Quote Originally Posted by herrhauptmann View Post
I haven't used grappling too much in the various editions, but I was wondering how useful it is against a monster like a dragon.

Assuming you can get the size to grapple it, and a high enough athletics to succeed, is it actually good? Against casters? Of course. But dragons?

It looks like a dragon would only get one try to break out, since multi attack is a single attack action. Different from fighters who get iterative attacks in a turn. But that doesn't stop the dragon from roasting the party with dragonbreath, or unloading multiple attacks via multi attack and just mauling the grappler to death. So is grappling really going to do anything? Especially if it locks down the main melee damage dealer?
A dragon's main tactical advantage over humanoids is their high flying speed. Being able to pick and choose which PC they're attacking, being able to stay out of a lot of melee characters' range if they want to, being able to hit-n-run with their breath, and being able to just flee means the dragon can control the flow of the combat in situations where less mobile foes would just be stuck fighting a group of adventurers on the adventurers' terms, which is never a good situation to be in.

A successful grapple destroys that advantage, for as long as it lasts.

So yes, grappling is going to do a lot.

It doesn't "lock down the main melee damage dealer", either, it keeps the main melee danage dealer in melee range of the dragon, which is a great thing. Grappling does not prevent attacking.

Sure, it doesn't prevent being multiattacked or breathed on by te dragon... but it's not like *not* grappling the dragon would protect you from that.

Also, once the dragon is grappled, the grappler can shove them prone, meaning that all of the dragon's melee attacks will be made at disadvantage, while all the group's melee attacks are made with advantage. Often a death sentence, when action economy is already working against the dragon (unless they got allies).