Title Image © Dean Spencer

How the 5e Grapple Rules Work

I'm not here to waste your time. 

I imagine you are only here because: 

1. You are in the middle of a combat encounter...
2. Someone wants to grapple...
3. You did a quick Google search to figure out what the 5e grapple rules are.

There is a story at the end of this post about how not knowing the 5e grapple rules killed one of my player characters (click here to read that first). But otherwise this is a no nonsense "answer every fifth edition grapple question as directly, clearly, and quickly as possible" blog post.

Breaking Down 5e Grapple Rules as Written

You can only attempt to 5e grapple when... 

You make a "special melee attack"

• You won't do damage with this special attack
• If you have multiple attacks, it replaces only one of them
• Otherwise, it consumes your action for that round
• It does not have to be your first attack... it can be any of the attacks
• You cannot use your bonus action to grapple unless your feat, class/racial feature, or homebrew rule specifically states otherwise. 

The attack MUST be a melee attack

• You cannot grapple at long range
• You must move to within 5ft of the creature you want to grapple
• If the creature is out of the reach of the grappler after using all of their movement, then the player character cannot attempt to grapple the creature

You make the attack with at least one hand free

• In dnd 5e, "grappling" is basically just grabbing someone... 
• Which means you CANNOT perform a 5e grapple...
• AND wield a two-handed weapon
• AND hold both your sword and shield

It can't be against a creature more than 1 size larger than your character

• Simple fantasy physics: smaller creatures cannot grab and move really big ones.
• Which means, no, your Goliath cannot grapple the Tarassque, even if they have gauntlets of ogre power and a belt of giant strength.

How DnD Player Characters Can Grapple Another Creature:

1. Creature A declares they would like to grapple, an Athletics (Strength) skill check.
2. Creature B decides if they want to roll an Acrobatics (Dexterity) skill check or an Athletics (Strength) skill check.
3. Both Creature A and Creature B roll their respective skill checks.
4. Both Creature A and Creature B add their relevant modifiers.
5. If Creature A has the higher total, then creature B is grappled.
6. If Creature B has the higher total, then the 5e grapple attempt made by Creature A fails.

Grapple Rules 5e FAQ

What Does Grappling Do? 

When you grapple a creature, all you do is prevent that creature from moving; the grappled creature's speed is reduced to 0. Otherwise they act normally; they can still attack you, cast spells, make skill checks, call out to allies, use magic items, etc. 

Does Dnd Grappling Do Damage? 

No, there is no damage output from a 5e grapple; it is not an unarmed strike. If you have multiple attacks, then you can attack the grappled creature with your free hand. However, since you only have one free hand, the weapon must have either the versatile or light properties. 

Can I Grapple as an Opportunity Attack? 

Nope. The rules specifically state that a 5e grapple is an attack action. Even though real-world logic states that an attempt to grab someone moving away from you is just as easy as hitting them with your mace, mechanically it would be a bit game breaking and therefore is not allowed. 

How Do You Get Out of a DnD Grapple? 

Any creature can choose to use their action on their turn to break out of a grapple. They can roll either an Acrobatics check or a Athletics check, contested against the grappler's Strength check. If they tie or roll higher, then they break out of the grapple.

Do I Need Magical Items or Spells to End the Grappled Condition?

No. If for any reason the DnD grappler is unable to continue grappling (incapacitated, paralysis, banishment to another plane, etc.) or if the grappled creature is forced away from the grappled by a spell (ex: Thunderwave), then the grappled effect immediately ends.

Can You Grapple Multiple Opponents at Once?

No, you cannot. The grappling rules say you need at least one free hand to hold a grapple. So, even with the Extra Attack class feature, you can only grapple one opponent at a time. Be smart when choosing your targets!

Can I Move While I Grapple a Creature? 

Yes, on your turn you can move and bring the creature you have grappled with you, but your movement speed is cut in half. 

Is 5e Grappling the Same as Tackling? 

No. A 5e grapple is more similar to a "grab" or "hug." When you grapple a creature, you are not restraining them in the prone condition.

Do I Need to Grapple a Creature Before I Shove a Creature?

No. Shoving in 5th edition is also a special action that consumes one of your attacks if you have multiple attacks. It is the same contested rolls between the shover and the shovee as between a grappler and grapplee... but this time, instead of imposing a grapple condition, you can choose to either A) push them back 5ft, or B) shove them to the ground (prone condition). 

That said, if you want to move a creature more than 5ft and then throw them off a ledge, you will have to: 

• Roll contested checks to grapple...
• Move half your speed...
• Roll contested checks to shove/throw them off the ledge.

Does a Rogue's Evasion Class Ability Help Them Get Out of a Grapple?

No. The evasion class ability helps a rogue's Dexterity saving throws. Contesting a 5e grapple is an ability check. 

Is There a Way to Auto Succeed/Fail a 5e Grapple Check?

The only way I can think of is if a Divination Wizard assigns one of their Portent die to one of the creatures involved in the contested skill check. Otherwise... no! Even if your Barbarian has a 20 Strength, it is STILL a contested check, and your opponent might have a 20 Dexterity! And even then, you might roll low, and they might roll high! 

Can Grappling Be Combined With Spellcasting?

Yes. Spells require verbal, material, and/or somatic components. Even if you are grappling someone, you can still speak (verbal), use materials (ex: staff or components), and use your free hand (somatic). However, depending on the flavor of your spellcasting, or the difficulty of the grapple, it would be reasonable to assume that some DMs may impose house rules limiting the extent of simultaneous spellcasting and 5e grappling.

© Daniel Nowak

Building the Perfect 5e Grapple Character

I already mentioned the Divination Wizard, and given that the portent die ability is so helpful in a contested check, I am tempted to suggest it as the best class.

But by that logic, halflings are the best race for EVERY build simply because they have the Lucky feat. So... unless you want to play a super strong but ultimately silly halfling Divination Wizard grappler (which I just decided is the next silly NPC that will follow my party around)... here is the best, basic, straightforward powerful build: 

Stats – Strength: Whether your are the 5e grappler or are being grappled, you can use strength. Whenever you get an ability score increase, use it to increase your strength until your ability score is a 20. 

Class – Barbarian: Barbarians get advantage on all strength checks when they rage. Since grapple is a strength skill check and not a saving throw, this works great! Additionally, because you have grappled the creature, there is a good change they will try to attack you, which will keep your Rage from dropping (you either need to do damage or take damage to continue raging as a barbarian in D&D 5e). 

Fighting Style – Unarmed Fighting: You can only get this fighting style if you find a way to multiclass into a fighter, choose a variant human race, or take the fighting initative feat. But it not only lets you do 1d4 blugeoning damage when you grapple a creature, but also lets you repeat that damage whenever you hit the target with a melee attack.

Race – Any Race That Gets a +2 to Strength: Of course, the new September 2024 PHB has canonized the "flexible racial ability scores," but if you are going with the OG 5e roles, then Bugbears, Centaurs, Goliaths, Half-Orcs, Dragonborn, Firbolgs, and Mountain Dwarves are your best choices. 

Feats – Grappler Feat: The grappler feat 5e does two things... 1) it gives you advantage when you grapple. Ultimately, this is not very helpful in this build since you already get advantage on strength checks from your barbarian rage. But I guess it would allow your barbarian advantage on any grapple check even when not raging. And 2) the feat allows the grappler to make an additional check with another action (same ones as 5e grapple) to "pin" the grappled creature, which imposes the restrained condition upon said creature. 

That said... the grappler feat 5e is pretty bad considering you sacrifice an ability score improvement to get it.

© WOTC

How Not Knowing the Grapple Rules Got a Player Character Killed

I am currently running a heavily home-brewed Tomb of Annihiliation campaign. And in one of their first ventures into the jungles of Chult, the party delved into the Hrakhamar dungeon:

• They avoided numerous traps ranging from irritating to deadly...
• Fought off waves of well-armored kobold minions...
• Stood face to face with the dungeon's master: an ancient dwarven lord who had been master for over 500 years...

The party was tasked with leading negotiations between the embittered dwarven lord and a clan's mining company who legally held claim to the mine. The dwarves stood on one end of the space, the lord 20 feet above them, both separated by a chasm filled with bubbling lava. 

Now... a quick couple comments about lava... 

• At high levels, lava doesn't pose THAT big of a threat to adventures. There are too many resistance and teleportation spells (ie Misty Step), damage-reducing class abilities, and magical items that somehow make "falling into lava" not an instant death sentence.
• But at low levels... it's a different ball game. In Dungeons & Dragons, low level characters are extremely susceptible to environmental effects. Falling damage, difficult terrain, and 10d10 fire damage pose serious problems... especially when your average party hit point total is around 23 HP, and when said party has a proficiency bonus of +2. 

Simply put, a level 2 character that falls into lava dies.

And to make the threat of the chasm of lava even greater, all of a sudden, right as negotiations were about to be resolved, a giant fire snake (not the one in the Monster Manual... I combined it with the fire salamander stat block) burst forth from the lava. 

Thankfully, my players saw the situation exactly as I did: yes, they could just back away from the ledge, but where is the fun in that? And when else would they get the chance for a lava-themed combat encounter? 

So we got to rolling initiative...

And about 5 rounds into the fight, a party member asked: 

"Ok... so can I grapple the fire snake?"

While this sounds CRAZY... and totally is... it wasn't necessarily suicide for these six reasons: 

1. The fire snake kept diving beneath the lava and attacking random players; they needed a way to keep it from moving around and use their action economy to their advantage.
2. Every time the players hit the monster with melee weapons, they were taking fire damage just from being within 5ft of it.
3. A long rest was immediately due after the fight... go big or go home.
4. This player's character was a blue dragonborn barbarian with a strength score of 18. Even though the fire snake was a size larger, he had a decent shot of winning.
5. He was a Path of the Bear Totem barbarian, and the fire damage would be halved.
6. Some of the healers still had spell slots available.

But because I didn't know the 5e grapple rules, it would become his undoing...

It was just such a badass idea that I didn't even think to double check the grapple rules. Plus, and I think every Dungeon Master has experienced this at least once, as soon as he said it I knew IMMEDIATELY how I would kill his character. 

So he rolled his strength check against the strength check of the fire snake. 

18 for the dragonborn...

15 for the fire snake.

"The rest of the party stare, mouths agape in amazement, as J'antril tosses his great axe aside and races forth toward the ledge. He throws his arms around the fiery beast, lava searing the skin on his arms, and in a furious yell he heaves the beast a few feet onto the dwarven stonework."

He also wanted to try and drag the creature away from the ledge, but he had already used too much movement getting there (remember, you move a grappled creature at half speed).

But a few turns later, it was the fire snake's turn... and I hatched my dastardly plot:

"The fire snake is going to grapple you now... and DRAG YOU INTO THE LAVA."

And THAT was my mistake. 

It wasn't the "grappling the grappler" part... RAW that is legal. A grapple is NOT the same as restraining or pinning... mechanically it is grabbing with one arm, and there is nothing stopping someone from grabbing back.

But remember... if you take the grapple action, you impose the grappled condition on your opponent, which reduces their speed to zero. 

So if the fire snake was grappled, even if it grappled back, it could not drag the barbarian down into the lava.

And yet, that is exactly what happened.

(Two turns later... damn barbarians are good at strength checks!)

"Gazing at J'antril's heroism, you all watch in horror as the fire snake coils and contricts around his body before falling into the lava and pulling your companion with him. As he falls into the lava, J'antril stabs at the beast with his dagger, using his final breath to deliver the dungeon from its terror once and for all."

Long story short... know your 5e grapple rules!

Thankfully, it was a fitting, glorious death, but if we had all known the rules, it could have been prevented!

RIley Rath

Riley is a freelance copywriter, content writer, and marketer based out of Spokane, WA. He is thankful for have the opportunity to combine his passion for imaginative role-playing to help FLGS, tabletop, board game, and D&D related businesses communicate their distinct value to players everywhere. When not playing or writing about board games or DnD, he is busy hiking, cooking, and gardening... very hobbit-like for a 6'4" dude.

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