Initiative Order Question

[rh7684]

Here is the situation for a combat.

Rogue iniative:18
Cleric initiative:11
Orc initiative:10

The rogue gets hit by the orc and drops to -5hp. Next round the cleric at initiative 11 heals rogue up to 10hp and he is now conscious. What is the new initiative order? Since the rogue is now after the cleric does the orc automatically get shifted down in the order to 9 and the rogue "takes over" position 10, or do you consider them both on the same initiative of 10 and resolve the order of actions the same way as an initiative tie?

(The same could also come into effect with the rogue readying an action to attack the orc when it moves. Since the readied action could place him after the cleric, but before the orc in the initiative order who shifts where?

I ask this because of the simple fact that the order of actions is important, but also that some encounters have specific things that occur on a particular initiative. Take the situation above and add in that on initiative 9 two braziers have a ball of fire that streaks between them. If the orc above has a higher initiative bonus and acts before the rogue then he can step out of the way of the blast. Conversely if the rogue has the higher bonus he can step out of the way. That can make a significant difference in a battle.

 

[KarinsDad]

Going unconscious does not change the initiative order.

 

[MrBeens]

The rogue stays at 18.
He still gets a turn when his initiative comes round.
His turn should consist of :

Taking any ongoing damage at the start
Making saves for any on going effects
Making a death save.
End

 

[Erisea]

As others have said, the rogue stays at initiative 18, makes a death save and acts on the round following the heal. However, it's also important to note that after combat starts, the numbers are irrelevant. If the rogue delayed until after the cleric, he would re-enter initiative after the cleric and before the orc - you don't need to bother saying it's at "10", and you certainly don't work out who would get to go first at 10. Initiative modifiers only matter when first determining the order, any changes in order after that are absolute (i.e. ready goes before the trigger, delay goes after).

 

[rh7684]

How do you adjudicate events that take place on a certain initiative number then? Rescue at Rivenroar has a room designed that the braziers move on specific initiative numbers and can damage people in their path. If the numbers are irrevelant, why would wizards publish a module that specifically makes it so that you need to keep track of initiative orders numbers.

 

[jorrit]

When you start an encounter everyone involved rolls for initiative. That means, all the players, all the monsters (one roll per type of monster) and sometimes also traps. Usually traps that have some kind of attack (like a statue that can swing a sword) also have initiative. This order is fixed from the start of the encounter until the end (with a few exceptions that I'll clarify below). So every round players, monsters and some of the traps act in initiative order (from highest to lowest). Being unconscious and coming back do not change initiative order.

However, there are a few situations where you can change initiative order. For example, you can delay when it is your turn in the initiative and decide to act later. This can be useful to delay until the conditions are more favorable to do something (like wait for an ally to get behind some enemy to get flanking). When you delay this way you can choose to jump back in the initiative at any time during that round. This new position becomes your new permanent initiative position for the rest of the encounter. You can also 'ready an action' which gives a similar effect.

Greetings,

 

[GorTeX]

How do you adjudicate events that take place on a certain initiative number then? Rescue at Rivenroar has a room designed that the braziers move on specific initiative numbers and can damage people in their path. If the numbers are irrevelant, why would wizards publish a module that specifically makes it so that you need to keep track of initiative orders numbers.

Treat them just like a player/npc/monster. Put them in the list and have them go when their init comes up.

The actual number doesn't really matter once you've established the order.

For example, when I'm running, I use a magnectic board to track initiative. (the board has the numbers 1-30 on it, and I use magnectic markers for every PC/npc/monster/trap, placing the marker on the appropriate number) Once I've got everyone's init, I just move all the markers to the top in the correct order (highest init goes on 30, next one 29, etc) and run the combat from that list.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Well, the iniative roll can matter later in the encounter, but that really depends on the DM.

For example, I very often have monsters join in through out the encounter. As such, I continue to track the original rolls and slot in new monsters appropriately according to their own rolls. However, if as a DM you either don't add enemies part way through, or you simply add them all to the end/beginning of the iniative order, you won't need to track iniative rolls in this way.

I generally haven't had a problem tracking the rolls in this way as I write them on the monster's cue cards that I use for tracking iniative. In my group, only players ever really change their initiative order, and only one does so often, so I can pretty much always tell where the players fall by which monsters are next to them.

As an additional note, how iniative is tracked for monsters really depends on the DM. Myself, I treat all monsters as having their own roll, except for minions who I lump together as to type. Other DMs may well group them together more than I do. For my players and I, having the monsters go seperately makes things more interesting such as to make up for the extra time it may take.

 

[Nail]

How do you adjudicate events that take place on a certain initiative number then? Rescue at Rivenroar has a room designed that the braziers move on specific initiative numbers and can damage people in their path. If the numbers are irrevelant, why would wizards publish a module that specifically makes it so that you need to keep track of initiative orders numbers.

Let's assume - for a moment - that WotC didn't make a mistake in the module.

Q: Why publish the initiative numbers?

A: So the DM wouldn't need to roll initiative for the trap.

Traps, like monsters, get initiative rolls. that's so we know when the trap "acts". But once we know who goes before and after the trap, then the actual number used to get that order is irrelevant, and who goes before and after the trap becomes fluid. PCs and monsters can chose to delay, ready, etc.

Don't sweat it. Decide the initiative order, then forget the numbers.

 

[DracoSuave]

It's not necessarily important, but if you have a warlord in the party, keeping track of initiative might become important if the warlord drops or the party member goes outside of LoS of the warlord.