I'm having difficulty working out how the roper's strands work in combat.
Let's assume the roper ambushes the party, getting a surprise round.
It fires off a single strand attack and hits the party fighter's flat-footed touch AC with it, and the fighter fails his DC 25 Fortitude save. He takes 1d6 Strength damage. Then the roper pulls the fighter. The roper rolls CMB vs. the fighter's CMD. On a success, the fighter moves 5 ft. closer to the roper.
This much I'm clear on, but it's what happens afterwards that's confusing me.
Surprise round is over, and the fighter wins initiative. Is the strand still stuck to the fighter on his turn? Can the fighter move away from the roper? If he doesn't need to cut the strand off to move away, why does the strand have an AC 20? What happens if the roper is on the ceiling instead? It seems a lot was lost in the translation of this creature from 3.5e to Pathfinder.