If you ever wanted to swing a goblin like a flail at his friends, armbar the dark wizard into submission, or suplex an owlbear, consider trying this grappler build for the Tales of the Valiant roleplaying game.

The Tales of the Valiant roleplaying game is published by Kobold Press and expands on 5th edition D&D. One of the exciting things about the system is that new class features, updated feats called talents, and changes for more flexible character creation allow players to revisit and explore new character builds.

This short series does not min-max builds for power gaming. The goal is to showcase some interesting builds unique to Tales of the Valiant and describe why some choices may be strong options. Player builds don’t need to be optimal to have fun. Sometimes a build can even revolve around doing something suboptimal that is more fun than being maximally effective.

Grapplers are a well-defined, albeit niche, character build in 5E with great single target control and support for frontline melee allies. Options primarily revolved around layering features to add advantage and expertise to STR (Athletics) checks to optimize grappling and shoving enemies. Because the mechanic focuses on contested ability checks rather than armor class or saving throws, most enemies usually had weaker bonuses and were more susceptible to being grappled or shoved prone.

The weaknesses of the archetype generally included low damage output, effectiveness against mobs of enemies, and reduced mobility while grappling. Tales of the Valiant includes updates to some features for grappling to help address some of these shortcomings. So let’s see what that looks like.

Level 1: starting out.

While playing a monk might seem like a better fit as the martial arts class, monks generally prioritize DEX and WIS, and they also need CON for their lower d8 hit die. Grappling requires STR (Athletics) ability checks, which is none of those. It would be difficult for monks to further prioritize STR. It spreads out ability scores too much. Monks are better strikers, punching up to three times a round at early levels and having mobility to weave around melee.  

Choose the barbarian class

For barbarians, the d12 hit die for hit points and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing while raging help survivability while tanking at the frontline. Raging also gives advantage to STR saves and ability checks, which is great for grappling, and Rage Damage for bonus to damage rolls on STR melee weapon attacks, including unarmed attacks. The number of uses of Rage is limited at the start to only two per long rest. Because grappling and shoving are special melee attacks, they count for maintaining Rage.

One huge change to barbarians in ToV versus the SRD is that the Unarmored Defense class feature now has AC equal to 13 + CON modifier instead of DEX. Because DEX is no longer required, we can focus on STR and CON without sacrificing armor class. DEX is still a great stat, but Danger Sense at 2nd level gives you advantage on DEX saves and Feral Instincts at 6th level gives advantage to initiative rolls, so going low on DEX doesn’t sink you.

Ability Scores

Using the point buy method, a balanced set of ability scores looks like this:

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17	10	16	8	12	10

At 4th level when we get our first Improvement, get a talent and increase one ability score by 1, putting STR up to 18. Then at 8th level, increase STR by 2 for STR 20. Because the earliest we could increase CON would be 12th level, we would be stuck at AC 16 for Unarmored Defense (13 + 3) for the large duration of the campaign, slightly higher when we use a shield. DEX and WIS are still important abilities for barbarians to save against spells and conditions. Being charmed or frightened is such a common tactic to shutdown barbarians that the Berserker subclass includes a feature at 7th level, Mindless Rage, to protect against that.

An alternative start for maximum STR could be:

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18	10	16	8	11	8

In ToV, all players have enough flexibility in character building to start with their primary stat at 18. Playing through Tier 1 (Levels 1–4) with a +4 ability modifier to the primary ability is powerful when you are more likely to hit and deal additional damage when the enemy hit point total are lower. Increase STR by 2 with your Improvement at 4th level and max it out early, keeping slightly ahead of the curve of encounter difficulty. The tradeoff for this strong start is having other weaker stats, with ability modifiers of 0 or −1 for other stats.   

Lineage

Picking human nets you the Ambitious lineage feature which gives you a talent and proficiency in one skill of your choice. Choose the Athletic talent, which doubles your PB for ability checks using Athletics skill. This is important for grappling to scale with level gain. It also increases how much you can lift or carry for grappled enemies and improves mobility when getting up from prone or needing to jump more distance.

Heritage

You’ve got flexibilty for this build and can base this off your character concept to fit backstory. Some good options:

1) Wildlands. Interacting with animals fits a classic primal barbarian character concept.
2) Vexed. Treating any d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10 for making saves to resist becoming charmed or possessed could be helpful in early game.
3)Supplicant. Gaining a trait that lets you Disengage as bonus action can be good in the frontline.

Background

Take Rustic. Choose the Hand to Hand talent.

While being a barbarian always has the option to swing around a battleaxe or carry a shield, keeping both hands free lets you grapple up to two creatures at a time, one in each hand. Having better attacks with unarmed strikes at 1d6 + STR and being able to pick up things in the environment as improvised weapons helps increase damage output. This talent also gives advantage on ability checks to initiate or escape a grapple, reducing reliance on the limited use of Rage to generate advantage.

When you start your turn grappled with or restrained by a creature, that creature takes bludgeoning damage equal to your STR modifier. If you are grappling two creatures, one in each hand, that is potentially 3 or 4 damage automatically at the start of your turn to each, no action and no rolls. You can also consider talking to your GM to see if you can use a grappled creature as an improvised weapon or if you can knock the heads of the creatures you are grappling into each other as an attack. It’s not strictly in the rules, but it’s awesome and it’s not going to break the game.

Skills

Proficiency in Athletics is mandatory. Other good options include Perception, Survival, Animal Handling, and Acrobatics. Class, heritage, and background can be easily mix ‘n’ matched to get you all of these, but the human lineage also gives you some flexibility in your choices.

Level 2:  Danger Sense helps out with a low DEX.

Reckless Attack is usually great for barbarians but doesn’t help with grappling.

A grappled creature’s speed becomes 0. If you grapple a creature and then shove it prone, it won’t have any speed to be able to stand up while grappled. Your prone target now has disadvantage on attack rolls, and melee attacks against it within 5 feet have advantage. This is probably a better way to generate advantage for your attacks and support your allied party members in melee combat than using Reckless Attack, though it uses your turns to grapple them. Your rogue loves it though.

Level 3: choose the Wild Fury subclass.

For Animal Focus, Toad is an amazing option, gaining resistance to all damage types except psychic while raging. However, for this grappling build, choosing Alligator is one of the key draws. While raging, creatures you grapple are also restrained, and your speed isn’t halved while carrying or dragging a creature.

Being restrained is similar to prone, in that the target has disadvantage on attack rolls. The difference is that all attack rolls against the target have advantage, including ranged or reach, and the target has disadvantage on DEX saves. Getting this through using a single action to grapple is amazing. On op of that, you gain a bonus action to deal force damage equal to your STR modifier + your rage damage bonus to your grappling target. Get into the enemy backline while raging, grapple their puny spellcaster, and walk him over to your party’s rogue, all while bearhugging him for free damage.

Level 4: use your Improvement.

Part of the choice for whether to start with STR 17 or 18 depends on your interest in the Wrestling Mastery talent vs. increasing STR to 20 at 4th level. Both are strong choices.

Wrestling Mastery gives an action for a contested ability check to restrain a grappled creature. Shoving prone as part of the attack action is going to usually be more efficient after getting Multiattack at 5th level, but there may be times when you are not raging that you want to specifically restrain an enemy. The best parts of the feat are giving you advantage to attack enemies you have grappled and triggering additional bludgeoning damage equal to your STR modifier at the start of the target’s turn. If you are grappling two creatures, this could represent an additional 4 damage to each per round, plus the 4 damage each at the start of your turn from Hand to Hand, with no action and no roll needed. The advantage for attacks after grappling synergies well with Multiattack and Brutal Critical at 9th level.

Level 5: enjoy Multiattack.

You can now grapple twice, grapple and shove prone, or grapple and punch a creature. Fast Movement increases speed by 10 and lets you move half your speed at the start of combat to get closer to melee.

Levels 6–8

In tier 2, things get a little less defined, but you’ve still got a solid main plan: get into melee to grapple, shove prone, and punch. Rage is up to four times per long rest. Taking a magic items such as a shield +1 or battleaxe +1 keeps you from being a one-trick pony. A magic javelin (ideally with a returning charm) can give you an important ranged option. Any magic item that enhances unarmed strikes is also good to help against monsters with resistance to nonmagical attacks.

Level 9 and on

Damage from Hand to Hand and Wrestling Mastery starts to get outscaled by enemies’ hit points at these levels. Brutal Critical  at 9th level and Empowered Rage: Shark at 15th level add more damage. Grappling still helps your allies in combat, but stay mindful of creatures with immunity to conditions like prone and restrained.

Spellcasting enemies might also have ways to teleport out of a grapple, so find ways to stop verbal and somatic components or tactically choose other enemies to grapple. Have fun with the fact that all the BBEG’s high AC and legendary resistances won’t stop the raging barbarian from grappling them and piledriving them into the ground!