We currently have a disagreement on the rules regarding greater grapple.
A character with greater grapple is currently standing in melee range with two opponents, one of which is currently grappled. On the characters turn, as a move equivalent action, he harms his grappled opponent. Can he then, as a free action, drop the grapple and then use a standard action to grapple the second opponent, thus completing his turn?
I see nothing in the rules that would prevent this, but our GM says multiple opponents can't be grappled in the same turn. I agree that multiple people can't be grappled at the same time, but this action is only grappling one person at a time. Which call is correct?
I don't think there is any rules justification for why you couldn't do what you propose.
And AFAIK, there's no reason why you couldn't maintain the existing grapple (Move Action) and Grapple another opponent as a Standard Action WITHOUT releasing the first opponent.
Tentacle monsters with Grab certainly can Grapple multiple creatures per round. (though they may need to follow the same normal rules as everybody else to maintain/pin, though they can drop and immediately re-establish the grapple via grab if they want to)
Certainly, the NORMAL functioning of Grapple is limited to once per round, because nobody has more than one Standard Action per round - but that is the only limitation. Greater Grapple making it a Move Action bypasses that limitation. Just like you are normally limited to casting one spell per round, but Swift Spells/ Metamagic let you cast an additional spell with a Swift Action.
Thanks for the back up and clarification Quandary, It looks like the DM may be convinced now :)
Just remember that if you attempt to grapple two targets, you cannot be using both hands on both targets. Because of this, you take a -4 penalty to the grapple check against at least one target. It would not be unreasonable for a DM to impose this penalty on the grapple checks against both target.
This is the part that get me. It doesnt say you can initiate another grapple after you are done with the first one as part of the grapple action.
Why should it need to? If you started a grapple the previous round, used your Move Action to maintain it this round, then you are free to do whatever you want with your Standard Action within the confines of conditions affecting you. That's how the game works. When the Bard gains their Perform ability as a Move Action, it doesn't say "you can do this before a melee attaack, after a melee attack, before a Standard Action spell, after a Standard Action spell..." because that's assumed within the modular action system.
Benefit: ...This feat allows
you to make two grapple checks each round (to move,
harm, or pin your opponent), but you are not required to
make two checks.
AKA, you are free to do whatever you want with your Standard Action. It just mentions making two grapple checks (as an example of what you can do) because Pinning your opponent (or moving them into lava, etc) is usually the entire goal of grappling, so being able to do so even when failing the first check is of prime interest to most people who take this Feat.
The Grappled condition doesn't take away your ability to attack other targets, it just prevents AoO's, THUS: there's nothing stopping you from grappling another adjacent opponent (though you will take the 1-handed penalty as people mention). Not surprising for a fantasy hero who's really really good at grappling.
We currently have a disagreement on the rules regarding greater grapple.
A character with greater grapple is currently standing in melee range with two opponents, one of which is currently grappled. On the characters turn, as a move equivalent action, he harms his grappled opponent. Can he then, as a free action, drop the grapple and then use a standard action to grapple the second opponent, thus completing his turn?
I see nothing in the rules that would prevent this, but our GM says multiple opponents can't be grappled in the same turn. I agree that multiple people can't be grappled at the same time, but this action is only grappling one person at a time. Which call is correct?
Multiple opponents can't be grappled by most creatures in the same turn, that's true, but that's not the case.
You are maintaining a previously stablished grapple, an then grappling another foe. Two different things, and you can do it using the Greater Grapple feat imo.