So still running my first ever 5e adventure (Phandelver) and last night we came across a few situations where we were a little unclear on the rules (I moved it along fast with old school "rulings" but as someone interested in the system I'd like to see how these would work BtB)
The situation: the characters fought the skeletons in the Tressedar Crypt and are about to open the door to the jail cell. They were here earlier in disguises so they know there are two Redbrands in there.
I decide to have the two Redbrands hide, one on the north square one on the south square. The door opens on what we'll call the middle square.
The fighter leads the way. He opens the door. I tell him he sees nothing. He steps into the middle square and I give the Redbrands surprise and they both get an attack on him before everyone rolls for initiative. I probably should have compared passive stealth vs perception but I forgot to. They had been steamrolling the dungeon and I wanted to add a literal surprise.
My questions are:
1. Let's say he used Ready Action with his sword, would that mean that he could have gotten a hit on one of them first even though he would have been surprised? Also would being ready negate surprise since he was expecting it? I'm still unclear about Ready Action and if it means you get to do something BEFORE the thing that triggered it....
2. The other fighter in the back DID use Ready Action with his bow before the door was opened However I ruled that nothing happened since they would not have been in his line of sight at the time of attack (he was behind fighter and couldn't see through walls).
3. Let's say they wanted to listen to the door to see if they were hiding. Would that also be passive perception vs stealth?
Thanks in advance! Love this game and outside of little confusions like this I love the 5e system...
The situation: the characters fought the skeletons in the Tressedar Crypt and are about to open the door to the jail cell. They were here earlier in disguises so they know there are two Redbrands in there.
I decide to have the two Redbrands hide, one on the north square one on the south square. The door opens on what we'll call the middle square.
The fighter leads the way. He opens the door. I tell him he sees nothing. He steps into the middle square and I give the Redbrands surprise and they both get an attack on him before everyone rolls for initiative. I probably should have compared passive stealth vs perception but I forgot to. They had been steamrolling the dungeon and I wanted to add a literal surprise.
My questions are:
1. Let's say he used Ready Action with his sword, would that mean that he could have gotten a hit on one of them first even though he would have been surprised? Also would being ready negate surprise since he was expecting it? I'm still unclear about Ready Action and if it means you get to do something BEFORE the thing that triggered it....
2. The other fighter in the back DID use Ready Action with his bow before the door was opened However I ruled that nothing happened since they would not have been in his line of sight at the time of attack (he was behind fighter and couldn't see through walls).
3. Let's say they wanted to listen to the door to see if they were hiding. Would that also be passive perception vs stealth?
Thanks in advance! Love this game and outside of little confusions like this I love the 5e system...