Smashboards

I see grapplers as characters who have a gameplan that revolves around getting grabs. As such I think they should be allowed to have projectiles as long as it doesn't trump their main gameplan.

That said, I also think wether a character is a grappler or not can depend on who's playing them. I played a very grab-heavy style with Shadow Mewtwo in Pokken, but I imagine most people play him as more of a zoner or footsies character.

If I were to give a grappler a projectile, it would be something that does weak damage but helps close the distance, stuff like an freezing projectile, or a vacuum wave that pulls in the opponent, something like that

I think the label and function of a "Grappler" (ie, a character who needs to get close to use their most powerful tools - usually command grabs - but tend to suffer in the actual process of getting in as an offset) could include projectile grapplers, but fundamentally, the addition of a projectile should aid in their main ideal outcome (grabbing you and snapping your healthbar and spine simultaneously) - meaning it should ideally force an approach from opponents to get them into Homicide Range.

Laura in Street Fighter V and Reiko from Mortal Kombat 1 apparently count? I'm not familiar with the latter though so correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit (seems as I didn't see these comments when I posted it) - something like that feels good, especially the vacuum wave (though it'd need a little balancing.) Not an expert, but I feel like giving a grappler a projectile can genuinely help them fix some of their typical flaws somewhat (ie, lack of options against zoners, difficulty in covering approach) but it's worth considering the balance of how easy it is for them to get in compared to how effective their command grabs actually are.

Exactly, I think the purpose of a projectile for a grappler is to again close the distance, while not a projectile Potemkin's Slide Buster from Guilty Gear is a good example of such an attack, as its main purpose isn't to cause damage but to allow Potemkin an easier job to better grab the opponent, I just think Grapplers are always perceived as low tier due to their lack of ranged options so I feel like a ranged option to help them better deal with grabbing people would help a lot in their kit

Tangentially related, but - I think an interesting alternative to this (if you wanted to explore it) may also be worth considering the option of a more mobile grappler!

A lot of the issues with grapplers tend to be movement based, given they're generally quite slow and often err toward being big-bodied (shoutout to SFIV Hugo who is so ****ing huge that he literally gets anti-aired by walking forward, arguably the logical extreme of this) as well as tending to be pretty limited in their "getting in" options aside from, like, one or two (Gief's green hand for instance) - but a combination between almost a grappler/hit-and-run character seems like it could be a weird but fun take on it!

I guess my best example for this would probably be R. Mika?

I think a grappler who is fast but frail would be a cool character to play as, offers an exhilarating risk reward since instead of being so slow that you can hit them without even trying, you instead crumple in a few hits, BUT you keep the power of a grappler moveset, maybe add some other gimmicks like poison/slime that slows the opponent down, or a parry that can push opponent back, sounds like a fun character.