Questions tagged [initiative]
The rules governing the order of action in turn-based combat systems.
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Can you use a reaction to affect initiative rolls?
Expanding upon this question in a tweet at Jeremy Crawford who confirms once again that Initiative is a skill check and can be modified by things that modify ability checks.
Cutting Words states
...
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Are there games in which a natural 20 on initiative has specific effects? [closed]
Pretty much every d20-game uses a d20 roll to determine initiative at the beginning of an encounter. Also, pretty much every d20-game has some instances in which a natural 20 gets a special treatment (...
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What happens when your group is victim of a surprise attack but you can't be surprised?
My character was unaware of a group of bandits, but my character cannot be surprised (I have a Weapon of warning) but the rest of my group is out of the range of my weapon of warning, do I get to ...
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1answer
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Which aspects of D&D 5e will be affected by incorporating the Savage Worlds “Card Draw Initiative”?
The Savage World System
In Savage Worlds, Initiative is determined by using a 54-card deck (standard 52-card deck, including the Jokers). Each player and enemy is dealt a card (or group of enemies, ...
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Should I be able to use the Gloom Stalker ranger's Dread Ambusher class feature when attacking before initiative has been rolled to add a d8 damage?
There was a case in a in a session of my Homebrewy D&D 5e game that I played recently where I was playing a Gloom Stalker Ranger lvl 4 and was hidden from an enemy that was unaware of an incoming ...
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What to do when surprise and a high initiative roll conflict with the narrative?
Consider the following situation. Two creatures A and B sneak up on a creature X, successfully remaining unnoticed by it. Without signalling this to B in any way, A then throws a dagger at X from its ...
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1answer
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Can I decide to lower my Initiative after rolling it in order to permanently change my position in the sequence of turns? [duplicate]
The current question is in some sense a follow-up to the following one:
Can I delay my turn in D&D 5e?
The answer to that question is no. The only means to acting at a different turn in the ...
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Does a surprised creature stop being surprised after its first turn, even if nothing happened? [duplicate]
Surprised creatures are no longer surprised after they took their first turn in combat. But it feels counter-intuitive to apply this to a situation like the one below.
A group successfully sneaks up ...
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Initiative: Do I lose my attack/action if my target moves or dies before my turn in combat?
I am new to 5E. Something I am wondering about is if I declare that this turn I am going to move X feet and attack target A and then move X feet and attack target B, what happens if my target moves or ...
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1answer
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Can conjured creatures act in the round they're conjured in?
Specifically, if someone casts the Create Homunculus (Creation 26) spell, could the homunculus created thusly act immediately? Taken to extremes, this could well set up a budget grey goo scenario:
...
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How can I make initiative useful as a stat, when I'm removing it from combat?
I'm running a D&D 3.5e game over a private forum. In order to keep combat moving, I've decided that each combat round will be "resolved" once a day (or more often if everyone posts). The players' ...
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How does initiative work when teleporting into combat?
A Wizard PC Teleports their party from a safe place directly to the location of a group of foes, who the party intends to attack.
If the foes did not know this was about to happen, they should be ...
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Can a wizard cast a spell during their first turn of combat if they initiated combat by releasing a readied spell?
My wife plays a wizard. We hear Orcs coming up the hall. The wizard decides to ready a spell for when the door opens. So she casts the spell and holds it, until 10 seconds later, the door opens, ...
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1answer
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If the DM rolls initiative once for a group of monsters, how do end-of-turn effects work?
A wizard rounds a corner to find two kobolds brandishing their weapons. Roll initiative!
The DM determines that neither side is surprised. The DM then makes a single initiative roll (10) for the two ...
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1answer
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Can I drop concentration on a damaging spell before it affects an ally in combat? [duplicate]
If on my turn I cast a damage spell that requires concentration, can I keep it up on subsequent enemy turns then drop it before it damages an ally at the start of their turn?
For example, this is ...
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How to properly initiate combat when leading with an assassination as an Assassin Rogue? [duplicate]
I'm somewhat new to the game so sorry if this question is a stupid one and my english isn't the best either so pls excuse that as well ^^.
That being said, I'm unsure how initiating combat with an ...
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1answer
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Moving from one room/cave to another within the same dungeon
I am a new GM and new to D&D. Currently, I am running the Lost Mines of Phandelver (LMoP) D&D 5e starter campaign. My group have just finished the Cragmaw Hideout section, but as we ran it we ...
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Will rerolling initiative each round stop meta-gaming about initiative?
I am thinking of implementing Speed Factor Initiative, but I don't really want to use all of it.
Speed Factor Initiative "RAW" would work like this:
Everyone must declare an action prior to rolling
...
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1answer
336 views
Can a character take a reaction before their turn? [duplicate]
Can a character use his reaction in the first round of combat before their turn? There is no surprise involved here.
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How do I handle initiative and turns for a group of monsters?
A monster group consists of three kobolds.
Firstly, as DM do I roll initiative once for the whole group?
Secondly, when it is the kobolds turn, do I roll a separate attack for each kobold? If so ...
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How to handle initiative for a sleeping creature?
Imagine a rogue PC sneaks into a room where a goblin -- who ought to be standing watch -- is instead taking a nap. The PC's stealth roll is enormously high (as befits a rogue), such that the goblin ...
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How high can a PC's initiative bonus get?
Usually, most PCs rely solely on their Dexterity ability score modifier for their initiative; however, there are ways to get bonuses to initiative. How high can this bonus get?
For example, there's ...
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Can I use Assassination twice if I use it before combat initiative? [closed]
In my game I'm playing as a assassin rogue and I have just reached level three. My question is if I attack something in my understanding I get my assassination feature. If we then roll initiative and ...
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Can players decide at the start of combat what order to act in when planning an attack on a known enemy?
What keeps a player from deliberately planning their own initiative action themselves by choosing to act in a predefined sequence and waiting until a monster has acted?
If all the players do this, ...
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Is initiative order affected by a player volunteering to begin combat? [duplicate]
In the campaign I run, it is frequently the case that one player will make an attack against an unsurprised enemy to start combat. For example:
DM: "At the end of the long hall, you see a large ...
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How to break the “Death Loop” resulting from unfortunate initiative order
In a recent session, an encounter with a single particularly tough Orc (who was my doppelganger, trying to kill me) left the party dealing chip damage a few rounds at a time while they attempted to ...
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3answers
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Is it possible to repeatedly give someone else the Help Action for an eventual Initiative roll?
Let's say Bob really wants Fred to act quickly for an eventual fight which they feel will come soon.
Can Bob repeatedly give Fred the Help Action for his eventual Initiative roll ("Stay focused! Stay ...
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How do I have creatures move in formation?
Here's the scenario.
A group of 4 adventurers move into a room of 5 highly trained kobolds who employ group tactics. Their main strategy is shield walls with kobold-sized pikes. They try to form up ...
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2answers
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For creatures animated using Animate Dead spell, whose initiative do they act on?
Regarding the initiative of creatures animated by the use of the animate dead spell.
Is it correct that if there is more than one creature, they share the same initiative? Or can they just be ...
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Who attacks first in a battle of Readied Attacks? [duplicate]
This question is best illustrated in an abridged example:
Combat has already begun and a goblin sees a Paladin on his noble steed. He readies an attack on this trigger: When the Paladin enters my ...
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1answer
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How is initiative affected by dice pool modifiers?
Initiative rolls do not generate hits, so how are the dice pool modifiers from sustained spells subtracted?
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Is this alternative initiative house-rule balanced?
As a fairly new DM, one thing that has commonly occurred in my sessions so far is my PC's starting combat outside of initiative.
For example after a telepathic conversation with a Nothic was going ...
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If an attack alerts someone to your presence, can their initiative save them from being surprised in time?
In D&D 5e "Surprise" is a condition that can affect a creature during the first round of combat, only until the end of their turn:
[... T]he GM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone ...
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1answer
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Deferred Initiative Breaching A Shut Door [duplicate]
If the party rolls but our first man through is not first in order, may the other characters defer their spot to follow the tank in and proceed with their turns? Or would they just have to skip their ...
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When exactly does combat start and surprise take effect?
So say I'm going to ambush an orc. I successfully sneak up on him and I attack. The DM determines that the orc is surprised. The orc happens to get an initiative roll of 19, while I get a 10. How ...
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How can I solve burst damage problem when rolling group initiative?
Problem
The PHB states, at p. 189
The DM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time.
Honestly, I usually ignored this one, except ...
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How does combat start when one PC is not seen as a threat?
Imagine a party of four - three honest characters standing face to face against three evil bandits, one sly, backstabbing type some 30 ft behind the bandits' backs; the bandits may know he's there, ...
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How does armor affect initiative?
I just couldn't find simply answer to my question: When my characters is wearing heavy armor like chain mail, can he still get modifier to initiative from DEX or not?
I'm not sure wearing heavy ...
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0answers
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Engaging combat from dialogue [duplicate]
This was one of my shower thoughts: what if someone from the party engages in combat out of a whim?
Example:
There is a 4 player party (classes does't matter right now) against a wizard and his ...
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1answer
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Does Rakish Audacity improve or change your Initiative bonus?
The Swashbuckler Rogue's Rakish Audacity (found in Xanathar's Guide to Everything) says:
You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative
rolls equal to your Charisma modifier.
Is this meant to ...
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When does a target respond to social interactions in battle?
Suppose we meet a patrol of three hostile goblins. The DM already called for initiatives. On the first round of combat, my turn comes first, and I decide to bribe the goblins to leave us alone.
The ...
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1answer
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Can a druid's “Giant Insect” attack immediately upon casting?
The level 4 Druid spell "Giant Insect" reads, in part:
You transform [some arthropods] into giant versions of their natural
forms... A centipede becomes a giant centipede [etc.].
Each ...
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4answers
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How do creatures moving on the same initiative handle the effects of Sleep and Hypnotic Pattern?
Imagine a small group of goblins moving on the same initiative that are hit by hypnotic pattern.
When one goblin that was not affected uses its action (or an attack) to wake its ally that failed the ...
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1answer
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Can Moment of Prescience be applied to an initiative check?
The Moment of Prescience spell grants its caster a large one-time bonus on certain types of rolls and checks. The restrictions on the rolls it can be applied to are:
...any single attack roll, ...
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What is the proper use of initiative for a cautious encounter?
I DMed a specific situation last night, and I'm not totally sure that I handled it in the right way.
For the last two sessions, the team has been facing off against a clever homebrew wraith (less ...
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How Does Assassinate Work when Reinforcing a Fight that has already started?
The Rogue Assassin sub-class has the Assassinate ability as its first subclass feature at 3rd Level, with text that reads:
Starting at 3rd level, you are at your deadliest when you get the drop on ...
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Does Passive Initiative exist (can it be used instead of rolling for Initiative)?
Initiative is an ability check.
From what I understand, a DM may ask his players to use Passive scores for ability checks and/or use them for his NPCs (ex: Passive Perception).
Is Passive Initiative ...
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1answer
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If a character delays on their first turn in combat, are they still flat-footed?
Characters are generally flat-footed until their first turn in combat. However, the “special initiative action” delay allows you to
take no action and then act normally on whatever initiative count ...
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Holding an NPC at knifepoint vs quick draw
Suppose a PC walks into a room to find Evil Guy #1 holding Good Guy #1 with a knife to his throat. EG immediately says, "Don't move at all, or I kill him!" The player of the PC then tells me, the DM, "...
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In combat, what can change the order or value of initiatives? [duplicate]
I'm wondering if there is something that can modify initiatives in combat, something like "Slow" or "Haste" spell (they do completely different things, though). I'm thinking something that can add +5 ...
