Friend home brewing D&D game based off MTG; Balancing grappling hook to grappling?

So my friend is home brewing a Dungeons and Dragons game set in one of the planes of the Magic The Gathering universe, particularly the Avacyn Restored set. The ideas they had were pretty neat as their's already a fairly large bestiary and spell collection with such a massive amount of wiggle room that it could lead to some amazing role play for both the DM and players. While the majority of the campaign is extremely home brew, essentially the stats are split between offensive and defensive, rolled and then multiplied by the selected humanoid creature cards strength and defense, they want to keep at the very least the skeleton of the D&D system attached to their game. An example of a character being made is the use of the Kor Hookmaster card, who would come into play later in this post, is a 2/2 creature, so stats that effect damage are 1D8, multiplied by 2, as well as well as the defensive stats in this case. Stats would of course be allowed to be shuffled, but not broken down. (you could swap a 14 intelligence with a 3 strength in the case of a warrior type character.) The biggest problem in this particular example is the player who wishes to play as a controller, referencing a 3.5 build which was built around Grappling. The player wants to use a Chain Hook to grapple with creatures, which en-tales the use of grappling at a distance.My friend thinks this is an awesome idea for a variation on control characters and really wants to allow this player to use his idea, but as far as we're aware grappling at a distance isn't a part of the initial D&D rule set. Personally i'd suggested placing a penalty on the strength roles of the grappling player based on how many squares away from the creature they're attempting to grapple with with their hook. This would be off-set by the grappled creature taking a set amount of damage per round that it's grappled. Unfortunately my friend is dubious about that particular home brew rule and isn't sure if it would hold up in early levels where the player may have a lower strength role than doing serious grappling would allow. As well as this he would like some kind of connection to the original rule set, so it at least has some kind of force behind its ruling. Thus i ask, is their any instances of ranged grappling in any of the previous incarnations of Dungeons and Dragons which could assist with these twos ideas?

Moved to Off-Topic

I'm not sure how this, spicificlly requesting assistence in regards to game-mechanics in relation to D&D, is more off-topic than memorable quotes or snippets of a map...

On-topic is intended for Roll20 specific discussion or community highlights. Helping people use Roll20 better (via maps) is a community highlight. Discussion of game-mechanics is off-topic as it is not Roll20 specific or a community highlight. Of course, there are probably some grey area judgement calls but this was not one of them. :)

I don't have my books in front of me at the moment, but I'm certain that there is a PrC or feat that allows ranged grapple in 3.x. Exotic Weapon Master, maybe? That being said, I don't believe it is a very effective ability for the reasons you mentioned - the penalties are just too great to overcome except at maybe very high levels or with superpowered characters. Something else to consider: As far as the rules are concerned, that's still melee, even though the characters aren't adjacent. You wouldn't say that using a chain hook to trip is a ranged trip, it's just a trip attempt.

Ooooh, okay, i understand :3 (Gauss) Good point Dickie, we'll have to sit down and think it through a bit more, most likly finding that skill you mentioned and tweeking it slightly, then skinning it as the chainhook o,-

I see the player is referencing a 3.5 build, but what version of D&D is this homebrew supposed to be based on? Grappling in 4e is essentially just an immobilize with a special duration (sustain minor, must remain within reach of the target, target can end with a successful Escape check) and which grants access to a new forced movement action (STR vs. Fortitude to move self and grabbed target up to half your speed). I can certainly see a 4e homebrew power which achieves the same result: Grappling Hook (weapon) Encounter Attack: Range 3 (One creature); Dexterity vs. Reflex Hit: The target is immobilized until the end of your next turn, and you gain access to the Grappling Hook Drag attack. Any forced movement applied to the target which would move the target away from you is reduced by your Strength modifier, except for movement caused by your Grappling Hook Drag attack. Sustain Minor: You can sustain the power's effect. Special: The target may end this effect by succeeding on an Acrobatics check with a DC equal to your Reflex. If the target moves more than 3 squares away from you, end this effect. Grappling Hook Drag At-Will Requirement: You must be immobilizing a creature with your Grappling Hook attack. Target: Creature immobilized with Grappling Hook Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude Hit: Move up to half your speed and slide the target that many squares. If you and the target do not end this movement within 3 squares of each other, end the effect of Grappling Hook. Special: This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks from the target.