It totally depends on how many there actually are and what the slaves will do and of course on dice as well.

Rodolfo has slow for example. Should he roll high initiative and the drow fail some saving throws then it's entirely possible to either murder a bunch of them.

The other is the haste + wand combination. After 2 rounds it can be that 3 of the melee dudes on enemy side are completely eliminated from this whole combat.

On the other hand, if we all roll low initiative then there isn't much we can do at all should they just rush us..

Posted a map.  Anything behind the last NPC (where the bridge starts) is total darkness and beyond your 60 feet of darkvision range.  Just because you don't see any more creatures on the map, doesn't mean there aren't any.

Now that you can all see a map, figure out what the next step is.

Lets roll initiative as well?

Doesn't make sense to do a whole lot of planning if the map will change drastically before we can do anything.

IF we can somehow get 200 feet off the ground - I can try and just tackle the lead drow off the ledge and ride them all the way to the bottom of the cavern

hehe

if I rage first at least I'll half the fall damage vs the drow

10d6 even at max won't kill me :D

If there is nothing more to be said or done, then Beegred will cast a spell to start the combat.

I'll post in a few hours, in case someone else wants to jump the gun before Beegred.

For the DM:
For anyone doing ranged attacks (until they get close enough to do melee), would hugging the walls at the side of the ramp provide partial cover?
For example, at E7 or G11, that would seem to make it tougher to get a clean crossbow shot from the drow clustered in the SW corner. (Not for Ront, if he has javelins, but the people west of him.) Would that require a Hide roll or going prone or ???

Quote from Quasimodal >>

If there is nothing more to be said or done, then Beegred will cast a spell to start the combat.

I'll post in a few hours, in case someone else wants to jump the gun before Beegred.

For the DM:
For anyone doing ranged attacks (until they get close enough to do melee), would hugging the walls at the side of the ramp provide partial cover?
For example, at E7 or G11, that would seem to make it tougher to get a clean crossbow shot from the drow clustered in the SW corner. (Not for Ront, if he has javelins, but the people west of him.) Would that require a Hide roll or going prone or ???

In my minds eye, a creature up on a ramp can easily look down and make a ranged attack at someone below, whether they are hugging the wall or not.  On the flip side, if the creature up on the ramp moves back away from the edge, then that would provide partial cover from those below.

It sucks, but that's the advantage of high ground.

Yeah ask Anakin about the high ground.....

Quote from Kerrec >>

In my minds eye, a creature up on a ramp can easily look down and make a ranged attack at someone below, whether they are hugging the wall or not.  On the flip side, if the creature up on the ramp moves back away from the edge, then that would provide partial cover from those below.

I wasn't talking about a direct shot over the edge, like from Asha to H15.
I mentioned G11, because with the curve of that ramp road, anyone from Jorlan to the west has the ramp in the way of their attack, since they are 30' away from the edge at G11.
Someone in a trench isn't an easy target for someone at the surface level, unless they are almost on top of each other.

Sounds like it would be too much trouble for a game system. That's fine.

This is mostly for Rodolfo, since I assume he will be spell cantrip-ing.
As long as there is no one in movement range that can run up and melee attack him, I suggest doing this every round:

• start from prone (ranged attacks against him are at disadvantage)
• half movement to stand
• ranged cantrip attack
• drop back to prone (takes no movement)

Ahh.  I misunderstood the question.

I am now using Foundry VTT for the maps.  I am able to create walls in Foundry that blocks Line of Sight (LOS), showing what a player can see, or if a player can be seen.  For example, I moved Rodolfo to hug the wall:

That shaded line that goes right thru Mistress Ilvara is the vision polygon (the LOS) from Rodolfo's point of view.  In that case, I would rule Mistress Ilvara has 1/2 cover from Rodolfo, or vice versa.  Shoor, which you can't even see is to the left/west of Ilvara.  Shoor would have no LOS to Rodolfo from his position.

There's no way to let you all SEE how LOS looks from any given position without you logging into Foundry.  But it won't work without a DM logged in, and that would mean coordinating with me to be online when you want to check.  I think that would be too much of a hassle to be worthwile.

Oh I finally see the map.

well thurnir could move and misty step to get up near the priestesses, depending on how high that slope is.  Again- it all depends on initiative rolls.   Want to do it?  Or figure out a better plan?

Welp I guess this is how it goes now :P 

Good luck everyone! may your death be glorious and your patron welcome you in to the gates of their kingdom!

Also does Skameros still have spider climb?

No spider climb.  You've been in 'normal' tunnels since you finished your long rest.

As far as I know, the only spells cast should be Aid, and Mage Armor?

The Spider Climb was cast as well, but it was used up as we traveled the whole way first to get here.

I'm confused about the sequence of events.

Is it that Beegred has initiated combat, but what he did will be the 2nd to last to happen?
(So in a wild west gun fight, he reaches for his holster first, but everyone else draws and fires before him?)
If this is the situation, then I wouldn't have taken that action.
There would be no advantage or reason to start combat, when I could just sit back and react to someone else setting it off.

Or does his action to start combat happen, and then initiative is rolled?
If this, then Silence would prevent Levitation from being cast by Jorian.
(The reason to cast Silence is to force them down the ramp to us, or to backtrack into the line of prisoners, to get out of the Silence.)

The way Kerrec runs things:

1) any action triggers initiative

2) that action is discarded

3) stuff happens in initiative order

So the first step IS important, otherwise we're just waiting around. But yeah, not a lot of planning should go into initiating combat as it will change drastically.. like just happened here.

Since Kerrec pointed out...

(All actions/spells previous to rolling initiative have not happened.  You may rethink your actions based on the current state of combat.)

I suspect nothing Beegred did actually happened yet so you can change your action when its your turn because there was no surprise round.

This is actually RAW.  Nothing offensive is supposed to happen outside of initiative.  DM's that do that are homebrewing.

PBP doesn't give me the opportunity to say, "Hold that thought, what you're doing is an attack, so we roll initiative first."

Is there a surprise mechanic in 5e?  Not that it would apply here, as everyone would be on high alert..

I wasn't expecting surprise.
But as Kerrec pointed out, I got used to home brews where if someone wants to start things off, they (first round only) go first.
(My fault for not thinking about the rules more carefully.)

As others pointed out, all other things being equal, I wouldn't have done anything, as there is no reason to.
In this forum post 4396, Tesservett was still asking about pre-combat options.

Well, it had to start sooner or later. So be it.

Several people indicated they wanted to initiate combat.

• Skameros wanted to rip Ilvara's legs off.
• Thurnir wanted to rush Ilvara
• Rodolfo asked to start initiative.

I don't think I jumped the gun...?