Teleport to flee from combat

[Bri74]

The player have an hard time during a combat and all the party (4 PC including the sorcerer) are thinking to escape the meele thanks to the teleport spell of the sorcerer.

I'm not sure how to rules in combat the part of the teleport spell "All creatures to be transported must be in contact with one another, and at least one of those creatures must be in contact with you".

Can the sorcerer on his turn, if the other 3 PCs are all within reach of him, simply cast teleport and touch all of theme in the same round? In this I have to count this as a standard or a full round attack?

Or

Having the sorcerer only 2 hands he can only touch at the same time only 2 PCs and the other one must be already touching the sorcerer or another PC? In this case must the last PC have declared on his previous turn that he wanted to touch another PC (and what kind of action is it? standard? free?)?

[Scrapper]

Sorcerer could strike a pose, both hands and a leg flailing out, but at least 2 of the party would likely need to devote a standard action to complete the chain of contact, possibly treated as a touch attack, which might seem like an absurd waste of an action, but it is combat and the spell does require contact to function as part of it's standard action to cast. Free/Swift/Immediate actions seem to all focus on self only actions, with the exception of triggered responses(AoO, ect...) in which you contact another only after they in turn did an action to provoke, and Free/Swift/Immediate actions don't provoke.
It may come down to a GM call, but if they are focused on combat and not escape, the sorcerer might only be able to escape with one selected party member.

[tchrman35]

Sorcerer runs up next to fighter. "Grab on!"
I ready an action to cast when the circle is complete

Fighter 5-foots and grabs barbarian.

Barbarian grabs a tuft of the hunter's companion's fur. "Come on, Llwellan!"

The Ettin tries to smack the Barbarian. He misses.

Hunter runs up and lays a hand on the sorcerer's shoulder
GM: Your conditions are met. Readied action?"
Sorcerer: Heck yes!"

Sorcerer casts.

Done.

[Bri74]

My players now are trying to convince me that to "be in contact" with an ally they need only a move action.

I disagree with them but I would like to know which is the general opinion

[Lakesidefantasy]

I say they must be in contact when the spell is cast. So, as long as they are adjacent to each other when the spell is cast, I consider it a free action for everyone to form a chain of contact.

[Scrapper]

It looks like it would fall under Aid another, a standard action, to complete the chain.

[Boomerang Nebula]

Lakesidefantasy wrote:

I say they must be in contact when the spell is cast. So, as long as they are adjacent to each other when the spell is cast, I consider it a free action for everyone to form a chain of contact.

This is how we rule it works at our table as well.

[outshyn]

Note that there is a general rule that the person casting the spell can touch up to 6 targets for free on the round of casting. So there is some precedent for friendly touches to be less than a standard.

[John Murdock]

outshyn wrote:

Note that there is a general rule that the person casting the spell can touch up to 6 targets for free on the round of casting. So there is some precedent for friendly touches to be less than a standard.

when you cast a spell you can touch (or attempt) as a free action and you can touch with a spell up to 6 person as a full round

source here http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/combat.html#

[Lady-J]

Bri74 wrote:

My players now are trying to convince me that to "be in contact" with an ally they need only a move action.

I disagree with them but I would like to know which is the general opinion

you are right to disagree its a free action not a move action