Duel initative

[Evilhalfling]

The party stands on one side of an arena, thier most hated rivals on the other, a crowd of notables waits in the stands, on the edge of their seats they peer at each group in return.

Stories and legends of deeds both brave and foul have been told of both groups, this battle is a challange to the death, when all previous battles have ended in stalemate. In this tense situation the first move is all important - a single spell, or 1 enchanted strike from the duskblade could end a life.
The trumpets blow - the fight to the death begins.

roll initative? or something more?
If everyone delays until the trumpet sounds, are actions resolved Simultaneously, in order of highest dex, or highest initiative modifier?

Can you Ready instead to go before those that delayed?
If (6) NPCs only get one init roll - the party will have 5 chances to beat that roll.
this is my standard procedure, but it seems an advantage to the PCs.

edit: I would like narrative based ideas as well as rule based if possible

 

[Nifft]

The trumpets blow - the fight to the death begins.

roll initative? or something more?
If everyone delays until the trumpet sounds, are actions resolved Simultaneously, in order of highest dex, or highest initiative modifier?

Can you Ready instead to go before those that delayed?
If (6) NPCs only get one init roll - the party will have 5 chances to beat that roll.
this is my standard procedure, but it seems an advantage to the PCs.

Since they're all aware of each other long before the start of combat, IMHO none should be flat-footed.

I like your idea of Readied actions going off in order of initiative, as though everyone had rolled a 10.

Cheers, -- N

 

[mvincent]

roll initative?

Yup. Combat/initiative really shouldn't start until the trumpet sounds (but I agree that no one should start flat-footed).

If everyone delays until the trumpet sounds, are actions resolved Simultaneously

I would handle them in order of initiative (same as with a quick-draw contest or somesuch). That is the purpose of the initiative roll.

Can you Ready instead to go before those that delayed?

My own guideline is that if someone could/would have readied an action (where it allowed before combat), I instead allow them to take an action on a 'surprise' round. In this case an initial surprise round seems suitable (even though no one is surprised) to ensure no one gets a full round action before everyone gets a chance to act. This kinda simulates everyone having a standard action readied (and you resolving them in initiative order).

 

[Arkhandus]

They roll initiative normally. No one is flat-footed since they're all well aware of each other.

Can't really ready or delay actions outside of combat, generally, AFAIK. And combat doesn't begin until someone takes a combat action of some sort (i.e. a rogue stabbing someone in the back in a surprise round) or initiatives are rolled.

 

[irdeggman]

They roll initiative normally. No one is flat-footed since they're all well aware of each other.

While this seems to be the common opinion, the RAW is contrary to this. This opinion also follows those with the logic that characters are not flat-footed when they are walking around (so that they can use immediate actions - like feather fall when caught in pit trap)

SRD

Combat is cyclical; everybody acts in turn in a regular cycle of rounds. Combat follows this sequence:
1. Each combatant starts out flat-footed. Once a combatant acts, he or she is no longer flat-footed.
2. Determine which characters are aware of their opponents at the start of the battle. If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds of combat begin. The combatants who are aware of the opponents can act in the surprise round, so they roll for initiative. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take one action (either a standard action or a move action) during the surprise round. Combatants who were unaware do not get to act in the surprise round. If no one or everyone starts the battle aware, there is no surprise round.
3. Combatants who have not yet rolled initiative do so. All combatants are now ready to begin their first regular round of combat.
4. Combatants act in initiative order (highest to lowest).
5. When everyone has had a turn, the combatant with the highest initiative acts again, and steps 4 and 5 repeat until combat ends.

So unless this is a continuation of the combat round, initiative is re-rolled and everyone is considered flat-footed until they act.

No surprise round since everyone is aware of everyone else.

The RAW also won't allow you to ready outside of combat since it is a "standard" action that prepares a standard, move or free action that occurs after your turn. Which means that turns have already been established (i.e., initiative has already been established)

You don't want to go with the Ready action route - since it only allows taking a standard, move or free action. You can't take a full round's worth of actions, nor can you prepare to perform a full-round action (like casting a summoning spell) as a Readied Action.

READY
The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action. It does not provoke an attack of opportunity (though the action that you ready might do so).

Readying an Action: You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character. Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues his actions once you complete your readied action. Your initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action.

You can take a 5-foot step as part of your readied action, but only if you don’t otherwise move any distance during the round.

 

[irdeggman]

Check out Gladiatorial Matches from CW pg 131 - it seems to apply to this situation.

It does state that combat is handled "normally" but that there are "modifiers" for crowd reaction.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Flatfootedness is relative to the reactions of the faster people and cinematically actions occur simultaneous. Also, I'd imagine the players of rogues/barbarians would take a dim view of the dm granting their class features to all for free.

I say roll initiative as per normal.

 

[Veril]

I had my PC's involved in a gladatorial games and did the following:
Nobody has a readied action or everyone has a readied action - your choice as DM - choose for flavour.
Nobody is flat footed they were all in combat mode already - only the conventions of the arena stopped them attacking each other.
The trumpet is blown and that is when you roll the dice to see who is going first. In this instance I would roll the dice for NPC combatants individually and apply their individual initiative modifiers.

One thing I did in this contest was that I allowed pooled hit points. The PC's had one set of HP amongst them all, which was the sum of each individuals HP. The NPC's had the same.
This was an exciting option at the gaming table. The PC would win or lose as a team.

 

[Darklone]

If you want high noon like models, use flat-footedness. Everything else is as mentioned against the rules and makes life too hard for the rogues.

And it's much more fun with being flat-footed.