I think I've finally got a firm grasp on this one...

Quote Originally Posted by Master Lin
Master Lin: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Grapple with the Grappling Rules


Spoiler: Overview
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Race: SynadCPsi
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (can be any chaotic)
Gender: Male
Classes: Oriental AdventuresWeb DivineUA Bard 1 / Battle DancerDComp 1 / Mantled Psychic WarriorXPH 4

Ability scores: STR 12, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 12, CHA 14 (increase STR at ECL 4)


Spoiler: A letter from a merchant
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My brother, I hope this message finds you in good health, and that the courier did not try to overcharge you; I, lacking money, had to provide her with my jade pendant as collateral, and hope you can hold onto it until I visit you again.

I know it has scarce been a week since I last wrote, but I find myself restless and in need of a soul to tell my tales to, and I fear none in this place would believe me. In my last letter, I revealed my plan to venture to the Mountain Pass Keep and do good business there, as word reached me that a blight had left their food stores low. Eager to be the first to establish a profitable resupplying deal, I set out by myself at once, instructing the wagons to follow me once their business had concluded. Such was my pace that it took me only three days until I stabled my horse and set foot on the hazardous mountain road that snakes between the peaks and up to the fortress.

I had planned to traverse the pass before nightfall, as I knew the mountains at night are no place for a rich man alone. However, a mere hour from my destination, I found a rockslide had ruined the path, leaving me with precious few options. I could try and make camp on the slopes, and risk bandits and wolves - not to mention the rising frostwind, or I could seek a way around the rubble. Electing the second, I quickly found a narrow path winding upwards, and walked (or sometimes, climbed) my way along.

But rather than turn past the rubble, this road instead led to a cave, from which I to my surprise spotted light shining. My fear of bandits did not outweigh the creeping cold, and so I cautiously entered. The inside was plain, but warm and dry, occupied only by a monk warming himself at a small fire. He noticed me, invited me over, and introduced himself as Master Lin, a humble mystic who sought solitude and enlightenment in this barren place. His dedication, I noticed right away, had come at a price: one of his frostbitten feet was missing two toes.

To warm myself, I took out the flask of strong liquor that I keep on me at all times, and to my surprise Master Lin requested a share as well, swallowing down the brew with no apparent effort. Conversation proceeded easily after that; I spoke of the places I had visited, while Master Lin spoke of his youth at a distant monastery, whose venerable master would speak with him at length on matters of philosophy.

The mystic explained that ultimately, he grew dissatisfied with the passive life of a scholar, and his solitude was an aim to achieve martial as much as mental perfection. Reaching into the folds of his robe, he retrieved two thin chains topped with wicked sickles, and proceeded to whirl them around in a frantic dance, shifting here, then there, jumping over the chains as they whirred past, stilling their movement with a single jerk only to rapidly spin them up again. Never did the twisting weapons strike one another, nor did this feat appear exhausting or challenging to the thin man, and I watched the performance with fascination.

Looking back, at times I could have sworn I saw not one but three shadows dancing on the cavern wall behind him, but fatigue and the pleasant haze of inebriation dulled my suspicion, and I wrote it off as my senses playing tricks on me. I went to sleep safe and comfortable, and slept a sleep unmatched by anything in the preceding weeks.

When I woke, Master Lin was awake already; the holy man offered me a thin gruel to break my fast. When I asked him the quickest way back where I came, he smiled enigmatically, and simply instructed me to return to the landslide that had yesterday blocked my path. I did so, hesitantly, unsure what point there was in this deed.

But once I returned, I found the path cleared. Boulders the size of wine-barrels had been pushed aside and stacked into neat rows, piles of rubble had been toppled, a collapsed tree had been dragged to the side of the road. Wondering how this could have happened, I glanced at the thawing mud, where I spotted footprints far too large for any human to have made. They were easily half a meter in length, unshod and, to my shock, at times missing two toes. Frightened yet curious, I rushed back to Master Lin's cave, only to find it empty, the fire put out, his few possessions gone. Mocking, inhuman laughter then echoed through the pass, its source impossible to determine, and I fled in blind panic.

I rushed down the now-clear path, not ceasing my rapid march until I was within sight of the fortress. It was there that I realized my money-pouch had disappeared, as had my liquor flask. Perhaps they were taken in my sleep: perhaps they fell from me during my flight. I care not, and will not be returning for it, for it is clear to me that I survived a brush with a terrible yokai. Never will I travel the mountains alone!

Rejoice that you chose the life of a blacksmith, and are thus spared terrors like these! And if a monk bearing two chains ever enters your store, his face kind yet sly, then attend to his wishes, forge what he needs, and ask a fair price, but never, at any point, let your guard down. May you heed this advice, my brother, and live a long life!


Spoiler: Build Table
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Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st OA Divine Bard 1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Balance +4 (4), Bluff +4 (4), Concentration +4 (4), Sense Motive +4 (4), Sleight of Hand +4 (4), Perform (Dance) +4 (4), Tumble +4 (4) Apprentice (Philosopher)PHBII Bardic Knowledge, Bardic Music, Countersong, Fascinate, Inspire Courage, Spellcasting, Kusari-Gama Proficiency
2nd Battle Dancer 1 +1 +0 +4 +2 Balance +1 (5), Bluff 4, Concentration 4, Sense Motive 4, Sleight of Hand 4, Open Lock +2 (2), Perform (Dance) +1 (5), Tumble +1 (5) Improved Unarmed Strike AC bonus, Unarmed Strike 1d6
3rd Psychic Warrior 1 +1 +2 +4 +2 Balance 5, Bluff +1cc (5), Concentration +1 (5), Sense Motive 4, Sleight of Hand 4, Open Lock 2, Perform (Dance) 5, Tumble 5 Weapon Finesse, Improved Grapple Manifesting
4th MantledWeb Psychic Warrior 2 +2 +3 +4 +2 Balance 5, Bluff 5, Concentration +2 (7), Sense Motive +1 (5), Sleight of Hand 4, Open Lock 2, Perform (Dance) 5, Tumble 5 - Freedom MantleCPsi (+10 speed while focused)
5th Psychic Warrior 3 +3 +3 +5 +3 Balance 5, Bluff 5, Concentration +1 (8), Sense Motive 5, Sleight of Hand +1cc (5), Open Lock 2, Perform (Dance) 5, Tumble 5 - -
6th Psychic Warrior 4 +4 +4 +5 +3 Balance 5, Bluff 5, Concentration +1 (9), Sense Motive 5, Sleight of Hand 5, Open Lock 2, Perform (Dance) +1cc (6), Tumble 5 Scorpion's GraspSand -

Epic feats (in order): Steady ConcentrationRoS, Combat Reflexes, Two-Weapon Fighting, Psionic TalentXPH, Snowflake WardanceFrost, Extra Music, Psionic Talent, Enhanced Synad MultitaskCPsi, Deft OpportunistCAdv, Psionic Talent


Spoiler: Casting and Manifesting
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From level 2 on, Master Lin can cast 2 cantrips a day. His four known spells are Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, and Ghost Sound.

Master Lin's powers known, listed in order of acquisition, are Expansion, Inertial Armor, Dimension Hop, and Grip of Iron.

Master Lin's power point totals are:
ECL 3: 3
ECL 4: 5
ECL 5: 7
ECL 6: 10
Epic4: 12
Epic7: 15
Epic10: 19


Spoiler: Discussion
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First of all, let's explain the race. Synads are human-passing aberrations that long ago fled their home plane via the plane of shadow. This means they can plausibly appear on Rokugan, because the plane of shadow adjoins this world; we know this because Oriental Adventures' tattooed monk can generate a Shadow Walk effect. We make use of them for a couple reasons. First of all, favored class (any) was necessary to avoid multiclass penalties. Secondly, we get +3 power points, which should help enable our PP-hungry strategies in the early game. And lastly, we can 1/day (eventually 2/day) manifest a power as a swift action, which aids in getting Expansion up without cutting into our attacks. There's some other benefits too, which we'll discuss in a second.

This build is essentially an attempt to create the classic 'monklike martial artist' archetype but with a decidedly chaotic bent. We make use of the kusari-gama, one of the more obscure core weapons, which is tucked away in the DMG (page 144). It's basically a short sword with spiked chain properties: has reach, can attack adjacent foes, can be used to trip, can be used to disarm (the latter two are viable combat actions for us at low levels).

No class innately gets proficiency with this weapon, requiring a feat or Master of Masks-type shenanigans - no class, except the bard. Specifically, the oriental adventures bard, an ultra-obscure ACF written to adapt bards to 'eastern' settings, which lets them choose to have kusari-gama proficiency.

So what? You may ask. Bards already have a flexible reach weapon they can use! Whips are right there! To which I say: 1) whips don't actually threaten throughout their reach and 2) whips are one-handed weapons, kusari-gamas are light. Why does that matter? Multiple reasons, actually, but let's focus on the big one: Scorpion's Grasp.

This little feat from Sandstorm lets us try to grapple (Improved Grapple-boosted, Expansion-boosted, Grip of Iron-boosted) anyone we hit with a light or one-handed weapon... like anyone moving through our 50 ft. wide (when expanded, so from our first turn on) threatened area. The synergy with reach weapons is obvious, because if you grab someone, you don't actually move into their space until the start of your next turn. That means that during our enemy's turn, they cannot move towards us (they are grappling; grappling blocks movement), they cannot attack us if they lack sizeable reach, they take all the penalties that grappling imposes on spellcasting (or SLA use!), and they don't threaten or get dexterity to AC, which means our allies can easily move into a flanking position and start hammering the poor sod. Also, whenever we start a grapple we deal damage as if we hit the target with our unarmed strike, which thanks to battle dancer hurts quite a bit.

(Moreover, if we're Expanded we can simply choose to hold medium-sized creatures with a single limb, and because we aren't considered grappling, we get to stay right where we are and keep threatening our area. Sure, they'll probably succeed on their check to escape if we do that, but that's still a turn wasted without loss of actions on our part)

But sure, after a turn of being sitting ducks, we're forced to move into their space and actually fight them. At that point, the fact that the kusari-gama is a light weapon means we can keep wielding it and attack every round without even taking the -4 penalty that'd normally apply, giving us a significant edge in the grapple war (especially because many enemies will be forced to resort to weak single natural attacks or even unarmed strikes). Even a spinning sword or spiked chain can't do that, let alone a whip!

Now, that's nice, but what if you, god forbid, don't want to deal with the hassle that's grappling? What if you just want to ruin your enemy's turns, while still full attacking during your own? Or what if you quickly have to attend to a different problem on the field? Enter Dimension Hop, also known as Get Out Of This Grapple Right Now As A Swift Action. Manifesting it while grappling does require a DC 21 concentration check... which between our maxed-out ranks, our constitution bonus, the +2 from apprentice, and our ability to take 10 from Steady Concentration we are guaranteed to make. At that point, you're 10 feet away from your enemy and you can full attack to immediately lock them down again, often staying out of their reach for another turn that way.

(and because the mandatory start-of-turn movement towards your grappled foe is free, you can actually use this to do tactical positioning and still full attack! I imagine it looks like some kind of spider-man move, where you're ensnaring someone at a distance and launching yourself there with the leverage this provides)

To get more attacks and thus more grapple attempts, we grab Combat Reflexes for 4 AoOs a turn. We also make use of the fact that kusari-gamas are a light weapon and invest in TWF, and to ensure all those attacks hit we pick up Snowflake Wardance (which affects 'any slashing melee weapon you wield in one hand' and thus works with TWF) giving us dexterity and charisma to hit on top of our solid +4 BAB (and eventually, the +4 on AoOs from Deft Opportunist).

Lastly, we take a few copies of Psionic Talent, for the simple reason that our combat routine is quite PP-intensive. Assuming four encounters a day, we now have enough for our two multitasks, one inertial armor, and four PP in fight; enough to manifest Expansion followed by a few Grips of Iron / Dimension Hops.

What about our defenses? We have +5 fortitude (+4 base, +1 con), +8 reflex (+5 base, +3 dex), and +8 will (+3 base, +1 wis, +2 synad, +2 apprentice). Our AC with inertial armor is 14+dex+cha, or 19 under ordinary circumstances; so we have all the bulk of a fighter but none of the encumbrance. In fact, we're faster than most creatures, thanks to the freedom domain. At higher levels we can even consider augmenting IA to get another point of AC out there. And remember that most creatures who get close enough to us to attack will be grappled, so they take -4 on attack rolls anyway. Our HP is a bit less impressive, with only 6+5d8+6 or 34 hit points, but with reflex and AC this great, it's not that big of a deal.

And how's our utility? Well, our skills aren't amazing, but we got enough ranks in Bluff and Sense Motive to be a solid trickster-face (and both give a synergy bonus to diplomacy as well), we can pick pockets, bypass average (DC 25) locks with only basic thieves tools, earn decent money with our dancing, and from time to time contribute a useful cantrip (or craft some downtime alchemical items). We can also bring our bard training to bear and Fascinate people with a save DC of 1d20+8, or roll bardic knowledge checks that Synad can enhance via PP expenditure. It should be clear that we have more depth than your typical grapple barbarian or psychic warrior.

The result is a cool variant on the spiked chain lockdown archetype, somewhat unique in the feats and classes used, as well as the overall strategy; rather than tripping or Stand Still, we stop our enemies by grappling them, which simultaneously grants us free movement, damage, and area control. Most importantly, we make use of an obscure and weird weapon, which is literally the only weapon that this build can work with, and double down on it by taking up dual-wielding.


Spoiler: Scorpion's... Grasps? An ambiguity.
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So the way I read it, grappling restricts what actions you can take, but does not restrict actions already in progress. If I TWF I can hit one foe, start a grapple, hit a different foe with a different weapon, and independently start a grapple there as well (this also makes sense from a narrative perspective, imo). Assuming I don't try to hold them with one hand, they're both considered to be grappling with me, and I am considered to be grappling with both of them, and the grappling rules generally proceed as normal.

The only question mark is the line "To maintain the grapple for later rounds, you must move into the target’s space", which is underspecified if 'target' refers to two separate creatures. However, it doesn't really matter what the DM rules here: whether we all get moved into one space, move into one space but remain grappling the other, move into one space and let go of the other, or end both grapples per the 'immediately let go' clause; we can make it work. This is a very robust build that doesn't need to delve into the nitty-gritty of grappling rules to be dangerous, so small ambiguities like this don't really bother us.