D&D 5E Assualt on Dire Wood [OOC]

[Skarsgard]

Yes, I'd vote for group initiative, anything to speed things up, but how does it work?

 

[Steve Gorak]

Yes, I'd vote for group initiative, anything to speed things up, but how does it work?

The DM rolls initiative for the group using an agreed upon formula (highest of he group, average, etc) and everybody acts at once, with first posters getting the dibs on the first moves. Laggers can be put on autopilot, or accumulate actions as the rounds move along and get to catch up later (if the DM allows it). The DM does all the ennemes' actions at once. So it becomes very simple. We Act, and they act, or the other way around, depending on the init roll.
Cheers,

SG

 

[3SpdDragster]

Might be simpler, I think I will work off highest bonus and then first posters get first dibs on their actions.

 

[Steve Gorak]

Might be simpler, I think I will work off highest bonus and then first posters get first dibs on their actions.

To keep in mind: [MENTION=6805147]River Song[/MENTION]'s Ydadoras has a weapon of warning and a +4 dex/initiative mod. This grants advantage to init checks (and allies with 30ft can't be surprised) which will be advantageous to the party for group init.
Cheers,

SG

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

But then the high dex is meaningless for high initiative characters and you can't respond to individuals actions.
I vote against the party initiative since I had bad experiance with that as a DM and as a player both on tabletop and both with PbP.

 

[3SpdDragster]

But then the high dex is meaningless for high initiative characters and you can't respond to individuals actions.
I vote against the party initiative since I had bad experiance with that as a DM and as a player both on tabletop and both with PbP.

Fair point, I am just looking for a way to speed up the rolling for initiative phase.

What about if I roll an initiative for the characters and the enemy? It takes one roll away from you guys but it means you can get onto the matter of getting your characters actions sorted.

 

[Steve Gorak]

The problem I see with sorted initiative is that players need to wait before posting their actions, and this inherently increased the real life duration of each round since not everybody checks the posts in real time. I check them every couple of hours during the business week, and once a day during the week-end. If I'm number four in initiative order, and number one hasn't posted yet, I'll check again in a few

The other alternative is for the DM to sort the actions out, but I don't think this will be much fun for you [MENTION=6805287]3SpdDragster[/MENTION] , since it already takes a long time to DM pbp games...
I've seen DM's go through the same reflection process, and the outcome tends to be the same, grouped initiative, with no ordering. It's imperfect, but greatly improves the flow of combat.
Ultimately, I'll go along with whatever is decided. We're here to have fun ;-)
Cheers,

SG

 

[Steve Gorak]

Dorn recoils from the brutality of the attack against him. Curse you dammed creature; you will pay for that! he mumbles to himself, as he fires an arrow at his attacker and moves for cover.

- The arrow flies towards the winged creature and in it's attempts to avoid a potentially fatal blow it throws itself to the ground face first. Purple blood fountains from its broken nose and crushed lips and it half crouches glaring at the archer as he moved to cover.

Question for you [MENTION=6805287]3SpdDragster[/MENTION] :
What happened? Did Dorn miss, and does the creature have an evasion-like ability? FYI, I forgot to apply sneak damage (faery fire grants advantage) so another [roll0] damage should have been in my calculations.

Other question: is the creature now prone? This will affect Dorn's tatics (prone grants disadvantage on attacks farther then 5' away, so this will negate Faery fire's advantage). Fortunately, Dorn gets to hide as a bonus action ;-)
Thanks and cheers,

SG

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

What about if I roll an initiative for the characters and the enemy? It takes one roll away from you guys but it means you can get onto the matter of getting your characters actions sorted.

I say Aye !!

 

[3SpdDragster]

Question for you [MENTION=6805287]3SpdDragster[/MENTION] :
What happened? Did Dorn miss, and does the creature have an evasion-like ability? FYI, I forgot to apply sneak damage (faery fire grants advantage) so another [roll0] damage should have been in my calculations.

Other question: is the creature now prone? This will affect Dorn's tatics (prone grants disadvantage on attacks farther then 5' away, so this will negate Faery fire's advantage). Fortunately, Dorn gets to hide as a bonus action ;-)
Thanks and cheers,

SG

You hit! I was trying to find a more interesting way of narrating the damage done.

I was reading this passage from the phb:

Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those
with fewer hit points are more fragile.

So you did the full damage, I was just trying to write something more slightly interesting than "the arrow thuds in". The amount of damage it appears to have taken will be reflective of how many hitpoints the creature has. But I can see it is causing some confusion.

The creature is not prone, just crouching.