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The “flying grappler” build

So, I recently looked at the harpy stat block in the Monster Manual. Pretty cool monsters if done well, but the most important aspect of these is pretty simple : harpies can fly and have talons. Not the adventurers. But when I saw the stat block, I was actually pretty confused. Why don’t they have anything related to grappling ? I mean, those monsters are cruel. I think they would actually grapple an enemy and throw it from the air onto the ground to fuck them up.

I quickly understood why it wouldn’t be a good idea to give better grappling abilities to harpies, as it would simply make them way too fucking strong as CR1 monsters. Being able to dish cumulate 4d6 bludgeoning damages ( if they grappled some guy and then used only Dash to lift them up in the sky ) to a maximum of 20d6 (!) and making sure the enemy WILL take the damage if it frees itself is kind of powerful. Especially since they could do it again and again.

But then, I thought... Would that be possible for players to achieve ?

So, once I woke up, I spent a few hours thinking about a build that could literally make a character use the strongest weapons of them all. Because you may be strong... But no one is stronger than gravity. So, without further uninteresting life shenanigans, let’s get to the build itself.

The base stuff

First off, it should be noted that this build, if you want to play it optimally, requires you to actively build around it. That means that you’re gonna need to play a specific race and a specific class if you want it to be efficient. You can’t really improvise yourself a flying grappler, so there are two prerequisites. Well, three but that third one comes later.

Anyway, what you’ll first need to do is make your character an Aarakocra. If you’re wondering “why should that kind of character only be an Aarakocra ?”, well... Because of this :

That’s right. You’ll need to be an Aarakocra because you can fly. Pretty neat, right ? And probably the best feature to have when, you know... You want to be a FLYING grappler. It could be argued that you could do this build with any race if you have an item that grants you flight, but those are pretty rare and limited in use, whereas the Aarakocra’s ability to fly is not and accessible from level 1 onward. Plus, they do fly pretty fast, and that’s important if you want to accumulate fall damage quickly ( reminder that the rate is 1d6 bludgeoning per 10 feet of fall ).

Second important thing to pick is your class. As you probably know, grappling works in a way that, while using the Attack action, you can make a contest with your target ( your Strength (Athletics) roll vs. their Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) ). So, your most important stat is going to be Strength, right ? So what you’re going to pick is... You guessed it.

That’s right. You’re gonna be a Rogue.

“What ? A Rogue ? What the fuck are you talking about, Fairy ? Rogues don’t use Strength, their main stat is Dexterity !”

I know, I know, but let me explain to you why Rogue is your best choice here. First, let’s look at the skills you can pick.

That’s interesting. And why is that interesting ? Because Athletics is your skill for grappling. Yeah, fair enough, other classes can pick that, like paladins or fighters, but Rogue has a feature that neither of them have.

DOUBLE THAT PROFICIENCY BONUS, BABY. That’s right, guys. Expertise is what makes the Rogue an excellent class for a grappler, since this class feature lets you double your Proficiency bonus with Athletics, giving you a nice +4 bonus at level 1 and getting even better when you get more powerful, to a really nice +12 at 17th level. Without your potential Strengh modifier, but we’ll get to that later. Also, Cunning Action will let you use Dash as much as you want, letting you ignore the speed penalty you normally have while grappling someone.

Anyway, while we’re at it, you should have at least 13 Strength before level 4. Or at least, before level 8. At these levels, you should grab one of these :

I’d suggest taking Grappler first, as it synergize incredibly well with your class, since you’re a Rogue. And you know why ? Because it lets you use Sneak Attack as much as you want, once you grapple something. Because remember. With Grappler, you have advantage on attack rolls against the thing you’re grappling. Advantage means SNEAK ATTACK. Also, the part letting you grapple Large creatures is pretty neat too.

Tavern Brawler is pretty neat too, but not as important as Grappler, in my opinion. The Strength boost is pretty neat and could help you if you don’t have 13 Strength yet, and the grapple on a bonus action can be useful in some situations, I guess.

Now, with the basics out of the way, let’s see some items that could be really useful to you, while playing this build.

I have an item dependancy or how to lift stuff from the ground more efficiently

So, you know the base stuff you need to play a flying grappler. You need Strength and the ability to fly and to keep going fast. So, here are some items you could use to help you out on that path.

-Belt of Giant Strength ( any rarity ). Or, at the very least, Gauntlets of Ogre Power. If you’re not familiar with those items, the belts and the gauntlets are items requiring Attunement and setting your Strength to a fixed number, affecting your Strength modifier. What’s interesting about those is that they can go higher than your maximum natural Strength ( except for the Gauntlets ), with the best belt ( the Storm giant one ) giving you a nice 29 Strength. That’s a +9 Strength modifier, right there. And that’s absolutely fucking great with your already absurd Grappling modifier, Expertise at level 17 with a Storm giant Belt would give you a +21 modifier to every Grapple check. Making you virtually impossible to escape. Or even to catch.

-Ring of Free Action ( rare ). This one is probably more important than the Belt. What’s the worst thing that could happen to a character depending really hard on movement to put out the maximum amount of damage ? Some cheeky cunt trying to slow you down by any means. What does that great little ring does ? Well, simply put, it makes you impossible to slow down, paralyze or restrain magically. Meaning that once you grapple a guy, this guy is going down... Or up, and then down. It does require Attunement, but for the benefits it gives you, it’s well worth the Attunement.

-Literally any Finesse melee weapon. Why ? Because you’re a Rogue and you need that Finesse weapon to deal your sweet, sweet Sneak Attack. Any Finesse weapon is fine, as long as it’s melee. Because remember. You have advantage on stuff you grapple. And once it’s grappled, the TARGET must get out. You don’t waste an action keeping it grappled. Also, Finesse lets you choose your damage modifier : Strength of Dexterity.

There are a few other items that could be considered to help you out or could simply be fun, so let’s just list a few I could think of. There might be more, so let your imagination run wild !

-Cloak/Ring of Invisibility. Because the only thing that is worst than a flying grappler is an invisible flying grappler.

-Manual of Bodily Health. This one is pretty tricky. At first glance, it could help you a great deal : +2 Strength, letting you augment your maximum by +2 too. What’s not great about this thing ? Well, first off, the fact that it’s not that great on its own. Sure, it’s a +2 Strength, but what’s the point of it if you’re already using the Belt of Giant Strength ? Second off, in a “normal” party, you’re not getting it. You’re a Rogue. Your Barbarian, Fighter or Monk might want that. And need it more than you do. The same could be said about the Belt, but it’s easier to get the belt, since it can still change owners, whereas the manual is a one-time use.

-Anything that could protect you from projectiles or spells. You’re flying. You’re an easy target. And your AC is probably not that great. Sure, you may have stuff to mitigate the damage a bit, but you’re still an easy target. And an evident one at that.

Rogue archetype : because you’re probably the worst thief ever

For this section, we’re going to talk a little more about the rogue archetypes. Mainly the one in the Player’s Handbook, because that’s where the most interesting ones are.

-Thief : Probably the worst archetype out of all three base archetypes for this build, the Thief archetype not being combat oriented makes it pretty bad. Fast Hands is useless for what you’re going to be doing. Second-Story Work is absolutely useless because of your ability to fly. Supreme Sneak is okay-ish, but not that great since you’re going to want to go fast. Use Magic Device could be useful but not all that great and Thief’s Reflexes could have great potential. Unfortunately, it’s way too little to justify using this archetype for this build. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to be the worst thief ever.

-Assassin : Without a doubt the best archetype you could get for your bird. Assassinate just makes your Grapple so much easier if you go first/attack by surprise that it just makes it ridiculous. Infiltration Expertise and Impostor aren’t that great for the build, but could be useful outside of battle. And finally, Death Strike will push your surprise attacks into the stuff of nightmare for anything that is alive, as not only will it let you Sneak Attack with a crit, it could possibly double the damage of that first attack. And then, you can Grapple with your bonus action. Really good synergy with a something of invisibility, for evident reasons.

-Arcane Trickster : This is a weird one, honestly, as it makes Intelligence one of your most important stats, along with Strength. However, it could be pretty good for one reason : the spell Enlarge/Reduce. Simply put, this spell could let you grapple creatures of one more Size level when active, making the build more useful against bigger monsters. Other than that, magic is always quite an asset. It’s still magic, after all. The feats, however... Mage Hand Legerdemain can see some use outside of battle. Magical Ambush is basically useless as is, because if you can surprise an enemy, you’re probably going to try and grapple it instead. Versatile Trickster is a bit redundant, as you’re probably going to grapple and have Advantage anyway. Spell Thief, however, can be a pretty good protection against any kind of big spell thrown at you.

How to throw stuff to the ground

Now, we’re going to see how to PLAY this build. Right now, you probably already know what you’re supposed to do, but here we go.

First off, you’ll need to get in melee range of an enemy. The best possibility would be for the enemy to get to you, so once it’s your turn, you don’t waste any time. Your first attack is going to be your good old Grapple. Yeah, right away. Neat, isn’t it ? Anyway, once you’re here, your target is probably grappled, by this point. If not, you’ll need to try again next round. Otherwise, use your Bonus action to Dash. And use your movement to go 50 feet into the air or the maximum amount you can on that turn.

For our example, we’ll go for the maximum amount of feet you can go with that Dash : 50 feet. Your turn is now over and you have accumulated 5d6 of falling damage. That means that if your target actually frees itself, it will take that damage, being totally unable to mitigate the power of gravity, except by flying. Which it probably can’t anyway. But since your Athletics modifier is so high, it probably won’t free itself. Anyway, now that your target has failed its contest, it’s your turn again.

You Dash again, getting up 50 more feet ( you’re now at 100 feet and 10d6 of falling damage ). And now, you can Sneak Attack. Remember : Grappler gives you Advantage on attack roll against grappled creatures. And Sneak Attack applies if you have Advantage. That means that for every 5d6 of falling damage you accumulate, you can also dish out some major damage while going up. What does that basically mean ? The guy you’re grappling is probably not having a good time.

Let’s fast forward a bit, now. You get to 200 feet and get to the maximum amount of fall damage possible : 20d6. Now, you can dish out one last Sneak Attack and... End the grapple. Ending a grapple does not cost any action whatsoever, meaning that once you’re up there, you can dish out that sweet, sweet 20d6 attack as you wish. And the target can do whatever it wants. It’s still going to take the damage. If it cannot fly, no throw whatsoever will save them from the damage. Because as strong as you might be, let’s be honest. Gravity is probably stronger. And the best part about this ?

No cooldown. If the guy you just threw from the sky is still somehow alive, you can just grapple it again. And lift him up in the sky again while he cannot defend himself. And that, my friends, is dirty.

Now, you might be thinking “but Fairy, what if the enemy can fly ?” Well that’s a really good question and you’re right to ask it, because... Well. The enemy can’t fall to his death. But it’s no big deal, because you can still grapple it. You may not have the cumulative fall damage dice, but you can still dish out some MAJOR damage on the thing you grapple. Or you can simple grapple it and bring it in the middle of your team. Do you know what happens to someone in the middle of the enemy team ? Death. The crowd control capacity with this build is just as insane. It’s simple : if you could grapple her, not even Tiamat could get out of your grapple. And the grapple roll is not a saving throw for the enemy, so none of the bosses “Legendary Resistance” can apply.

Pros and cons of this build

+ You can fly !

+ Your DPS and crowd control on a single target is the most absurd thing in the history of anything ever.

+ Even if you can’t drop your enemy to his death, you can still CC it incredibly well.

+ As niche as this build gets, it’s still viable in non-optimal conditions.

+/- You’re going to need to trust your team, as they’re going to have to cover you while you take off with one of the enemies. Also to get the right equipment you need.

- Your Barbarian/Fighter/Monk might want that belt of giant strength, too.

- Interiors suck dicks, balls and ass because you can’t lift your enemies too high.

-You can’t take on more than one guy at a time.

- Don’t think you’re gonna do anything to creatures bigger than Large with your normal strategy. Or to any flying one, for that.

- You’re probably going to be the worst thief ever.

So, here it is. One of the most bullshit damage dealing rogue you can get. That was pretty fun to think about, and even though the build is pretty niche, it could still work well. Now, a little more explanation as to why any other race would not work as well : the means of flight. The Aarakocra’s way to fly is natural and nonmagical, whereas any other race would need the use of magic to fly. Making them vulnerable to antimagic effect. This might not seem like much, but as I said before, there also is the problem of speed. You’re going to want to fly FAST if you want this build to be efficient.

Anyway, I hope you’ll have fun if you try this build out. Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think about it. Or how busted it is ( or not ). Have fun !

#dnd #dnd 5e #aarakocra #rogue #flight #build #insane build #dungeons and dragons #assassin #5e #d&d 5e #d&d #rpg