DM: ok guys, it looks like the Orcs attack. Everyone roll initiative.
Ranger/Assassin: I got an adjusted 27.
***
With RAW, surprise is not easy to get, which compensates somewhat for the assassin's uberkill strike and makes it less likely that the attacking ghouls will paralyze & subsequently kill the entire party before they have a chance to do anything, but both conditions still do occasionally occur.
The surprise RAW is also a little confusing to new DMs. It is possible for a Stealthed character with the lowest initiative to gain surprise on those with a higher initiative, which makes the mechanic awkward.
With surprising initiative RAP, it's a little more straightforward.
Option 1: Any character with initiative higher than 20 gets to act in the surprise round preceding round 1. (Since many things are triggered on initiative count 20, the higher initiative gives the character a chance to react before the trigger, meaning they act before the round actually starts.) Subsequent rounds the initiative sequence remains the same, the highest roll goes first.
Option 2: as above, but anyone who acted in the surprise round subtracts 10 from their initiative to determine order of attacks in subsequent rounds.
Option3: as option 1, but characters who rolled over 20 must use a new static unmodified d20 roll to determine combat order.
Option 4: Reverse Surprise-any character whose initiative is 20 lower than any other cannot act on the 1st round of combat.
Option 5: Really Gritty- anyone with an initiative of 10 or below is surprised the first round of combat.
A DM which chooses to use one of these options should roll initiative separately for EACH NPC, making it less likely that the entire NPC group will surprise the entire party.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
DM: ok guys, it looks like the Orcs attack. Everyone roll initiative.
Ranger/Assassin: I got an adjusted 27.
***
With RAW, surprise is not easy to get, which compensates somewhat for the assassin's uberkill strike and makes it less likely that the attacking ghouls will paralyze & subsequently kill the entire party before they have a chance to do anything, but both conditions still do occasionally occur.
The surprise RAW is also a little confusing to new DMs. It is possible for a Stealthed character with the lowest initiative to gain surprise on those with a higher initiative, which makes the mechanic awkward.
With surprising initiative RAP, it's a little more straightforward.
Option 1: Any character with initiative higher than 20 gets to act in the surprise round preceding round 1. (Since many things are triggered on initiative count 20, the higher initiative gives the character a chance to react before the trigger, meaning they act before the round actually starts.) Subsequent rounds the initiative sequence remains the same, the highest roll goes first.
Option 2: as above, but anyone who acted in the surprise round subtracts 10 from their initiative to determine order of attacks in subsequent rounds.
Option3: as option 1, but characters who rolled over 20 must use a new static unmodified d20 roll to determine combat order.
Option 4: Reverse Surprise-any character whose initiative is 20 lower than any other cannot act on the 1st round of combat.
Option 5: Really Gritty- anyone with an initiative of 10 or below is surprised the first round of combat.
A DM which chooses to use one of these options should roll initiative separately for EACH NPC, making it less likely that the entire NPC group will surprise the entire party.