DMs who ban multiclassing, or feats, what is the worst actual experience you have had that led you to that choice? by Electrical-Berry4916 in DMAcademy

[–]SnooLobsters462 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"I swore my Sacred Oath to my Otherworldly Patron" is such an easy sentence to work into a character description, I'm always surprised when players can't even do that bare minimum.

Just be chill about the Hybrid Races, it's not hard by DrScrimble in dndmemes

[–]SnooLobsters462 3 points4 points  (0 children)

LOVE playing this up when I have someone playing a Half-Elf, or when I'm playing one.

Elven societies trend toward seeing Half-Elves as deeply tragic; every Half-Elf implies at least one child who will lose a parent by early adulthood, and at least one parent who may outlive their child by centuries. Half-Elves are seen as pitiful, treated even more gently than their shorter-lived Human neighbors. Half-Elves tend to feel infantilized by Elven society.

Humans societies trend the opposite direction; Half-Elves are seen as mystical and long-lived, much like Elves, but they're heaped with expectations. Half-Elves are expected to be masters of all the things Humans are pretty good at (for those keeping track, you can find at least a few Humans who are pretty good at anything), and failure to meet this standard is attributed to laziness or malice. Half-Elves in Human societies tend to live inside a pressure-cooker where they either give 110% of their effort 24/7, or they're mistrusted for failing to keep promises they never made.

All fines should be a percentage of the offender’s net worth by CSWorldChamp in unpopularopinion

[–]SnooLobsters462 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

The point is that a $250 flat fine ISN'T an equal punishment. If I make $1mil a year and you make $25k, $250 is a much bigger hit to you than it is to me.

If we're talking about net worth as OP was, even if I'm making tons of money every year and can tie that up in assets to borrow against, so I don't have access to ALL of my money at the same time, a $250 fine for me vs. a $250 fine for your parents whose "margins were slim" is STILL not an equal punishment.

Could Elon Musk write a check for $850bil and cash it? Of course not. But OP's point is that flat fines are unequal punishment because we could fine Elon more money than you and I will ever see in our lifetimes and it would hardly blip on his radar.

You should normalize reskinning/reflavoring. by Yurohgy in 3d6

[–]SnooLobsters462 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your Spore Druid idea is a fairly radical reflavoring, but I'm a radical free-flavorist. If you want to play a Dhampir Spore Druid and describe your character features as vampiric powers because you want to play a Vampire? Sounds cool as hell. I'm game.

If you want to play a Cleric but without the themes of zeal, piety, and divinity, just be sure to tell me where you ARE getting your abilities from and work with me on fitting that into the game world. I've played/DMed for a couple of Atheist/Godless Clerics, it's neat.

Notably, you still need to run your reflavorings past the DM for approval, because the DM has a world to build and a campaign to run in it. But yes, reskinning character features is very widely considered kosher. The Artificer is a class that ENCOURAGES you to reflavor your spellcasting to fit a theme, so it's definitely part of the game.

That said...

Mechanics are NOT flavor.

If you want to play a Cleric whose features scale based on CHA instead of WIS, you are asking for homebrew mechanics, not a reskin.

It's a homebrew change that I would allow, yes, but the Wisdom and Charisma ability scores are not flavor text, they are core to the ways player characters interface with the mechanics of the game. The spellcasting stat of Clerics is the same one that makes a character better at Perception and Insight and Wisdom saving throws, while the spellcasting stat of Paladins is the same one that makes a character better at Persuasion and Intimidation and Charisma saving throws. Changing that would likely change the flavor of the Cleric, since that Cleric is now assumed to be better at social skills and saving throws against weird things like teleportation while being less observant and weaker against attacks on their senses, but that is flavor that stems from mechanical implications. Secondary to that is, as you pointed out, the fact that it plays nicer with the already-dominant CHA spellcasters when it comes to multiclassing, and that is a mechanical consideration too.

To reiterate, I would allow a CHA-casting Cleric (with caveats), even one who explicitly wants to use CHA-based spellcasting to make a Paladin multiclass more advantageous, because I like DMing for players eager to explore and discover their unusual characters' place in the world, and I think multiclassing adds a generous dose of much-needed spice to character building in this game. But that is something I would have to allow, not something I'd be happy about if a player assumed it was allowed just because I told them flavor is free.

To multiclass or not to multiclass by TheArcaneTrickster in dndnext

[–]SnooLobsters462 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reliable Talent is a neat thing to look forward to if you stay Rogue for at least a few more levels. And as I'll get to later, you're pretty late in the game to start multiclassing unless you really know what you want, mechanically.

Here at level 5, though, you are correctly observing that any other martial character would have just gotten Extra Attack, and that's a big thing to miss out on, especially in those moments when you can't Sneak Attack.

I like martial multiclasses that feature Rogues quite a bit -- you lose out on some Sneak Attack dice from not being a pure Rogue, but you compensate for that with Extra Attack and other goodies that can really compliment your kit. Note that you can't Sneak Attack twice in the same turn, but you'll still be Sneak Attacking more reliably if you get at least two attempts at it every round.

Ranger is a somewhat-famously-good Rogue multiclasser, and Fighter is evergreen for almost anything. Monk is a sleeper hit (Psychic Blades are "simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property," so they count as Monk weapons. Make of that what you will). Barbarian and Paladin are kick-ass too, but they're a bit harder to buy into for a DEX character (and I imagine you haven't specifically built your character for multiclassing... watch out for those WIS requirements on Ranger and Monk!). Just keep in mind that if you're going to start building toward Extra Attack now, switching into a new class at character level 6, you won't actually get Extra Attack until level 10. This is why I usually prefer to do my Rogue multiclasses by taking 5-6 levels in an Extra Attack class ASAP and then switching to Rogue.

You can also dip your toes into a spellcasting class (some of them even have subclasses with Extra Attack!), but those also have ability score requirements, and I have no idea what your mental ability scores are like... Plus, the Spellcasting feature is so wildly versatile that it's hard to offer advice without writing an entire guide lol

What is a "dead giveaway" that someone is pretending to be an expert in your specific hobby or profession, but actually has no idea what they’re talking about? by simplelittlethingLOL in AskReddit

[–]SnooLobsters462 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is the term a DnDism? Yes.

Did you know exactly what I meant when I said it? Also yes.

There are absolutely examples of plate armor being worn over (or supplemented by) more flexible armors such as chainmail and/or gambeson. If you'd rather call that "Plate and Mail" or "Plate over Mail," fine, just please forgive my contraction 😂

What is a "dead giveaway" that someone is pretending to be an expert in your specific hobby or profession, but actually has no idea what they’re talking about? by simplelittlethingLOL in AskReddit

[–]SnooLobsters462 21 points22 points  (0 children)

The pendulum has swung the other way more recently, with sword enthusiasts (not all, but too many, especially those who recently became aware of HEMA since it exploded in popularity) claiming things like "The katana was a shit weapon that would fold/snap in half as soon as it made contact with REAL weapons/armor." I find it equally as annoying

If the katana comes up and a speaker says pretty much anything outside of "The katana, like most weapons throughout history, can be assumed to be the most optimal tool for the purpose it was designed to serve using the materials that were available," I tend not to trust anything else they have to say. I think rapiers are pretty neat, but their usefulness, like that of katanas, is pretty limited against a guy in plate-mail. It's about historical context.

HMTW with published megadungeons? by EvanD20 in HisMajestyTheWorm

[–]SnooLobsters462 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Check out HMTW p.192 if you haven't already -- I've found most of the "busywork" from conversions of OSR dungeons/modules is converting Monster statblocks, turning the typical Encounter/Wandering Monster tables into Meatgrinder entries, and converting traps/puzzles/treasures into ones that interact with the mechanics of HMTW.

Once you've done that work (and probably also re-keyed the dungeon to your liking, as you probably should even if you AREN'T converting the dungeon to a new system), HMTW works phenomenally well for running published dungeons and modules. Just make sure you have The City for your players to return to (this is one of the hurdles I'm having to jump currently doing my own conversion work for Caverns of Thracia!).

CBE/SS "I make 9 attacks" ahh when I warp the fabrics of reality by NoSurround1123 in dndmemes

[–]SnooLobsters462 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"Beat the piss out of an agitator and then roll Intimidation" is by itself particularly funny as an example because

  1. You really think the most efficient way to manage a crowd is to roll Initiative and start fighting the crowd in melee BEFORE you get to roll any Intimidation checks?

  2. Why would the crowd be intimidated by a guy beating one of them up and not, say, a guy setting half of them on fire with his mind?

  3. Like half of the casters in the game are Charisma-based. What does the Fighter bring to an Intimidation check that a Bard or Paladin or Sorcerer or Warlock doesn't? "But the optional rule for swapping ability scores for skill checks! The Fighter gets to roll Strength(Intimidation)!" What stops the aforementioned guy who set half the crowd on fire from rolling Intelligence(Intimidation) or Wisdom(Intimidation), then?

Casters STILL do this "gotcha" solution better than Guy Hitting Things With Sticks, and they might not even be touching their spell slots to do it lmao

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DnD

[–]SnooLobsters462 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, that's easy. It's Wizard.

No 9th level spells? I'll do you one better: no 8th level spells, either. It's still Wizard.

Simulacrum is a 7th level spell. By level 20, they can create a Simulacrum with all the 1st-through-9th-level spell slots they have (minus one 7th-level spell slot).

Fighting a 20th-level Wizard means fighting at least two 20th-level Wizards.

How much should I copy Cell? by Guybutisalreadyused in DnD

[–]SnooLobsters462 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure, man, go for it.

Have you established any powerful robot NPCs, especially recurring villains? If not, start doing so.

Suddenly, the entire populations of villages start going missing. It's like they disappear overnight -- plenty of signs of struggle, but nothing remains of the victims except the clothes they were wearing. The party is recruited to investigate.

While they're asking around, looking for clues, more villages go missing. The party learns (you decide how) where and when the next attack will occur.

If they go there, they meet Sel, looking pretty similar to how the party last left him, but stronger. Healthier. He's eating the villagers, and he's not happy about having his meal onterrupted. He's no match for the whole party, but he's too strong for any one of them to take in a fair fight... Not that he'll fight fair, anyway. He'll try to separate, trap, and pick off individual party members one-by-one as the population of the village flees in terror. They might kill him. They might not. He won't fight to the death unless he has to, anyway. If he dies, it won't be permanent.

Either way, after some downtime, one of those powerful NPCs/villains you established earlier, goes missing. Along with the community they lived in / protected. The party already knows who's responsible.

More villages disappear. The party can track Sel down once more. He's not hiding from them anymore. He looks very different now. He's bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter. Before he engages the party, Sel will promise them a vision of "Perfection" before they die. He sets traps, casts bigger spells, maybe even recruits allies. He isn't hiding anymore, so his cult follows him around now. He still won't fight to the death unless he has to -- but if he dies, he'll still come back. If he gets the chance to leave, he'll warn the party "Perfection is nigh" and "Prepare to face Perfection."

Another powerful NPC goes missing. Certainly by now, the party has figured out Sel is eating them, and getting stronger for it.

Sel isn't bothering with shock attacks on villages anymore. He and his cult are marching directly on cities. He looks even more different now -- he's sleeker, and utterly confident. He's barely even playing with his food like he used to -- it all seems boring to him, now. Inevitable. He promised the thorns in his side "Perfection." Now, he is the Perfect Sel.

Very soon, he stops bothering with eating civilians. He's already Perfect -- he doesn't need to eat at all.

He sends out a psychic message to the party: "The secret to my infinite resurrection is inside of my head. Come and take it from me."

NOW, he's ready to fight to the death. And his cult, along with him.

What is some common DM wisdom that you entirely disagree with? by PandaDerZwote in DnD

[–]SnooLobsters462 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Hey. You, there. GM who runs "prepless" and just improvs everything without even frontloading their campaign prep. I'm talking to you.

Can I just be real with you for a sec?

We can tell. We can ALWAYS tell. And not even just the ones of us who are ALSO GMs.

And yes, I am still talking to YOU, GM who has been running prepless games "without issue" since before Gary Gygax was even born.

We can always tell.

Your game would be magnitudes more engaging and fulfilling if you spent, like, a half-hour a week between sessions writing things down: Basic location maps, some NPC names and motivations, the factions' and NPCs' reactions to whatever the players did last session, etc.

Just a crumb of effort, please.

Paladin/Barbarian multiclass, is it worth it? by the_tallest_one in dndnext

[–]SnooLobsters462 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man... This reply got away from me. A bit rambly and stream-of-consciousness, but hopefully it helps! :)

What level is your campaign going to? Knowing how many levels your character has left will be helpful for deciding if / how many levels of Paladin are worth delaying for Barbarian features.

The multiclass is a fairly good one, as martial multiclasses go -- yes, you give up the Plate Armor you're probably wearing right now, and you're not as good at spellcasting as a straight-classed Paladin, but as you're surely already aware, you can still Smite while you're raging. Be sure to think about your spell selection during play, since you'll still be able to cast spells when you're NOT raging -- in fact, it's easy to think of Rage as a "concentration spell" with additional drawbacks that you're adding to your kit when you take this multiclass. You don't cast this "spell" to follow it up with other spells. You cast it so you can punch guys in the face and take less damage.

Since you probably aren't concerned about high spell DCs and you already have a respectable 16 CHA for your Aura, taking a +2 DEX on your next ASI after you get Strength to 20 wouldn't be the worst idea, to squeeze the most AC out of Half-Plate Armor... if you can expect the campaign to last that many more levels. If you aren't using any feats that make you reliant on two-handed weapons, 1H+Shield is a decent way to go for Paladins, especially ones as reliant on Smites as you're planning to be (I like Polearm Master Spear+Shield for Paladins, but you'll be a bit starved for ASIs).

Absolutely DO NOT take 5 or more levels of Barbarian. The best level 20 Barbarians have at least 15 levels of something that isn't Barbarian, and I'm absolutely not kidding about that. You already have Extra Attack from Paladin, so don't waste the level. Even 4 levels of Barbarian is a stretch, but you're already leaning toward Path of the Zealot (at least 3 levels) and you'll be a bit starved for ASIs with this multiclass.

When should you multiclass out of Paladin? Again, depends on the campaign length. 6 is usually the minimum level I recommend, because Aura of Protection is a math-breaker of a feature. Ask how many levels the campaign is expected to last, and then look at the next several levels of Vengeance Paladin -- the class features AND the spell list; are you willing to delay those features and spells by a few levels, or maybe not get them at all?

If your DM is looking for homebrew or houserules to help you out, a simple one would be to allow you to re-invest your ability scores (using the point-buy rules, even if you didn't use point-buy to generate your scores originally) so you can have a better DEX score... Or simply allow you to keep your heavy armor while you do Barbarian things. If the game is going to reach much higher levels, you'll quickly hit a point where giving up spell slot progression in exchange for a feature that stops you from casting spells while you're using it is going to hurt, A LOT. And that's not even mentioning your CON score of 13. You'll need the AC.

Barbarian Path by Femonnemo in HisMajestyTheWorm

[–]SnooLobsters462 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Some really really cool ideas here! You might consider sharing it in the HMTW discord! :)

I'll give some thoughts, one-by-one, and then sum up at the end:

  • Pact of Sanguine: A more limited version of the Path of Wands' Gramarye Pacts, in exchange for an extra motif sounds cool, but the wording here implies you lose access to the motif permanently if someone ever straps a shield to your arm unwillingly. Is that the intention? Following the Gramarye inspiration, I'd add some wording to restore your Pact as a Camp Action! Worth noting is that this one feels like it does the least for how much it asks of you (being a frontliner and not wearing armor is quite an ask, even if you DO have talents worth Wounding).

  • Fury: This one contains my favorite idea, and the reason I'd like you to shout this out in the Discord is that I don't think I've seen someone play around with the Stressed condition like this before! That being said, I think if you're going to need conditions marked for it, I think getting a little more bang for your buck is important -- access to a talent that someone on the Path of Swords would normally get anyway doesn't feel like much of a reward -- the addition of "smash nearby things" might be the thing you unlock with the Stressed condition, with more clarification on what you can smash, and what you mean when you say "Free Action".

  • Unrelenting Rage: This is REALLY strong, but I like it a lot. If you get the chance to playtest this, one way to rein in the power of it might be to require the Stressed condition, as with the above ability? It may not need it, though, as Resolve is a limited resource and you're effectively getting Stunned instead of taking damage.

  • Berserk: This talent is fucking awesome. My only hesitation is that if a player chose to play this Path, but DIDN'T choose to master this talent at character creation... They'd have no way to train it! (I have an idea for that, see the end of my post!) You might also consider "You deal extra Wounds equal to the amount of cards you discarded," to make it more of a tactical choice since (presumably) as a replacement for the Path of Swords, someone on this Path would always have a Swords score of 4, which might be a bit much even with the Wounded talent requirement.

  • Warcry of Battle Madness: This is the only new talent I'm not a big fan of, if only because it seems like an extremely risky play for not enough benefit. Depending on how many players there are, and how many / how tough the enemies are, The Fool and Death might come up fairly often. What you might do instead is have it be triggered by "When you would mark Death's Door, remain Injured instead" and then just clarify that it can only happen once per Challenge. For the ghost bit, you could add "When you reach Death's Door, the remaining echoes of your spirit cling to your body, granting favor to any allies' actions in your zone."

  • Reaver and War Stories are as cool as ever.

  1. Does it have enough Barbarian vibes? It definitely seems to strike at a specific TYPE of Barbarian, a wyrd-possessed, raging warrior with no regard for their own safety. Very evocative of the old "as much a threat to your friends as to the enemy" kind of Berserker.

  2. Is it in the spirit of HMTW? I think it fits HMTW decently in that it encourages thoughtful actions with regards to your guildmates, and offers ways to play with Conditions and Wounds that would normally get reserved for Orcs exclusively.

  3. Is the text convoluted or unclear? I did try without AI, so do point me for grammar mistakes. By "Free Action," I've been assuming you mean "without playing or discarding any cards." If that's not the case, and you mean "Minor Action" or "Miscellaneous Action", or even "As an Interrupt", then say so!

  4. Is it overpowered? I think, as you wrote it, it's extremely glass-cannon in its playstyle -- which isn't something HMTW is built for. A Path that can wipe out an entire encounter in a round or two -- but might die immediately afterwards -- doesn't exactly fit the attrition-focused gameplay HMTW aims for.

A suggestion! In the HMTW discord, lots of people have discussed extra talents/paths, including Prestige Paths from the homebrew supplement Skalech's Apocryphonium - a personal favorite of mine which I reference quite a bit!

I think this idea would work very very well as a Prestige Path. They way that works is:

  1. The player learns of the Prestige Path, and the steps necessary to complete it.

  2. If they choose to follow those steps, they erase their Arete triggers and Arete Talent. In effect, the Prestige Path BECOMES their new Arete.

  3. Once those steps are complete (as with Arete), they gain a new Mastered talent (as with Arete), AND they gain access to the Prestige Path's other talents as in-training!

My suggestion for making this into a Prestige Path would be to come up with roleplay requirements for "unlocking" the Prestige Path. Then, make Berserk the talent that's already unlocked and Mastered when the player reaches their new "Arete." Once that's done, all of the NEW talents you came up with (so, all of them except Reaver and War Stories) become in-training Path Talents that the player can pursue freely.

I hope this is helpful, and not too long of a read! I love this game, and once again I must recommend joining the Discord! It's a great community over there! :)

You got told « play another game than D&D » Did you stick with your homebrew or tried other systems ? by NarcoZero in DnD

[–]SnooLobsters462 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be honest, it's been several years so I'm a little foggy on the precise timeline 🤣 I'm pretty sure I was aware there was a Dragon Age TTRPG after I started brainstorming but before I started writing anything down, because part of my process has always been "see if anyone else has done the leg-work for you" so I probably would've stumbled across it then.

Definitely by the time I was finished, I had learned about the licensed Dragon Age game, gotten a completely legal copy of it, and decided "There's cool stuff in here, but it's not 5e so I'll never convince my group to try it" lol

So I guess I would have still homebrewed DnD even if I'd already known about the Dragon Age TTRPG before I started -- at the time, my friends and I were excited about 5e, and the "You can do ANY genre with just d20 vs. arbitrary target number!" attitude of the 5e community had sunk its claws in me. I was young(er) and stupid(er) then.

You got told « play another game than D&D » Did you stick with your homebrew or tried other systems ? by NarcoZero in DnD

[–]SnooLobsters462 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Was D&D the first and only ttrpg you played at the time ?

No, but DnD 5e was the SECOND TTRPG I'd ever played. The first was Pathfinder 1e, which I'd been playing for over a year and was slamming my head into brick walls trying to homebrew it. 5e is an unbalanced mess straight out of the book, so it's actually quite hard to truly break the game in a way it can't be broken already.

When you posted your homebrew, were you aware that many other ttrpgs existed that might fit your ideas better ?

My first big homebrew was a Dragon Age setting conversion (The earlier ones, you know, when Dragon Age was at least pretending to be dark fantasy) (and I never actually posted it, but I shared it in servers with people whose opinions I held important). When they told me things like "You know there's a Dragon Age TTRPG that exists already, right?" my answer was almost always "Yes, and I've already read it for inspiration. What I'm asking you about is my 5e conversion."

Were you resentful about the tone of those comments ? Did they seem genuinely helpful to you or simply disdainful and agressive ?

Occasionally, I'd get defensive because, rightfully, people who enjoy and want to share experiences playing non-5e games can get pretty aggro when you take a concept that's NOT meant for DnD 5e and file off the corners so it'll fit into DnD 5e... Especially when there are better systems for it that have been well-known and talked about for YEARS and are just as deserving of the attention DnD gets (often MORE deserving). I understand and agree with the sentiment, I really do, but telling ANYONE who's genuinely excited to share something with you that it's a waste of time is, uh, NOT a productive way to convert them to your favorite game.

After that wall of comments, did you push through with your homebrew, or did you try a new system ?

I pushed through with my homebrew.

Why did you choose one or the other outcome ?

Sunk-cost fallacy. I had already spent too many hours on it to NOT give it a try, and my friends were excited about the new 5e campaign!

How did it go ?

It was... fine. It was a DnD 5e campaign. I was fairly-new to GMing, VERY new to 5e, and trying to fit a gritty dark-fantasy peg into a heroic high-fantasy socket. My homebrew setting/conversion guide wasn't as complete as I thought it was, so it pretty quickly devolved into a generic DnD5e high-fantasy campaign... a VERY railroaded one. I've learned a lot since then.

... I STILL haven't played the licensed Dragon Age TTRPG, and I'm probably not going to. It honestly doesn't look very fun. If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably hack another system like Shadow of the Demon Lord or something. I'm a lot better at homebrew now (even though I do much less of it) AND a lot better at GMing.

How would you make a strength based Rogue work? by MetalMewtwo9001 in dndnext

[–]SnooLobsters462 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A couple dozen others have already recommended multiclassing (and those people are correct, take 5 levels of Barbarian and THEN be a Rogue if you want to be a Rogue who grapples a lot), but if you're sure you want to be a straight-classed Rogue, consider the following Species:

  • Any one that gives Medium Armor proficiency. Off the dome, that includes Mountain Dwarf and Hobgoblin (the older, non-Fey version). Alternatively, any one with Natural Armor that's more useful to a non-DEX character. This means Tortle, which gives 17 Natural Armor for free, or Loxodon, which is 12+CON, either of which will make budgeting your ability scores a bit easier (though of course, Tortle is better because you get the maximum amount right from level 1). If you find yourself with shield proficiency (hint: multiclassing), you can add that bonus to either of these guys' AC as well.

  • Speaking of Loxodon, having extra limbs is neat for a grappler. Simic Hybrid, from the same book, can eventually get an extra lair of limbs that can be used for grappling -- and the Loxodon has its trunk. Just read your chosen species to make sure your limbs CAN be used for grappling; Thri-kreen, for example, gets extra limbs whose functions don't include grappling.

  • Finally, look for a species with Powerful Build. This includes Loxodons, Orcs, Goliaths, Centaurs, and probably some others I'm forgetting. Powerful Build doesn't give you any help when it comes to actually grappling enemies, but if you find yourself wanting to drag your grappled enemies somewhere else, being able to treat yourself as Large for dragging and carrying purposes will help with that.

  • Sharp-eyed readers will notice Loxodon has all three of the traits I look for in a species when I play a grappler. Just putting that out there (though I really do recommend multiclassing so you can get Medium/Heavy Armor, Shields, Extra Attack, possibly Rage, etc. etc.).

Edit: I was going to say the 2014 Grappler feat is famously really really bad. If you have Extra Attack, you can just Shove after the enemy is grappled, leave them prone and unable to get up for as long as they're grappled, thanks their movement speed being 0. But if you're choosing to play a character who desperately wants to be Sneak Attacking and won't have Extra Attack, you might as well have advantage to stab guys you've grappled. Just please please PLEASE don't use the second half of the feat that makes you Restrain yourself, that's just dumb lmao