Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DamnYouAll 01-13-06, 11:19 PM	I've been playing D&D for a long time, and I've noticed that the grapple is very underappreciated. Bears and other animals are very scary when they use their grappling abilities effectively. I've been looking for awhile, and I can't find any classes that seem to be actually good at grappling. Even the Reaping Mauler, they're just simply outclassed by creatures larger then themselves, and they can't seem to do enough damage to justify taking the class. Is there any way, feats, items, abilities, etc, that would enable me to play a grappler-type character, and keep up with my fellow PCs?
wagner_98 01-13-06, 11:33 PM	I made a 4 fighter/ 3 Rogue/ 5 Streetfighter once that turned out pretty cool. I took the following feats: Improved Unarmed Strike Improved Grapple Knife Fighter (Players Guide to Faerun) Close Quarters Combat (CW) Combat Expertise (Prereq for Streetfighter) Improved Feint (Prereq for Streetfighter) Improved Initiative Improved Disarm Two Weapon Fighting I thought about taking Clever Wrestling too, hell I still am debating it.
Kirech 01-13-06, 11:49 PM	A monk can be a pretty good grappler. Make sure you don't take Improved Grapple for your freebie feat, though. The prerequisites (which you bypass) for Stunning Fist are much more severe, and that feat is very useful to a grappler. Weakening Touch from CW helps reduce your opponent's effectiveness, as does Stone Monkey from Dragon Magazine. The halfling level 7 racial sub. level gives you +4 when grappling large or bigger enemies, making it an interesting choice. The way I look at it, the key advantage to grappling in a pitched battle is that it takes your opponent out of the larger fight right from the beginning. The key disadvantage is that it also takes you out of the larger fight at the same time. Put full ranks into tumble, and tackle the wizard on round one. Advantage: Your Team.
Kirech 01-13-06, 11:52 PM	The problem with Clever Wrestling is that it only helps if you want out of the grapple. A good grappler wants to keep grappling, generally.
Nom 01-14-06, 01:31 AM	Most of the time, grappling hampers both grapplers. Against one opponent and in the company of a rogue, this is often a good thing. Unless you are thinking about a nasty creature with Improved Grab, don't think of grappling as a way to single-handledly take down an opponent. Rather, it's "I'll hold him down while you beat him to a pulp.".
ScipioX 01-14-06, 01:40 AM	To be a good grappler, you really want classes with full BAB and very high strength. My last grappler was a Barb/Fighter/Bear Warrior/Frenzied Berzerker/Warshaper. Only lost 1 point of BAB from warshaper, and could turn into a bear with 40ish strength. This made grappling pretty easy.
Earthcrosser599 01-14-06, 03:53 AM	Most of the grappling characters I see have the specialized job of picking out a single enemy and removing him from the fight until everyone else has time to deal with him. They choose the greatest threat that they can realistically stop and sit there waiting for someone else to get done with his or her business before walking over and finishing the job. It's pretty cut and dry, and they rarely kill anything. Most of the players get bored after 2 or 3 fights and make something else. For what its worth, most of the grapplers I see are barbarians, with fighters close behind.