Our group had a discussion on being able to attack into a grapple. One of the PC was grappled by a Hill Giant and the PC had little to no chance of breaking free. Basically the rest of the group had to wait until the grappled PC was unconscionable before we were even able to do anything as far as attacking the Giant. To me this sounds faulty at best. I would think that the other PC's should be able to do SOMETHING other than sit around and wait for the grappled PC to bite the dust before being able to attack the monster. Some kind of penalty should be incorporated into attacks to take into account that the Giant and PC are rolling around and there is a chance to hit the PC. Maybe also up the chance of a critical hit or something. But just waiting for character to become unconsciousness just seems lame to me. Any thoughts on the matter?
Ok, the rules aren't broken, the DM either didn't read them or reaaaly mis understood something.
If you successfully grapple a creature that is not adjacent to you, move that creature to an adjacent open space (if no space is available, your grapple fails)
1) even in 3.5 you could attack into a grapple even though they shared squares. With a melee weapon there was no miss chance. With a missle weapon there was a 50 50 chance of hitting either grappler.
2) In pathfinder, the grapplers are in different squares. There's nothing preventing you from hitting either grappler, even with a missle weapon, that you wouldn't have if they were in regular melee combat.
Grappled: A grappled creature is restrained by a creature, trap, or effect. Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4
penalty to Dexterity. A grappled creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, except those made to grapple or escape a grapple. In addition, grappled creatures can take no action that requires two hands to perform.
So the other PCs can attack, as BIgNorseWolf said, and in addition the hill giant has some serious penalties because of the grapple as well.
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plus a rogue in the group could encourage that giant to let go quickly. If you take a look at the table labeled as "Table: Armor Class Modifiers" in the combat section of the prd(should also be in the book, but I cannot remember the page/table number), it states that:
Defender is… Melee Ranged
... ... ...
Grappling (but attacker is not) +0(1) +0(1)
And if you look at note (1) at the bottom of the table:
(1) The defender loses any Dexterity bonus to AC.
All this together means that the rogue would be sneak attacking as much as they want till the giant releases the grapple.
Note that the Grappling creature cannot perform Attacks of Opportunity (assuming it has the grappled condition), so the rogue should be able to move into a flanking position pretty easily.
Note: Though the grappled creature does not "threaten" the grappler (as he cannot do AoOs), we play with him setting up flanking, as the grappler is distracted by him (but I see this as outside RAW).
Now that I think about it, does he threaten? I mean, he can't USE the AoOs, but does he still count as "threatening?
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Also remember that grappling was changed significantly in terms of what it means from 3.5 to Pathfinder.
In 3.5, two creatures that were grappling were, as OP described, "rolling around" in a wrestling type thing, or at least hugging as boxers.
In Pathfinder, "grappled" is more like a hold in football. It means you've gotten a hold on the person's shirt or pauldron. Both of you can pretty much do whatever you were doing before, it's just a little more awkward now (and you have to devote one hand to keeping your hold on the shirt/pauldron/etc.
The "wrestling" style grapple is now described by the pinned condition, which would be you wrapped around your opponent and locking his body in a rigid position. It is while the opponent is pinned that the rogue becomes truly dangerous because he can start dropping coups de grace, inspiring a nigh-impossible fort save or die every round.
Also, as has been pointed out many times before, nowhere in the rules does it say that grapplers are harder to hit, impossible to hit, or that there is a chance you will hit your ally. The truth is actually the exact opposite. A grappled foe is easier to hit. That's one of the reasons grapple is good.
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plus a rogue in the group could encourage that giant to let go quickly. If you take a look at the table labeled as "Table: Armor Class Modifiers" in the combat section of the prd(should also be in the book, but I cannot remember the page/table number), it states that:
Defender is… Melee Ranged
... ... ...
Grappling (but attacker is not) +0(1) +0(1)
And if you look at note (1) at the bottom of the table:
(1) The defender loses any Dexterity bonus to AC.
All this together means that the rogue would be sneak attacking as much as they want till the giant releases the grapple.
Please note that that table and the text describing grapple and the grappled condition do not agree with each other. In cases like this I take the text as rule and not the table (which was probably taken directly from 3.5 and not altered to fit the new rules).
Paraphrased from grappled condition in Core Rulebook:
When grappled both creatures gain the grappled condition which is a -4 DEX (note: not a complete loss of DEX -> therefor no sneak attack) and a -2 on all attack rolls and combat maneuvers other than grapple. That is it. As such, hit the grappler to your hearts content. In addition, as the player grappled you can still full attack with a light weapon, one-handed, or natural weapon.
Ahh, I see where the table comes into play. If you pin an opponent, they gain the "pinned" condition, while you keep the "grappled" but lose your dex bonus to AC.
Right conclusion, wrong assumptions.
In this case, ignore the table. It is wrong and outdated and clearly contradicted by the text (and text trumps table in rules dispute).
It is right, though, that if Grappler A pins Grappler B, then Grappler B gains the pinned condition (which replaces, supersedes, and negates all penalties from grappled), while Grappler A retains the grappled condition with the added penalty of losing his Dex bonus to AC.
Also note that in Pathfinder you can only ever occupy the same space as creatures very-much larger or smaller than you, or a mount. Even if a kraken grapples you, it doesn't pull you INTO its space, only adjacent to it.
Have fun storming the castle!