Tieing up question

[Atalius]

After I have pinned my opponent, the next round I can choose to maintain and simply tie up my opponent. Here is my confusion, the rules state you must have two hands free or you take a -4 to grapple, so if I chose to maintain would it be a +1 for the roll (instead of the usual +5) and then the tie up would occur?

[Perfect Tommy]

The rules state you may tie him up. It imposes the conditions under which you may do it. I.e, if your opponent is grappled and if you take a -10 penalty to the grapple check.

You explicitly have the ability. GM prerogative does not extend to imposing additional requirements.

Having rope is sufficient.

A -10 penalty is huge; off the top of my head I can't think of a bigger penalty in the game.

This means the developers have said - we think it takes two rounds minimum, and three successful checks to tie someone up in a grapple. And we think that penalty to apply the rope - getting it, wrapping it, looping it, all the while holding your victim - is a -10 penalty.

Now, if there are other circumstances - you have sand in your eyes; your rope is covered in oil, its an animated rope, its a rope of entanglement - your GM is free to impose other circumstance bonuses.

Otherwise, RAW.

[Atalius]

No I referred to after the opponent is pinned. Not going from grapple to tie up. I meant in the round after I pin my opponent. Which is stated in my opening sentence.

[Perfect Tommy]

I don't think you understood what I said. The rules say what is required.
No additional penalties than what is required.

So if you are grappled, the penalty is -10. Boom, youre tied.
If you have him pinned, there is no penalty to the roll. Maintain the grapple; tie him up.

Essentially its

Grapple - you win.
He gets to escape - you win
Grapple - you get to pin
He gets to escape - you win
Grapple to maintain (no penalties)
Tie him up.

[Scott Wilhelm]

You have to have your opponent Pinned to Tie him Up, and you take the -10 penalty when you do.

Core Grappling, Tie Up wrote:

If you have your target pinned, otherwise restrained, or unconscious, you can use rope to tie him up.

There is even a special class ability that lets you get around just this thing.

Cavalier, Order of the Penitent wrote:

Expert Captor (Ex): At 2nd level, as long as he has rope, the cavalier can tie up a grappled opponent, even if the opponent is not pinned, otherwise restrained, or unconscious, and he does not take the usual –10 penalty on his combat maneuver check to do so.

I posted this on another Thread. Atalius, you were on that thread.

[Scott Wilhelm]

I agree with Perfect Tommy that that -10 penalty must subsume the -4 penalty for not having 2 hands free--having rope in your hands. Otherwise, they would have mentioned that you take an additional -4 for having rope instead of victim in your hands. They make no mention of that in the Tie Up section of Grappling.