3 questions

[Storm Raven]

I disagree with people on #3. I think it's clearly a ready action. The party is waiting with bows out. As soon as the Orcs appear, the ready actions trigger, everyone fires, then initiative is rolled.

That's how we've always played it, and it makes the most sense.

But it isn't the way the rules work. You cannot Ready an action outside of combat, because it is defined as a combat action. (Otherwise people would just wander around with a "readied action to attack whoever tries to attack me" or something like that).

 

[Dimwhit]

But it isn't the way the rules work. You cannot Ready an action outside of combat, because it is defined as a combat action. (Otherwise people would just wander around with a "readied action to attack whoever tries to attack me" or something like that).

I think it is combat. I agree you can't ready an action indefinitely, but I think once the drum sounds, combat is, in essence, started.

Besides, who says you can't do combat actions outside of combat? I could make an attack action with a bow to try to hit a tree a few hundred yards away. Not combat, but it's a combat action, complete with attack roll.

Readying an action immediately preceding combat, when the enemy is approaching and you know it, is well within the rules. At least as far as my reading goes.

 

[Storm Raven]

I think it is combat. I agree you can't ready an action indefinitely, but I think once the drum sounds, combat is, in essence, started.

In which case, there is no surprise, and the orcs are not flat-footed any more.

Besides, who says you can't do combat actions outside of combat? I could make an attack action with a bow to try to hit a tree a few hundred yards away. Not combat, but it's a combat action, complete with attack roll.

Shooting a bow at an inanimate object is not necessarily a combat action - there is no foe.

Readying an action immediately preceding combat, when the enemy is approaching and you know it, is well within the rules. At least as far as my reading goes.

Nope. Readying an action cannot be done preceding combat. What you have described might be a basis for surprising your opponent via an ambush, setting up a surprise round, but in the case we are talking about in this thread, the surprise was given away by the drumming.

 

[dcollins]

Besides, who says you can't do combat actions outside of combat? I could make an attack action with a bow to try to hit a tree a few hundred yards away. Not combat, but it's a combat action, complete with attack roll... Readying an action immediately preceding combat, when the enemy is approaching and you know it, is well within the rules. At least as far as my reading goes.

3.0 DMG p. 64, under heading "Adjudicating the Ready Action":

Don't allow players to use the ready action outside of combat. While the above examples are all acceptable in the middle of an encounter, a player cannot use the ready action to cover a door with his crossbow outside of combat. It's okay for a player to state that he's covering the door, but what that means is that if something comes through the door he's unlikely to be caught unaware. If the character coming through the door wasn't aware of him, he gets a free partial (standard) action because he surprised the other character, and so he can shoot the weapon. Otherwise, he still needs to roll initiative for his character normally.

 

[Legildur]

In 3.0 DMG p. 61 there's this:

So, the variant provides that in the first round of combat everyone just gets one standard action, whether that's a surprise round or not.

Thank you so much dcolllins for finding that. And I HIGHLY recommend use of the optinal rule. It stops the complete domination of a combat (by either side) based on who dominates initiative. The winner still gets the advantage, but not the overwhelming advantage it used to receive.