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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5688703" data-attributes="member: 82106">I think he's suggesting the attackers might take total defense and THEN crash through the door, on the assumption that they'll be taking fire before they can respond.My answer is that no combat is taking place until someone starts making attacks. The attackers blow open the hatch. The defenders don't DO anything at that point, they're just coming to full readiness. So I think the answer is round 1 the defenders get a 'surprise round', but since they have no targets at that point all they do is ready their standard action attacks and wait. Then the attackers move in and take fire. One thing that D&D doesn't have, and which is hard to really model in the game, is covering/suppressive fire. Realistically a firefight like that would probably consist of the defenders laying in heavy suppressive fire with the goal of pinning the attackers down at the hatch and preventing them from even coming through. The attackers conversely would probably lay in heavy covering fire, lay out smoke or something to degrade the defender's fire, and then try to force their way into the corridor and assault. Truthfully in a realistic scenario such a tactic would also be almost certainly doomed to failure. Of course in the world of D&D you're dealing with low rate of fire weapons with limited deadliness, so suppression and cover are of more limited utility and an attacker can afford to accept some exposure to defensive fire if they can expect to survive long enough to close.I just don't think a 'total defense' option is really that much of an option. Technically you can do it by the rules, but the fact that it won't be able to function in a surprise round doesn't bother me. The attackers are exposed and going to be punished as they close, and that's probably the way it should be. Chances are slim that the attackers won't be able to get off some attacks before one or two of them go down anyway. So you run in, close to melee if you can, and at worst chuck off an area/ranged attack after taking the prepared fire of the defender. Numbers are the attackers main advantage. Maybe a couple of them do fall, but presumably you're attacking because you have superior force.</blockquote>

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