How should this situation play out?

[Lasher Dragon]

OK, ran into something the other day that made me want to post on here. Here's the scoop:

I'm playing a rogue. We are in a dungeon, I have just successfully & silently picked a locked door with some baddies in the room beyond. I peek in and see the baddies without being noticed myself. I hand-signal the rest of the party that there are some likely victims in the next room. The sorceror wants to fireball them the moment I open the door.

Can he cast fireball and then "hold it", so as to avoid casting within earshot? Or do I open the door, then he is casting away while they get listens, spots, init rolls?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

As long as the creatures don't notice your preparation, you can throw open the door.

You all, being aware of the creatures, get to act in the surprise round. Them all, being unaware of y'all, don't.

Roll initiative, and everyone delay until after the sorceror launches his fireball. Then, charge into the room as appropriate. Note you only get a standard or a move action in the surprise round, so, generally, you can't both move and attack.

 

[Thanee]

And no, without the proper feat (Delay Spell metamagic feat) you cannot just "hold" a non-touch spell.

But as Patryn says, the moment you throw open the door, your side gets a surprise round, so all you have to take care of is that the sorcerer will be in line of sight to the likely center for the spell placement with at most a 5-ft. step (and remember, that you only get a Standard Action, so no empowered Fireball for now).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Lasher Dragon]

I see. For some reason I was thinking that if they heard the casting, they would get init, which would give them a chance to not be caught flat-footed.

Can a caster cast most of a spell and then wait to finish it though? Let's say with a full-round spell such as a summon, could a caster cast most of the spell, then walk into a room and complete the casting?

Edit: Ahh, thanks again Thanee...

 

[werk]

I see. For some reason I was thinking that if they heard the casting, they would get init, which would give them a chance to not be caught flat-footed.

Easily fixed, have the rogue yell 'SURPRISE!" when he throws open the door.
That'll ensure that you have surprise...

 

[Kurotowa]

As an alternate method, have the party announce they're entering combat mode and start initiative. The rogue holds his action, the sorcercer sets a readied action to cast a fireball as soon as the door is open, then the rogue uses his held action to throw the door wide. Even if the casting is loud enough it'll already be happening and too late for the bad guys to react to. And the added benefit is you'll still have a surprise round after the fireball goes off.

 

[Thanee]

As an alternate method, have the party announce they're entering combat mode and start initiative. The rogue holds his action, the sorcercer sets a readied action to cast a fireball as soon as the door is open, then the rogue uses his held action to throw the door wide. Even if the casting is loud enough it'll already be happening and too late for the bad guys to react to. And the added benefit is you'll still have a surprise round after the fireball goes off.

That's not how it works.

You cannot simply "enter combat mode", whenever you like. Either there is combat or not.

Bye
Thanee

 

[ThirdWizard]

As an alternate method, have the party announce they're entering combat mode and start initiative. The rogue holds his action, the sorcercer sets a readied action to cast a fireball as soon as the door is open, then the rogue uses his held action to throw the door wide. Even if the casting is loud enough it'll already be happening and too late for the bad guys to react to. And the added benefit is you'll still have a surprise round after the fireball goes off.

And thus the thread turns into a 20 page debate on readying actions outside of combat/who decides when combat begins.

Run everyone. Run while you still have the surprise round!

 

[Pielorinho]

I'd rule something similar to Kurotawa. Unless the baddies are really incompetent, the actions will need to look like this:

WE ATTACK!
(Surprise round begins; y'all roll initiative).
Everyone delays until the rogue (or designated flunky--probably better for it to be the cleric or someone who's not going to be doing much useful this round anyway).
Designated flunky uses the round to throw open the door. The NPCs look up and say "Whuh?"
Wizard fireballs.
Everyone else does their thang, whether it's shooting (which is why the rogue shouldn't be opening the door-yay sneak attack!) or charging or whatever.

Then the first round begins.

The important thing is that i think the door-opening will happen during the surprise round: the round AFTER the door is opened is gonna be the round in which the bad guys get to act.

Daniel

 

[Thanee]

I'd have the rogue (door opener) act normally during the surprise round.

The opening of the door is simply the trigger for the surprise round to start.

Bye
Thanee