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This guy will hug you to death. Literally. I was inspired by another thread to create the most broken grappler build I could find, with the goal of taking out an opponent in one round. I came up with the best build I could. Instead of a statblock, it's a level by level build to show what I took and why. I tried to go strictly by RAW for this build, meaning standard array (25 ability points), no swapping out starting feats, no single athletic skill, ect. Also, I took a background instead of a destiny, which is generally considered to be the lower powered option.

So here goes:

Schwoshootudeth
Medium Codru-Ji Soldier 12/Scoundrel 2/Martial Arts Master 1

Starting Ability Scores:
Str 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8

Background (Enslaved)
Trained Skills: Initiative, Endurance, Climb, Jump

Level:
1. (Soldier 1): Talent - Reverse Strength, Bonus feat - Pin, Species Feat - Dual Weapon Mastery !
2. (Soldier 2): Class Feat - Weapon Focus (simple weapons)
3. (Soldier 3): Talent - Hammerblow, Bonus Feat - Martial Arts I
4. (Soldier 4): Class Feat - Running Attack, +1 Str +1 Int
5. (Scoundrel 1): Multiclass Feat - Point Blank Shot, Talent - Dastardly Strike
6. (Scoundrel 2): Class Feat - Melee Defense, Bonus Feat - Stava Training
7. (Soldier 5): Talent - Penetrating Attack (simple weapons)
8. (Soldier 6): Class Feat - Crush, +1 Str, +1 Con
9. (Soldier 7): Talent - Melee Smash, Bonus Feat - K'thri Training
10. (Soldier 8): Class Feat - Rancor Crush
11. (Soldier 9): Talent - Expert Grappler
12. (Soldier 10): Class Feat - Grapple Resistance, Bonus Feat - Bone Crusher, +1 Str, +1 Int, New skill - Acrobatics
13. (Soldier 11): Talent: Unrelenting Assault
14. (Soldier 12): Class Feat - Martial Arts II
15. (Martial Arts Master 1): Talent - Stava Expertise, Bonus Feat - Deft Charge

Final Ability Scores:
Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 8

Stats: (sorry I don't format it quite like the books)

Base Attack +14
Unarmed Attack +23 (1d8+12)
Charge (unarmed) +25 (1d8+12)
Grab/Grapple Attack +30
Grapple Check +32 (can reroll)

Defenses: Ref 31, Fort 31, Will 26
Threshold 31
Hitpoints 140

Don't feel like adding up skills.

More coming in next post

Tactics and abilities for this character:

This guy can take you out in one hit. Here is the general idea. Move adjacent to an opponent, and try to grapple and Pin them. If they are too far away, charge at them with Stava Training, and then grapple them. This build really keys off Rancor Crush and especially Bone Crusher. When you use succeed on the grapple, you can use Reverse Strength to deal damage to your opponent. The damage is small, but since you are dealing damage to a grappled opponent, you move them -1 step down the CT because of Bone Crusher. Then do your Pin and Crush. Rancor Crush and Bone Crusher together knocks them down the CT another -2 steps, leaving them at -3 in total. Then use K'thri training; it allows you to make an unarmed strike as a swift action once per turn. It only does your strength bonus in damage, but it doesn't matter. Because you are damaging a grappled opponent, Bone Crusher moves them -1 more step. Because Pinned opponents are denied their Dexterity bonus to reflex defense, Dastardly Strike kicks in, and knocks them the final step down. Not too bad, eh?

Here is an explanation for why I took some of the things I did:

- Pin/Crush/Rancor Crush/ Bone Crusher: The whole build keys off these feats. They are a grapplers best friend. They are what take people down the CT
- Martial Arts I and II: Needed to access Martial Arts Training feats and as a prereq for the MAM class. Also, it's important that your unarmed attacks don't provoke AoO, as this build makes them a lot. The bonus to reflex defense doesn't hurt either. The boost to damage means squat to this build.
- Grapple Resistance: That massive +5 to grapple checks is amazing.
- Stava Training: Another +5 to grapple checks. Also lets you grapple huge creatures, also lets you grapple at the end of a charge, also lets you add both strength and dexterity to grapple checks. Best grappling talent ever? Could be.
- Reverse Strength: the extra damage doesn't matter on it's own. What does matter is that it triggers Bone Crusher.
- K'thri Training: Like Reverse Strength, the extra attack doesn't matter for damage. But it triggers Bone Crusher again, and Dastardly Strike.
- Dastardly Strike - Moves the opponent the final 5th step down the CT.
- Deft Charge - Needed to use K'thri Training after a charge
- Stava Expertise - Needed to access the full potential of Stave Training, and the reroll for grapple checks is great too
- Expert Grappler - the +2 to grapple attacks is nice, but not really necessary. I took it anyway.
- Unrelenting Assault: If the attack misses, it still does a tiny bit of damage. If you miss on your extra attack from K'thri training, you still move them -1. Dastardly Strike won't kick in, but at least they are -4 steps down now. You can finish them off with another K'thri strike on your next turn, without needing to spend your standard action to keep up the Pin.
- Weapon Focus: needed for Penetrating Attack, also a little extra chance to hit is always good.
- Penetrating Attack: Many aspects of this build key off Bone Crusher triggering when only tiny bits of damage are done. Targets with damage reduction would be a problem. This talent is meant to counter that.
- Hammerblow: Doubles your Strength bonus to unarmed attacks. Great talent.
- Running attack: Needed for Stava Training. The actual feat might be useful occasionally too.
- Melee Defense: Prereq for MAM class. Also, since your attack is very high, why not bump it down a little bit for some extra defense?

Background: I took Enslaved because it's another small bonus to grapple checks. Destiny points wouldn't do this character a lick of good, except to not get hit. Auto crits don't matter when your damage is so low.

Species: There were a lot of possibly species I could have gone with. Large species tend to make better grapplers, but I needed that extra feat, and the +5 to grab attacks is very nice, so I went with Codru-Ji

Limitations:

Obviously this build is good at one thing, and really one thing only. Very few skills, nothing to do in vehicle combat, no ranged abilities, not particularly high defenses. This build is mostly just a theoretical exercise. If you really wanted to play with build, I would suggest making some alterations to have a more balanced character. Of course, most GMs allow higher point buys, so you would have the Int to get more skills, and more strength, meaning less things you need to beef up your grapple check.


I wasn't intending to make him this high level, but I just needed so many feats. This is a very feat intensive build. Talents are not as important. Some GMs allow players to take class feats instead of talents. This would have let me shave a couple levels off, but I wanted to stick to RAW. Some GMs also will let players have some flexibility with their starting feats. None of the soldier ones do me any good except Weapon Proficiency simple. If the GM was being nice, he might have let me swap some of those out, but again, I stuck to RAW.

This character would be screwed in many situations, so keep that in mind. Some I can think of:

- Fighting squads or swarms. They can't be grappled. Which means you lose almost all effectiveness.
- Large or difficult to traverse battlefields. Of course all melee characters have this problem
- Vehicle combat. This character has no way to contribute
- Even better grapplers. If he can't beat their grapple check to Pin them, he could be in for some serious trouble. Some dedicated grapplers will have much higher checks from their size and higher strength. But my grappler has a good enough check to beat almost anyone except the best grapplers or huge beasts.
- Speaking of huge beasts, he actually can grapple them because of Stava Training. But anything bigger, like Gargantuan beasts or droids, he's out of luck.
- Enemies with lots of DR. While Penetrating Attack does help, some enemies can have quite a bit of DR. Since the things that trigger Bone Crusher are low damage, he's in big trouble if he can't damage the enemy.
- Large numbers of enemies. Though he is excellent for taking out one enemy at a time, even very powerful ones, he doesn't have much in the way of crowd control.
- Highly offensive foes. This build isn't the toughest in terms of HP, and has no way to climb back up the CT quickly. I was considering swapping out one of the talents for Indomitable, which might be a good idea. It doesn't really have any defensive options either. Defenses are decent, but not fantastic, and Will defense is pretty low, leaving him vulnerable in that area. A condition track sniper could probably take him down pretty fast if they started far enough apart or the grappler had a lot of other enemies to deal with.


So thats all I can think of. Anyone have any advice, criticism, comments, ect? To GMs, would you ever throw a character like this at the party? Would you let a player make this build with no reservations?

Ouch time! Man, this is an amazing build. I shall steal it for my archives, muwhahahaha!

1. I believe that the Enslaved background grapple bonus and the Expert Grappler talent both provide competence bonuses. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm AFB right now so I can't clarify it myself.

2. If you ever create this build not by RAW, go to Fandom Comics and check out the Locals Sourcebook. It has the Roper feat, which basically turns you into a cowboy. You can use a rope to Trip enemies, you gain bonuses for tying people up with your rope, and the feat allows you to grapple squads and swarms with a rope.

3. I would definitely throw this build at my players. Part of what we do as GMs is to challenge our players. I think this build would do that nicely.

4. I'm pretty big on letting players build whatever they want. I tend to only ban a very few things from my games, but I would have no problem with a player going all out like this. Now would I expect any of my players to do so? Probably not. But I'd not stand in their way of building whatever character they desired.

_________________
Blue/Black

I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!




You are right in a way. They do both give competence bonuses. But to different things. The Enslaved Background gives a bonus to grapple checks, while Expert Grappler gives a bonus to grapple attacks. Grapple Attacks are the Unarmed attack roll made to start the grapple, Grapple Checks are the roll to see if you can hold them.




Sounds cool, I'll look into it. Although there are already some ways to do grapples at range with stuff already in the books. The snare rifle is one. I think the most deadly is the Stohkli (sp?) Spray Stick. It's a long range stun weapon (great just for that) that also initiates a grapple when you hit. One of my players a while ago thought of another build that is a variation on the traditional "condition track sniper". He uses the Spray Stick to Aim, combined with Hunter's Mark and Debilitating Shot, and then Crushes them the rest of the way down the CT. But it's even more feat heavy I think. I might try to perfect that build sometime.



Personally I wouldn't make players fight this guy. It was really just a theoretical exercise to see how broken grappling could be, with the goal of taking out a character in a single turn.

Really the broken part is the Bone Crusher feat. It's just too good. Not only the fact that it combines with Rancor Crush. Rancor Crush is really good, but I think it's balanced. Bone Crusher isn't. It applies whenever you damage a grappled target. This build gets small bits of damage from multiple sources in a single round, and Bone Crusher, by RAW I think, stacks with all of them. This build takes a very literal, but liberal, interpretation of Bone Crusher, and uses it to it's fullest, most broken extent. If a GM restricted it to use of once per turn, or disallowed it entirely due to the similar but more balanced Rancor Crush feat, I wouldn't mind it. In fact, I probably encourage it.

Very good then.




How interesting: with a snare pistol, snare rifle, lightwhip, and net, all of them say that you can use the Pin and Trip feats, but not the Crush or Throw feats (and I guess by interpretation Rancor Crush and Bone Crusher). It is intriguing to note that the Spray Stick mentions only that it may be used to grab or grapple at range.

I wouldn't allow someone with a Spray Stick to be able to Crush someone or use Bone Crusher or Rancor Crush at range. Yes, I do realize that this can be done by RAW (especially since the Spray Stick never received errata) but with all the other ranged weapons out there that allow grab/grapples at range, I'm more inclined to trust those descriptions and believe that the Spray Stick was just missed when they were doing the Errata.

_________________
Blue/Black

I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.

I currently play a grappler/martial artist build, and I'm pretty much here just to co-sign.
However, I saved myself some feats and talents through horrible abuse of bone crusher. While I still use reverse strength, I've passed on rancor crush, dastardly strike, and K'thri training along with some other things. Instead I spend those slots on extra damage dice, threshold shenanigans, plus higher survivability, and rely on a stun cloak and a couple pieces of shock webbed equipment to pick up the slack.

My GM has no real issue with it, because he regularly utilizes anti-grappler tactics (most of what you mentioned, plus ranged units, treaded droids and force monkeys), I'm incredibly blah when in comes to skill checks, as well as me partially nerfing myself by playing a small species (because playing a 3 foot tall bat that can punch through steel and dislocate your everything in a turn is hilarious).

Oh, a comment about the competence bonus from Expert Gappler: It says it gives a bonus to grapple attacks, but I always took it to mean a bonus to checks. Two reasons for that: The first is mechanical. A grapple is just a standard unarmed attack roll followed by an opposed check. Never saw a reason to consider it a special type of attack. The second is that as far as I can tell, they stopped using the term 'grapple attack' fairly early. I saw that pop up in what I believe was the core and one or two other books, but after that it seemed to have been dropped entirely. Could be wrong.

EDIT: I just got the name, and now I can't stop stop laughing.

I'll admit it's ambiguous wording. I had always assumed it gave a bonus to grapple checks, but probably because I had never read the talent carefully enough. I only noticed it when I picked the Enslaved background. I saw it gave a competence bonus to grapple checks, and then I thought, "wait, doesn't Expert Grappler also give a competence bonus? So maybe I can't stack them." Then when I went back to look up Expert Grappler, I saw it said "grapple attacks". Grapple Attacks are actually mentioned in the core book. In the combat section on grappling, it lists grappling attacks as the upgraded form of grab attacks, and in the context it is referring to, it is talking about the unarmed attack used to begin a grapple. So maybe the talent did mean to say grapple checks, but grapple attacks are a real thing.

Another ambiguous piece of wording: I had always assumed the Codru-Ji species gave a bonus to grapple checks, because, exactly like Expert Grappler, I didn't read it close enough. It actually gives a +5 bonus to "grab attacks". I took that to mean it applies to the unarmed attack to start a grab, or to start a grapple if you have either Pin or Trip. But it's possible it actually only applies to grabs. There is no real reason to ever make a grab once you can grapple though, so the usefulness of that bonus is lost on me if you interpreted it that way. In the same way, I never quite got why anyone would ever take the Grabber talent from LECG. It removes the -5 penalty when you make a grab. But if you can grapple, you don't take the -5 penalty anyway, and there is no benefit to making a grab if you can grapple.

Anyway, I'm pretty burned out on grappling rules right now, brain is gonna asplode.

What are you, a Ri'dar?

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ri'Dar

_________________
Blue/Black

I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.

Nope, a Chadra-Fan

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Chadra-Fan