Surprise and initiative.

Hi there!

Imagine the players have used stealth and they are at the entrance of a cave. Inside the cave there are several goblins. The Fighter is first and he sees the goblins and wants to attack them. 

The question is: What if everyone rolls initiative (including the goblins with disadvantage [5.5 rules]) and the goblins or any other player roll higher than the Fighter? Should the Fighter make an attack first and then use the initiative order?

I'm confused. Could you help me out, please? 

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

Hi there!

Imagine the players have used stealth and they are at the entrance of a cave. Inside the cave there are several goblins. The Fighter is first and he sees the goblins and wants to attack them. 

The question is: What if everyone rolls initiative (including the goblins with disadvantage [5.5 rules]) and the goblins or any other player roll higher than the Fighter? Should the Fighter make an attack first and then use the initiative order?

I'm confused. Could you help me out, please? 

According to the rules, the best that you could do as a DM if you want the Fighter to have the best chance of acting first based on the particular scenario that is happening is to give the Fighter advantage on the initiative roll.  Others get a straight roll, and surprised creatures roll at disadvantage.  If the result of the dice still does not play out as expected, then "something" unusual must have happened which is then narrated accordingly.  Things don't always go exactly according to plan and randomness is built into the rules whenever the outcome of a situation is uncertain.

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

The question is: What if everyone rolls initiative (including the goblins with disadvantage [5.5 rules]) and the goblins or any other player roll higher than the Fighter? Should the Fighter make an attack first and then use the initiative order?

That's probably how I'd run it. Even if the goblins go first, if they're not aware of the PCs and they haven't been attacked yet, they'd spend their turns doing whatever it is they were doing beforehand, so it'd be reasonable to just jump to the turn of the person who initiated combat and then go from there.

An alternative approach that is definitely outside the official rules, but which I've seen done well a few times (including in the video game Baldur's Gate III) is that the Fighter would get to resolve their initial action that started combat first, then you'd start the first round at the top of the Initiative order. When the Fighter's first turn came around, the Fighter wouldn't be able to take an action that turn (because they'd already taken one before combat started) but could take a bonus action and/or move around.

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

The question is: What if everyone rolls initiative (including the goblins with disadvantage [5.5 rules]) and the goblins or any other player roll higher than the Fighter? Should the Fighter make an attack first and then use the initiative order?

RAW, what happens is that the fighter bursts into the room intending to attack... and the other characters go first. This is weird for a lot of reasons so people frequently house rule it.

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

That's probably how I'd run it. Even if the goblins go first, if they're not aware of the PCs and they haven't been attacked yet, they'd spend their turns doing whatever it is they were doing beforehand

This seems a bit more in line with the 5e 2014 rules except that you just aren't allowing for the scenario where someone might get two turns before another creature gets one like what could sometimes happen with the 2014 rules.  

It seems to me that the intent is for the outcome to be more random than that but with the probabilities just weighted in one direction.  You might situationally be able to tip the probabilities in your favor but that something might still happen to mess up your plans, as determined randomly.  For example, you determine a path where you might be able to sneak into an area that you suspect is occupied by hostile enemies.  You move ahead with your plan and successfully roll a stealth check.  This check gives you an opportunity to surprise your enemies before they can notice you.  So, you attempt to surprise them.  But even though the enemies ARE surprised, at the moment when it becomes time to actually take advantage of the fact that they are surprised, something unexpected happens that allows the enemy to turn the tables before you can act effectively.  Who knows what that might be, it might take some creativity to come up with something.  But the rules seem to allow for that possibility now even though that was certainly not possible under the 2014 rules.

This is one of those things that gets house ruled often and is a good candidate for things to bring up with the group at session 0.

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

Hi there!

Imagine the players have used stealth and they are at the entrance of a cave. Inside the cave there are several goblins. The Fighter is first and he sees the goblins and wants to attack them. 

The question is: What if everyone rolls initiative (including the goblins with disadvantage [5.5 rules]) and the goblins or any other player roll higher than the Fighter? Should the Fighter make an attack first and then use the initiative order?

I'm confused. Could you help me out, please? 

 The moment someone initiates combat, Initiative is rolled. Each round represents 6 whole seconds and everyone in that combat has the same 6 seconds to deal with, including realizing that they are in combat. The Fighter trying to throw a spear or swing a sword, even from a position of stealth, takes 6 seconds to do it and that speedy Rogue or nimble goblin also gets the same 6 seconds. On average they may be faster in their ability to respond, including being able to attack first.