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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 7183288" data-attributes="member: 6787650">(1) No, it's not even close to potentially lethal damage for characters of the level I think we are discussing. If Rath, Rupert, and Delsenora are around 5th level, it simply doesn't matter to whether they take 4d8 bludgeoning damage before or after hitting the other guy back for 60ish HP of damage.(2) It's not unavoidable. If you are genuinely concerned about being in close quarters with a truly deadly threat, select one or more of: (a) negotiate from a distance or behind total cover instead of close quarters; (b) ready offensive or defensive actions on a predefined trigger; (c) take the Alert feat or a high Int so that you get to declare last every round; (d) leverage Deception to do the aforementioned (especially #2) without the enemy realizing you're doing it, and take a high Insight yourself to prevent the enemy from doing it to you; (e) have allies in hiding (Stealth); (f) be an illusion instead of an actual person (Mislead); (g) prepare defenses such as Aid, Death Ward, and Armor of Agathys to act as insurance against surprises; (h) do something else clever which I the DM haven't prepared for. (Happens all the time.)But most of all, (a). If you're a party of three 5th level PCs, and a clan of a dozen werewolves wants to parlay with you, do it from horseback from 60' away, or insist on meeting one werewolf alone in a tent with all three PCs present--not on foot in a clearing surrounded by werewolves. That's just dumb. And don't do it unless you have something to gain from parlaying--that is also dumb.And yet you keep asking nonsensical things such as "Why in such a world would Greedo stupidly gloat, knowing that all gloaters were giving up their action via an implicit Delay and waiting to be shot?" Answer: they're not giving up their action. It's been a while since I watched Star Wars so I can't say whether Greedo looks like he was Readying an action to shoot Han as soon as Han made a move (in which case Han won the Stealth vs. Perception contest, variation of 2(d) above) or whether he really was just caught flat-footed, but it doesn't matter because D&D isn't a game of one-hit kills like the Star Wars universe--PCs can afford to eat an 8d6 Fireball far more easily than Han Solo can afford to eat a plasma grenade. 5E is more like Star Wars would be if Han had to shoot Greedo ten times in order to knock him out temporarily, and Greedo has to hit Han eleven times to return the favor. In that situation, it doesn't matter who gets the first shot. It matters who gets the tenth/eleventh shots--but getting the first shot in doesn't speed up the tenth shot at all, so there's no gain in shooting first.If you are in a one-hit-kill situation then see point #2 above: don't put yourself in that situation unless you're prepared for the consequences. (And no, before you jump to another conclusion, that does not mean I wax my players every time they put themselves in that kind of a situation. Only sometimes, depending on roleplaying considerations and the will of the dice.)If the players want to declare another action, they can declare another action. They're not being robbed of anything, ever.As for your increasingly immoderate tone, "bitterness" in your words, any aspersions you feel being cast on your wit came from your imagination, not mine.</blockquote>

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