do like the simplicity of the "move half your speed" version.

The "react and grab" is very dynamic and action-hero-y, and I don't want to lose it.I disagree, but that's a matter of taste, not balance, so do what you will.


Making the grab action work on larger foes feels like it should be something left in. IIRC, the DMG rule isn't actually grappling. So the other riders won't workThe DMG rule provides its own riders:

"While in the target's space, the smaller creature moves with the target and has advantage on attack rolls against it. [...] The larger creature’s ability to attack the smaller creature depends on the smaller creature’s location, and is left to your discretion."


Part of the goal here is to make grabbing a dragon still be mechanically useful (besides just hitching a ride),

[...]

The interfere with the target's actions while you have them grappled also feels very dynamic. Gives a reason why the dragon would care about the puny mortal bothering it.Definitely! I just think "disadvantage on one attack" is a clunky way to do it. Using the DMG rules, the dragon cares because you're stabbing at its weak points, and it might not be able to hit you at all.

[Yakk]

Ok, let's try again.

Reactive Grappling

You have practiced redirecting your opponents strength into their defeat.

* When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can expend your reaction to move up to half your speed and attempt to grapple the attacker.
* When a creature you have grappled hits with an attack, you can expend your reaction to make an unarmed or melee attack on them first. If your attack hits, they have to reroll the triggering attack with disadvantage.
* When a creature you have grappled attempts to cast a spell, you can expend your reaction to make an unarmed or melee attack on them first. If your attack hits, they have to make a concentration check against the damage you deal with your attack or the spell casting attempt fails.

In addition, when a creature you have grappled moves, you can choose to move along with it instead of losing the grapple. You can also grapple creatures more than 1 size larger than you, but you do not reduce their speed from the grapple.

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How is that?

[Yakk]

A copy-edit pass.

Reactive Grappling

When a creature you have grappled moves or is moved, you can choose to move along with it. You can grapple creatures more than 1 size larger than you, but if you do so their speed is not reduced by the grapple.

In addition, you have practiced redirecting your opponents strength into their defeat, using grappling reactively:

* Whenever a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can expend your reaction to move up to half your speed towards and attempt to start an grapple on the attacker.
* If you have a creature grappled and they hit with an attack, you can expend a reaction to make a melee weapon or unarmed attack on them first. If this attack hits, they must reroll the triggering attack with disadvantage.
* If you have a creature grappled and they start casting a spell, you can expend a reaction to make a melee weapon or unarmed attack on them. If this attack hits, they must make a concentration check against the damage done or the spell fails.