Source
r/3d6•
IntheCenterRing

Grappler or Tavern Brawler?

D&D 5e

Hi all, I’m building my Level 3 Half Orc Path of the Beasts Barbarian and I’m between the Grappler and Tavern Brawler feats. My character has 19 / 14 / 16 / 8 / 14 / 8 and my 19 Strength is from Gauntles of Ogre Power, otherwise it’d be a 17.

I plan to heavily use the Claw attack I get from Rage which I’m discussing with my DM to count as unarmed strikes much like Tabaxis, meaning I could use my bonus action to grapple if I take Tavern Brawler plus the + 1 to strength or con. On the other hand, is advantage on attacks while grappling with Grappler which could come in handy because 1 attack action means 2 claw attacks for Path of the Beasts.

Just looking for some insight ans thank you!

Posted Sep 24, 2020, 8:37 PM UTC · edited

27
spaninq•

Never take Grappler, it's a trap feat.

Instead, just Grapple and Shove.

16
Jimmicky•

Tavern Brawler all the way.

Grappler is a trap.

Yes with grappler you could use an attack to grapple and then get adv. but with TB you can use an Attack to Shove Prone then BA grapple and suddenly your attacks against that target are getting advantage (because attacks within 5’ against a prone opponent get advantage, standing from prone uses movement, and a grappled target has 0 movement so can not stand up without first escaping the grapple)

There are probably some very niche builds where Grappler is a good idea, but in general it’s a deeply terrible feat.

12
IntheCenterRingOP•

That is a great point on advantage from going prone, thank you for pointing that out!

3
JukeTales•

I vote tavern brawler to pick up that +1 strength. Plus you can grapple with a bonus action.

10
Wreten314•

You gain advantage from reckless attack. Why do you need it from grappler? Take Tavern Brawler.

4
Ragnorack1•

If your Dm is cool with tavern brawler working with your claws I would definitely go with that. Theres a lot of difference in opinion in DM's on "piledriving", but with path of the beats level 6 ability to add the result of an athletics check to your jump height, you have the potential to attack 3 times, grapple and then jump with them +10 feet for little extra damage and prone them sets you up nicely for attacking at advantage next turn while they will have disadvantage, giving you all the positives of the grappler feats with out the negatives.

2
IntheCenterRingOP•

That’s a really interesting combo, I’ll have to read up on that! Thank you for replying!

1