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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CombatWombat51" data-source="post: 1299556" data-attributes="member: 10473">There are two ways I would resolve this. If a player said they were specifically watching for the guy with the stick to beat somebody with it, I'd have the characters watching and the staff guy roll init, but the staff guy would get a bonus. Otherwise, if they were just being wary, I would let him strike first, though not against flat-footed PC's, since they're aware of the threat. If they were just talking as friends, and staff guy whapped them, I'd say they were flat-footed. And likeway, if the PC's did the attacking.My logic is that, you can go ahead and roll initiative as soon as they start chatting. Everybody is delaying until something interesting happens. Once initiative gets to staff guy's number, he attacks. So whether or not you roll initiative, and whether or not staff guy wins that initiative roll, he's going to attack first as long as all the other combatants are basically delaying.I know that might fly in the face of some rules, but that's my logic on it, and how I've always ruled it (as well as my fellow DM's from the same group). I think the idea of saying "as soon as he lifts his staff to strike, I'll punch him" is silly. I would let a player try that, and to resolve it, I'd have staff dude and punch dude make opposed Initiative checks, but I'd give staff guy a bonus of about +5 to +10, depending on how I figure the guy would fight, and any other immidiate circumstances (distraction, who was talking, etc). If I was getting really picky, I might start with a base of +5, then allow the difference between a Bluff and Sense Motive check to modify that +5. Anyhow, none of this last paragraph has come up in my campaign, but the situation you've described has. As my players and I see it, there's a certain advantage to acting first, ya know, initiating the conflict. There's a reason why sucker punches work well in real life. The attacker just has to swing. The defender has to notice that he's being swung on, has to process that information, decide on the best course of action (ducking, punching back, etc), and acting on it. The initiater has the advantage.But like I said, that's just how we rule things in our campaign, and how we've done it for years. We haven't had any problems.</blockquote>

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