Hei all!
Been playing my Orc Rune Knight Fighter for a while now and it has been a blast! He grapples basically anything that the DM throws at us including an Owlbear and a Giant (rune knight, fuck yeah). Of course, sometimes he grapples successfuly, sometimes he doesn’t.
I think the build is pretty solid but surely there are ways to improve. I’m not sure if I want to keep grappling that much or if I want to go more the direction of brute force fighting.
I’ve been playing with a warpick and a shield to get that juicy +2 for AC and use it to steamroll enemies but not sure if I should keep the shield.
Current stats at level 7:
- STR: 20
- DEX: 14
- CON: 16
- INT: 12
- WIS: 15
- CHA: 14
I already took the “Skill Expert” feat to get expertise in Athletics and now have a juicy +11 in that skill. If I activate my frost rune, I get another +2 on top of that.
So, any ideas for fighting styles, multiclassing, ASI, feats, weapons or anything else that could make him even more of a badass while fighting?
Did you grab tavern brawler? It has some grapple related actions.
Hmmm for some reason I’ve not thought about picking it but will definitely check it again!
It’s pretty decent. On top of the grappling bonus action, it gives you proficiency with improvised weapons. This helps when you’re using your shield as an improvised weapon because your other hand is holding someone.
I just found my next feat I think. “Fey Touched”. I know it’s only once per long rest but get this: You get Misty Step AND another 1st level spell from School of Divination or School of Enchantment. School of Enchantment has “Hex” as a first level spell. Imma hex them, choose either STR or DEX, depending on the description of the enemy from the DM. Since I can’t cast two spells in one round, I’m gonna use Misty Step the next round and do a teleports behind you nothing personnel, kid - move, then use Action Surge to do the shove / grapple combo. Fuck, I already look forward to the next level up.
It is totally fine to kick or knee or headbutt someone for your unarmed strikes when your hands are busy–this is true with or without Tavern Brawler
True, but without Tavern Brawler, unarmed strikes deal less damage than improvised weapons.
Something that doesn’t directly affect grappling, but that could definitely be beneficial, would be looking at ways to increase your movement speed. The faster you are, the easier it is to drag enemies to the edges of cliffs
Good idea! I already have the “Aggressive” trait from being an Orc but this only allows movement towards an enemy. I’ll look around for ways to improve speed.
How are you grappling if you have both hands full?
I dish out some damage with the warpick and usually throw it at an enemy or simply drop it in the middle of combat. Sometimes I throw away the shield too or use it to grapple, like topple an enemy and then use the shield to pin them down as a ‘grapple’. I try to flavor it differently, depending on combat situation, as not to make it too boring for everyone while just going “Imma grapple them”.
I mean, if your DM is letting you grapple with a shield definitely keep doing that lol.
But apart from that, remember the old grapple-shove combo. A prone creature cannot stand up while grappled. So if you can do both to the same target, they can’t move until they beat you in 2 athletics contests, and they have disadvantage on attacks while prone.
He only lets me do it when I have one hand free to technically ‘grapple’ and I have to topple/shove them to make them prone. But thanks for the reminder!
I try not to do ‘unrealistic’ grappling and try to use the tools I have to grapple. For example, use the pick to pierce their limbs and keep them in place or pin them down with the shield when prone. But always with a hand free to make the condition to grapple legit.
A player in our party recently got a magic item that can boost your athletics and double your move speed once per day. I didn’t get how useful it could be until I saw him grapple an evil priest and just fucking drag him from one side of the map to the other.
Turns out grapple + double move speed + dash action is super awesome for getting enemies out of position and screwing up their formation.
So my recommendation is to look for ways to boost move speed. This quora post lists some ways: https://www.quora.com/What-are-all-the-ways-to-increase-movement-speed-in-D-D-5e
I’m sure you can find more if you talk to your party members or DM though. Off the top of my head, Glamour Bards have an ability that lets the whole party move up to their movement speed as a reaction. Then there’s Haste obviously. Ask your party if they have any spells or features that can make you fast 😃
I’ll make sure to check with them! Looking through Feats right now to see if there is something to boost speed.
