Skip Williams does a great series at the Official Dungeons and Dragons site called the "Rules of the Game." His latest is "All About Grappling," which started yesterday with Part One.
Well, for after you are done with Skip's article, I thought I would share with you a few more links on grappling in D&D.
Here are the Core Rules on Grappling from the SRD.
The Offical Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 FAQ has a lot of details on grappling.
Here are a couple feats designed for grapplers:
Clever Wrestling: Bonus to wriggle free from big opponents.
Close-Quarters Fighting: Hmmm? Damage done by AoO vs Grapple adds to grapple check? But doing any damage at all on an AoO provoked by a grapple ends the grapple attempt. Valid if the bonus applies to subsequent grapple attempts started later that same round?
The Slippery feat is an interesting option for slimy monsters. (See tint box half way down the page.)
From Dragon Magazine 275, the Ranged Pin feat is odd but nifty. (Search for Ranged Pin on the page.)
There are many possibilities on this page. Search for "grapple" to find the ones that apply.
Here are a few prestige classes designed for grapplers:
Master Grappler: Bare bones, not much flavor text, somewhat over powered.
Hand of Domi: A divine grappler that gives cleric spellcasting progression with every level. I would strongly recommend only giving +1 spellcast level at every even level.
Rikishi: Interesting take on a sumo wrestler.
Fierce Grappler: Refreshingly balanced with interesting grapple skills. Not sure how all the abilities diverge from the core rules.
The Reaping Mauler is from the Complete Warrior splat book. Here's a description of it, as well as an illustration from WotC.
Here's a character optimized as a grappler.
Here's a Roleplayer's Community's Journal blog comments thread comparing D&D grappling to real life grappling.
Here is a great message board thread on how DMs can cope with characters optimized as grapplers! :-)
