Caster tactics to escape grappling

[Hawkshere]

Grappling is just bad news for casters.

If your Wizard ends up in this uneviable position (for example), and has little or no chance of breaking or escaping the grapple conventionally, what is your best-case tactics for escape? What verbal-only spells are available that can be effective against a grapple, and which are the best bets in your opinion?

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Dimension Door comes to mind. Stilled Blink or Gaseous Form would do the trick too but they're the same level as Dimension Door.

Having Blink, Ghost Form, or Fire Shield up before the grapple starts are good methods of evading grapples.

Standing next to a rogue doesn't technically negate a grapple but it does mean that the villain is almost certain to stop grappling you after the first full round of sneak attacks. . . . (Grapplers lose their dexterity bonus to AC against everyone not involved in the grapple).

 

[andargor]

Stilled Grease on your clothes

(half-jokingly)

Andargor

 

[Painfully]

I've always made it a habit to spend some points in escape artist. It's folley to rely on your party members to come to your rescue when they've probably got their own problems in the middle of combat.

BTW, what the heck is your wizard doing in grapple range, anyway?!

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

BTW, what the heck is your wizard doing in grapple range, anyway?!

Grapple range is 60'-80' on a charge attack -- easy to accomplish in most any combat if the attacker is willing to suck up an AoO. The wizard's own AoO is too feeble to bother even considering.

When you start fighting bigger beasts, you might find one with Reach and Improved Grab that will take a Run action (~160') to set up a possible grapple for next round.

 

[Hawkshere]

Hehe, in my case, I was simply running an improvised NPC encounter. So, in this case my wizard (NPC) was caught entirely by surprise. She was planning on travelling that day, and had a full complement of transport spells prepped and ready to go. So the best thing I could cook up was teleport.

Unfortunately, and someone be sure to correct me if I am wrong, as long as the weight limit for dimension door or teleport are not exceeded, it applies to any willing person touched. So as I understand these spells, the hostile grappler may have the option of traveling with the caster, and continue to maintain the grapple.

I desperately wanted a gaseous form, but honestly would have been cheating to say that she had a stilled spell of any kind prepped - that just wasn't the case.

You can't drink a potion if you're grappled, can you?

 

[Painfully]

A ring of blinking is just soooo precious, isn't it?

 

[andargor]

A ring of blinking is just soooo precious, isn't it?

Hey! Great idea! A cheap one would be Ring of Grease (1/day)

Andargor

 

[gfunk]

Some additional ways to get out of a grapples:

1. Ring of Spell Storing
* You can put any spell in here, up to 10 levels worth. All can be cast as a standard action w/o provoking an attack of opportunity. Teleport, Blink, D. Door are all possibilities.

2. Go incorporeal
* Spells like Ghostform and Shapechange will make you go incorporeal, making grappling impossible. Of course, you have to have them cast *before* you are grappled.

3. Trasnfer spells to your familiar
* A spell in T&B allows your familiar to cast spells given by you. Giving your familiar Blink or D. Door would be great. Also, unless your grappler is taking a -20 penalty while holding you, the familiar will not provoke an attack of opportunity.

4. Contigency
* Link a spell that goes off on a mental trigger (like if you think of a certain word) so that you can avoid concentration checks.

 

[Demon Knight]

Contigency
* Link a spell that goes off on a mental trigger (like if you think of a certain word) so that you can avoid concentration checks

Yet another thing to add the list of "Contingency triggers that don't make sense"


No offense meant.

A wizard character of mine wears a vest of escape and keeps several oils of slipperiness handy if he has time to prepare. Dimension Door and Teleport are the best bets (and I doubt the grappler can come along with them).
The best defense against grappling? Don't get grappled! (I know, I know, easier said then done)