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General Tabletop Discussion
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“Who started it?” Initiative order
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7478491" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>I generally apply rules to PCs and NPCs evenly as much as possible. So if the PCs can do it, so can the NPCs. So I'd be a little leery of "whoever starts the fight wins initiative" unless there's something else going on.</p><p></p><p>So if someone wants to start a fight and get in the first shot, I'd probably call for a deception or sleight of hand check to either distract the opponents or pull weapons surreptitiously. In general starting a fight means reaching for weapons, changing your stance and getting into position to strike, all things visible to other people not paying attention.</p><p></p><p>So pull that dagger without your opponent seeing it or say something that make them look elsewhere momentarily.</p><p></p><p>Some of it depends on how alert the others are and whether they have reason to expect a fight. If your average party walks up to a group of orcs, the orcs are going to be on edge and watching for aggression. If you're at a party with everyone getting along, relaxed and having a good time and someone pulls a knife there may even be a surprise round for the individual as someone mentioned up thread.</p><p></p><p>But I'd be concerned that if it's too simple, you'll have <em>that guy</em> that wants to start every fight.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 7478491, member: 6801845"] I generally apply rules to PCs and NPCs evenly as much as possible. So if the PCs can do it, so can the NPCs. So I'd be a little leery of "whoever starts the fight wins initiative" unless there's something else going on. So if someone wants to start a fight and get in the first shot, I'd probably call for a deception or sleight of hand check to either distract the opponents or pull weapons surreptitiously. In general starting a fight means reaching for weapons, changing your stance and getting into position to strike, all things visible to other people not paying attention. So pull that dagger without your opponent seeing it or say something that make them look elsewhere momentarily. Some of it depends on how alert the others are and whether they have reason to expect a fight. If your average party walks up to a group of orcs, the orcs are going to be on edge and watching for aggression. If you're at a party with everyone getting along, relaxed and having a good time and someone pulls a knife there may even be a surprise round for the individual as someone mentioned up thread. But I'd be concerned that if it's too simple, you'll have [I]that guy[/I] that wants to start every fight. [/QUOTE]
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