Hey,
I've seen much discussion about Greater and Rapid Grapple and what you can do with it.
When you add Grabbing Style, Grabbing Master and Pinning knockout into the mix...it seems pretty ridiculous...
So in total we have:
9th level Brawler:
[among other feats]: Improved Grapple, Greater Grapple, Grabbing Style, Grabbing Drag, Grabbing Master
Martial Flex turns on:
Rapid Grappler
Pinning knockout
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So it seems like they can, with 2 people grappled:
move action - pin guy 1
move action - pin guy 2
swift action - damage both guys (non-lethally) for double damage
Considering breaking out of even a basic grapple from a "grappler" is damn near impossible (and basically instant death for casters), at least they had the "either being pinned OR getting killed". Such that they could still fight back with 1-handed weapons while grappled (but not pinned).
Also the fact that the double damage is already basically duplicating Mythic Vital Strike (yet can be on 2 people)...
Seems very suspicious...
Thoughts?
Your interpretation seems legit.
That's not even the most devastating thing I would do with a Grapple.
Grappling is devastating in the right situations. Grappling is completely ineffective against a Wizard who considers the possibility of getting Grappled and casts Freedom of Movement on himself. Or who casts Contingency on himself for just such an occasion. Or who invests in a Ring of Freedom of Movement.
Something else to bear in mind. When you take it upon yourself to Grapple somebody, you have their undivided attention. When you have 2 Grappled, you have both their attentions, and you can be expected to be treated to their Full Attacks. If your GM created a balance campaign such that you actually need your fellow party members, then there is a good chance you will be seriously hurt by a creature's Full Attack directed soley at you. And in the initial round, you usually can't make more than 1 Grapple Check even if you do have Greater Grapple: you probably used your Move Action to close with the opponent, your Standard Action to Initiate the Grapple with 1 opponent, and then you're done. When you get Rapid Grappler, your opponents get more formidable as you level up.
If you want to really focus on Grappling, it takes 9 levels of Tetori before you can shut down Freedom of Movement. If you dip into other classes in order to get totally-worth-it benefits, that puts off Inescapable Grasp for even longer.
If I were trying to maximize the brokeness of my character, I wouldn't fully invest in Grappling. But I sure would invest some.
Well, that assumes anything that can cast would certainly have Freedom of Movement on at the time - that's still one spell effect being the only thing that stops a caster from being totally screwed.
And I'd assume that a "fighter-type" who's specc'd for grappling could probably take a round of full attacks (also considering they can't use 2-handed weapons will be less damage) - and they still have to hit (etc).There's still a question of whether the grapple feat tree allows more than other similar feat trees.
The double-damage (mythic vital strike) to 2 enemies concurrently. The ability to shut down 2 enemies such that all they can do is attempt to break a pin if they don't kill the grappler in the 1st round they are grappled.
And just the sheer number of standard actions that can become move/swift/etc.
Saw the same brawler, when one of his 2 grappled enemies rolled a 20 to escape and ran off:
- move action to drag grappled enemy over to fleeing fella
- swift action to pin/damage the guy he dragged
- standard action to grab the fleeing guy again