Mechanically the OP was correct, but a part of the issue arises because of grouping monster initiative. It's a tricky balance, because rolling individually would be a nightmare for tracking in a large battle, while putting on the monsters on the same number gives them a tactical advantage. One solution to this is to use multiple types of monsters, rather than just one or two, if the number of enemies is equal to or greater than the party. This breaks up the overall monster initiatives into smaller groups.
D&D 5E Conundrum: Ranged attack sequence/cover bonus for players
groody
Villager
„peasant railgun“ is a brilliant way to think about this. Thank you for that, made my day.
Our DM (the original poster) told me he rolled separate initiative for two groups of goblins, just happened to be a 20 and 21.
A “goblin gatling gun“ where each goblin lets go one shot in a perfectly coordinated dance at their shared initiative slot in the round sadly is limited by their move, they only can move 30‘ and still fire, and cannot stand more closely than one per 5‘ on grid (another rules mechanic that strains believability), so in a narrow tunnel this allows at most 6 of them to fire unimpeded.
Our DM (the original poster) told me he rolled separate initiative for two groups of goblins, just happened to be a 20 and 21.
A “goblin gatling gun“ where each goblin lets go one shot in a perfectly coordinated dance at their shared initiative slot in the round sadly is limited by their move, they only can move 30‘ and still fire, and cannot stand more closely than one per 5‘ on grid (another rules mechanic that strains believability), so in a narrow tunnel this allows at most 6 of them to fire unimpeded.
See, I probably wouldn't even roll.....I'd roll for one, and set the other near the other side of the order....so, if I roll well, the 2nd group goes near the end (not the end, near the end, otherwise they are all firing at the same time again). Break the order up, don't roll. But then, I think the overall initiative system is not my cup of tea....
3catcircus
Adventurer
I prefer using a tick system where actions cost different ticks. You still roll initiative, but in that turn, you do your action, subtract the ticks and then go again if you still have ticks left.
So - you roll a 12. Moving is 1 tick per foot of movement. You move 5 feet. You wait until initiative order 7. A ranged attack costs 3 ticks. You fire. Wait until 4. Fire again. You now have 1 tick left and the only action that only costs one tick is to wait.
Next round. Rinse, repeat. You can roll initiative each round if you choose (or not) and there is always fog of war randomness throughout the initiative order.
Enevhar Aldarion
Hero
This kind of situation is one reason I do not like the 5E combat round only being 6 seconds long. That is just not enough time for everything to happen. With your hallway situation, as DM, if the monsters are specifically going only one at a time and not at the same time, I would have 3 or 4 of them, at most, pull this "move and cover" maneuver because each one is using up some of those 6 seconds while the others wait. The 6-second round assumes everyone is going at roughly the same time, with the initiative score accounting for one combatant being slightly faster or another being slightly slower. And if there are so many combatants that some are holding their actions while waiting for something specific to act on, then they risk the chance that the 6 seconds will end before they get to do anything and they lose their action that round. Some of this may not be "by the book", but that is how I do it.
Helldritch
Hero
I, for one, always prefered when the rounds were 1 minute long. It explained a lot and was a lot more realistic than the 6 seconds rounds we have now. A lot of thing can happen in 6 seconds. But not as much as a lot of people think. Firing a crossbow takes a lot of time and even with crossbow expert, you won't fire 4 bolts in 6 seconds in real life. If you can, wow! I mean, I tried.... but never got more than two... and that was with one already cocked... (and don't talk about cho ku no. we're talking about european style xbow).
The one minute round assumed a lot of strikes, counter strikes, parries, dodges and many other maneuvers and foot work. The 6 seconds aimed at being realistic but it ends up not being at all and it makes some people question how many people can coordinate that much in the limited time frame allotted to them.
Follow me on this.
I have 6 players. A round is 6 seconds. So each players have about 1 second to act. What does it leave to their enemies? Zero... So we must assume that either the monster are on the Flash level of speed. Or the players are on the Super Flash level of speed or a lot of the action happen simultaneously. This bring a lot of questioning about logistic, movement, attack and especially moving attacking and moving again types of maneuvers. I dare people to get out of cover, attack four times with a crossbow that is not preloaded and get back into cover. Very hard (if not downright impossible) to do. A bow is better but four shots in 6 seconds is quite a stretch. Especially with the movement described above.
The one minute round assumed a lot of strikes, counter strikes, parries, dodges and many other maneuvers and foot work. The 6 seconds aimed at being realistic but it ends up not being at all and it makes some people question how many people can coordinate that much in the limited time frame allotted to them.
Follow me on this.
I have 6 players. A round is 6 seconds. So each players have about 1 second to act. What does it leave to their enemies? Zero... So we must assume that either the monster are on the Flash level of speed. Or the players are on the Super Flash level of speed or a lot of the action happen simultaneously. This bring a lot of questioning about logistic, movement, attack and especially moving attacking and moving again types of maneuvers. I dare people to get out of cover, attack four times with a crossbow that is not preloaded and get back into cover. Very hard (if not downright impossible) to do. A bow is better but four shots in 6 seconds is quite a stretch. Especially with the movement described above.
jmartkdr2
Hero
The thing is: what the system is supposed to be simulating is each player getting 6 seconds to act. A full six seconds, every round. But everyone's turn is happening at once, so they're all using the same six seconds. The very same six seconds the monsters are using.
"Turns" is entirely an abstraction, but one that is absolutely necessary for making the game work at all. You can't just have everyone declare actions and start rolling in real-time, after all.
(Note: there are other ways to handle this, but they break some really fundamental assumptions about what DnD is all about.)
Helldritch
Hero
Exactly where I was getting to. But we all have to admit that the general perception is not that each players have their six seconds but that there is 6 seconds for the whole of the combatants. This leads to many misconceptions and sometimes, holes in the rules.
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