Grappling in D&D 5e Explained: How It Works (& How to Escape)

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An in-depth look at defeating foes by grappling them in combat
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You’re in the middle of a fight in D&D and your dungeon master asks if you want to grapple an enemy—but what does that mean? And, more importantly, how does it work? In 5e, the grapple action allows you to try and grab an enemy and hold them in place. A successful grapple is determined by your character’s Athletics skill check, contested by your target’s skill check. Keep reading to learn all about the grapple action in combat, plus how to apply the grappled condition to affected targets!

Grapple 5e: Overview

The grapple action involves grabbing a target and reducing their movement speed to 0. To do this, make an Athletics check contested by the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics. If you roll higher, your target is considered grappled. If your target rolls higher, they escape the grapple.

Section 1 of 6:

What is grappling in D&D 5e?

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  1. To grapple an enemy, use an action to make a contested Strength (Athletics) check against an Athletics or Dexterity (Acrobatics) from your target. Your PC (player character) must have at least one free hand to do this. If you win the contest (meaning you roll the higher check), your target is grappled and held in place. [1]
    • Size requirements . You can only grapple creatures up to one size category larger than your PC. So, if your PC is Medium (which is the average size for most PCs), you can grapple creatures that are Tiny, Small, Medium, or Large.
    • Movement . You can move and drag (or carry) a grappled creature along with you; however, your PC’s movement speed will be halved unless the grappled creature is at least two sizes smaller than your PC.
    • If you choose to grapple a creature, you’ll have to give up one of your PC’s attacks—so if you only have 1 attack, you’ll have to choose between grappling and attacking.
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Section 2 of 6:

What is the grappled condition?

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  1. Once a creature is grappled, they automatically get the “grappled” condition—which essentially takes away their ability to move. A grappled creature’s movement is immediately reduced to 0, and they can’t benefit from any enhancements to their speed, meaning they’re stuck until the grapple ends. [2]
    • A creature’s movement speed determines how far they can walk in a single round.
    • Many PCs in 5e have an average walking speed of 30 feet—but if your PC gets grappled, that means their walking speed would temporarily drop from 30 feet to 0.
Section 3 of 6:

How to Escape a Grapple

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  1. The main way to escape a grapple is through a contested check. On your turn, you can spend an action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, opposed by an Athletics check from the creature grappling you. If your check is higher, you break the grapple. Other ways to escape a grapple include: [3]
    • Teleportation . If you have a teleport spell like Misty Step or Dimension Door at your disposal, use it to disappear and reappear outside of the grapple.
    • Forced movement . Spells like Thunderwave or Gust, which can push targets away, can be used to break a grappler’s hold on you.
    • Incapacitation . Incapacitated creatures automatically lose the ability to grapple, so try incapacitating your grappler—by stunning them (with Stunning Strike, for example), paralyzing them (with Hold Person, for example), or knocking them unconscious.
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Section 4 of 6:

Advice for Grappling Enemies

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  1. The main perk of grappling an opponent is being able to line up additional attacks on them more easily. So, if you’re playing a martial class and can make more than one attack per action, consider using your first attack to grapple an opponent, then make regular weapon strikes on the rest of your attacks. [4]
    • For example, the fighter class gets a second attack at level 5, a third at level 11, and a fourth at level 20.
    • So, if you’re playing a level 12 fighter and fighting a troll, you could grapple the troll with your first attack, then use the next two to hit the troll with your weapon (while keeping it grappled).
  2. You can roll melee attacks with advantage against a creature with the prone condition (lying on the ground, off their feet). So, if you knock an enemy prone and then grapple it, you can effectively prevent the enemy from standing back up and ensure all melee attacks against that enemy will have advantage while the grapple lasts. [5]
    • If you have a PC with a high Strength score, you can use the Shove action to knock a target prone.
    • Furthermore, if another party member is strong too, you can coordinate attacks—with one of you knocking your target prone and the other grappling them.
    • The Shove action works similarly to Grapple: when you shove a creature, make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the creature’s Athletics or Acrobatics. If you roll higher, you shove the creature to the ground!
  3. Enlarge/Reduce is a spell with two different effects: you can choose to grow one size category larger or one category smaller. If you choose the Enlarge option, your PC will get advantage on Strength checks and saving throws—which means you’ll have an even better chance of grappling (and shoving) enemies. [6]
    • Enlarge/Reduce is a 2nd-level transmutation spell available to artificers, sorcerers, and wizards.
    • Advantage means you can roll your d20 twice and take the higher result, thus increasing your chances of success.
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Section 5 of 6:

How to Build a Grappler Character

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  1. You can choose your PC’s race in D&D 5e, and any race with an innate Strength bonus or other natural advantages for grappling would be the best choice if you’re trying to put together a character build that’s especially proficient with the Grapple action. For example: [7]
    • Aarakocra can fly (and carry creatures if they’re strong). So, if you make a high-Strength aarakocra, you could grapple an enemy, pick them up, and drop them from a height.
    • Duergar have the innate ability to cast Enlarge/Reduce, so a duergar character can take advantage of that to get advantage on grapple checks.
    • Goliaths get a +2 to Strength and can carry twice their normal carrying capacity, making them capable of grappling powerful enemies with a high Strength score.
    • Half-orcs get a +2 Strength bonus and increased damage on critical hits, which you can use if you grapple an enemy and start attacking them.
    • Mountain dwarves get a +2 Strength and +1 Constitution bonus, which is good for grappling.
    • Variant humans get an extra feat at level 1, which you can use to take one of the feats below and make your character a proficient grappler as soon as possible.
  2. Once again, since grappling is Strength-based, any class requiring a high Strength score is ideal for turning your character into a master grappler. Additionally, there are a few subclasses that offer additional helpful perks, including: [8]
    • Fighter (Battle Master) . Battle Masters can use maneuvers (which are a special subclass feature) to make their grapples more effective—including a Trip Attack, which knocks enemies prone.
    • Fighter (Rune Knight) . Rune Knights essentially have their own version of the Enlarge spell, with a class feature that allows them to increase their size and grapple bigger targets.
    • Barbarian (Battlerager) . Any barbarian is good at grappling by virtue of their Rage feature, which grants advantage on Strength checks. However, the Battlerager also gets to inflict increased damage against grappled foes.
  3. Feats are optional abilities that become available as your PC levels up—and luckily, there are a few feats practically tailor-made for a grappler PC. Additionally, 5e has a wide range of skills that represent specific aspects of each ability score, and the most important skill for a grappler to have is Athletics—so make sure your PC is proficient! [9]
    • Fighting Initiate . You can master Unarmed Fighting with this feat and inflict extra damage to enemies, both while grappling them and making unarmed attacks.
    • Grappler . This makes your grapples more effective; with it, you can also attempt to restrain targets you grapple, giving attack rolls against them advantage while giving the target disadvantage on their attacks.
    • Skill Expert . If you’re proficient with Athletics, you can use Skill Expert to give your PC expertise, doubling your proficiency bonus and giving you an even higher Athletics modifier.
    • Tavern Brawler . This feat lets you increase your PC’s Strength by +1 and allows you to grapple a target as a bonus action after hitting them with an unarmed strike (or improvised weapon).
  4. The only thing you really need to grapple a creature is at least one free hand—but if you want to make your PC a better grappler by increasing their Strength score, there are a few magical items capable of that. [10]
    • Gauntlets of Ogre Power set the wearer’s Strength score to 19.
    • A Belt of Giant Strength can significantly increase the wearer’s Strength score depending on the belt type.
    • Giant Strength belts range from the Belt of Hill Giant Strength (which increases the wearer’s score to 21) to the Belt of Storm Giant Strength (which sets the wearer’s Strength to 29).
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Section 6 of 6:

How does a grapple interact with other actions?

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  1. Since the only real effect of the grappled condition is reducing your speed to 0, that means there’s no effect on your ability to attack (either with a weapon or a spell). Just note that if you have a melee weapon (like a sword), you can only attack enemies within their immediate reach since they can’t move. [11]
    • Still, if you’re grappled, you can absolutely attack the creature grappling you without suffering disadvantage or taking any other penalties.
    • In fact, if you aren’t proficient with Athletics or Acrobatics, a spell or weapon attack might be the easiest way for you to get out of a grapple!
  2. Because you can’t move while grappled, that means any movement-based buffs or actions won’t work until the grapple is broken. You won’t benefit from any bonuses to your speed (like having your speed doubled from a Haste spell), and you can’t take an action to Dash away because you’re being held in place. [12]
  3. Luckily, being grappled won’t force you to make any rolls—be they ability checks, saving throws, or attacks—with disadvantage. Similarly, being grappled won’t give enemies advantage on checks or attacks against you (unless there’s another condition affecting you, like being prone). [13]
    • If the DM asks you for a check or save while grappled, roll normally with a single d20 (unless a different buff or debuff is affecting you, like Bless or Bane).
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      References

      1. ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
      2. ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
      3. ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
      4. ↑ http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/fighter
      5. ↑ https://5thsrd.org/rules/conditions/
      6. ↑ https://5thsrd.org/spellcasting/spells/enlargereduce/
      7. ↑ https://5thsrd.org/character/races/half-orc/
      8. ↑ https://5thsrd.org/character/classes/fighter/
      9. ↑ http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/feat:grappler
      1. ↑ http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:belt-of-giant-strength
      2. ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
      3. ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
      4. ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf

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