I want to make a Tetori Monk. The idea of a grappling master sounds incredibly fun, but I've got a few questions about how it works. I've never really used grapple and my group doesn't seem super familiar with it either.
If I want to attack someone I'm grappling with Unarmed Strike are their any negatives to it?
Can my team attack the person I'm grappling without worrying about hitting me?
If I pin someone can I still attack them or can I not do anything if I'm trying to keep them pinned?
Do you have any tips for playing this class? Recommended feats or traits, etc?
I want to make a Tetori Monk. The idea of a grappling master sounds incredibly fun, but I've got a few questions about how it works. I've never really used grapple and my group doesn't seem super familiar with it either.
If I want to attack someone I'm grappling with Unarmed Strike are their any negatives to it?
No more than the -2 to attack rolls you get with anything else. Just remember it is a standard action to maintain the grapple each round unless you have Greater Grapple. So you can't normally attack and maintain the grapple.
Can my team attack the person I'm grappling without worrying about hitting me?
Yes, in fact because the grappled condition penalizes your opponent's Dex it will actually be easier for them to hit. Also because you gain the grappled condition as well you will be easier for enemies to hit while grappling.
If I pin someone can I still attack them or can I not do anything if I'm trying to keep them pinned?
You have to maintain the grapple each round as a standard action unless you have the Greater Grapple feat which lets you do so as a move action. So normally you can't attack someone while grappling them. However, as part of maintaining the grapple you can choose to automatically deal damage equal to your unarmed strike or a light weapon you are wielding.
Do you have any tips for playing this class? Recommended feats or traits, etc?
Search the advice boards and I am sure there are some tips on good grapple builds. Also here http://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-comprehensive-pathfinder-guides .html
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OldSkool's answers are spot on.
As for advice, I'd suggest to NOT play this in a long-term campaign. Only play it if you're doing a one-shot adventure or something else fairly short.
Why?
Over the course of a long campaign, you all, including the GM and even including YOU, are going to get tired of grappling. Oh look, a monster. Our monk goes and uses his grapple, we beat it up, the monster's allies all beat our monk up, same thing over and over.
One-trick ponies can get very, very boring. One-trick ponies that rely on complex rules sub-systems (like grappling) are very, very boring AND provoke lots of discussions/debates/arguments at the table every time some strange corner case interacts with the rules sub-system.
Yeah, it's fun. But don't plan on getting 15-20 levels out of it without driving yourself, your fellow players, and your GM insane with it.
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OP, read the rules at the link below carefully and print the two charts located there as well
Most of your questions will be answered
Well I'm a monk so unarmed strikes are all I'd be doing basically anyway, so that's fine. I didn't plan on using weapons very often with this build anyway if I could at least do unarmed strikes.
OldSkool's answers are spot on.
As for advice, I'd suggest to NOT play this in a long-term campaign. Only play it if you're doing a one-shot adventure or something else fairly short.
Why?
Over the course of a long campaign, you all, including the GM and even including YOU, are going to get tired of grappling. Oh look, a monster. Our monk goes and uses his grapple, we beat it up, the monster's allies all beat our monk up, same thing over and over.
One-trick ponies can get very, very boring. One-trick ponies that rely on complex rules sub-systems (like grappling) are very, very boring AND provoke lots of discussions/debates/arguments at the table every time some strange corner case interacts with the rules sub-system.
Yeah, it's fun. But don't plan on getting 15-20 levels out of it without driving yourself, your fellow players, and your GM insane with it.
An alternative to just trying to grapple everything all the time would be a character who combined grappling and a weapon, using things like:
Grabbing Style: When you use this style, you do not take a –4 penalty on combat maneuver checks to grapple a foe with only one hand.
Hamatula Strike: Whenever you damage an opponent with a piercing weapon, you can immediately make a grapple check; success means the opponent is impaled on your weapon and you both gain the grappled condition.
One level of the Maneuver Master Monk's Flurry of Maneuvers: At 1st level, as part of a full-attack action, a maneuver master can make one additional combat maneuver, regardless of whether the maneuver normally replaces a melee attack or requires a standard action. The maneuver master uses his monk level in place of his base attack bonus to determine his CMB for the bonus maneuvers, though all combat maneuver checks suffer a –2 penalty when using a flurry.
So you could make a full attack where you attack a target to impale it with a sword attack for a free grapple check with your offhand, then invoke Flurry of Maneuvers to grapple it some more while you go to town on it - or something else - with your sword. You can use any class(es) you like as long as there's one level of Maneuver Master in there.