I kick open the door and charge into the room!

[MerakSpielman]

"I kick open the door and charge into the room!"

"roll initiative"

The occupants of the room were apparently aware of my existance, so there is no surprise round. I roll a 5 on initiative. Everybody else in the party rolls higher.

So I'M the one who kicks down the door to charge into the room, and the other characters are already inside slinging spells and swinging swords by the time I get there.

Am I interpreting the rules incorrectly somewhere?

 

[Artoomis]

Well, if you trigger the action, I'd let you go first, at least amognst the party. I'd simply rule that you go tto go first - effectively, everyone waits for you and delays their intiative.

As for the bad guys, it amounts to the same thing. They can't really go before you if they are waiting for the door to open - they have to wait for that to happen.

A little common sense goes a long way here.

 

[Bauglir]

Assuming you're not blocking the doorway

Perhaps you lost your balance a little when shouldering the door, so your party barrels in while you regain it?, or perhaps you haven't had your coffee yet that day, and it takes you a split second longer to take in and react to what's behind the door..

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Sounds right to me. Kicking down the door isn't part of the initiative-determined combat sequence, it comes before that outside of combat. Combat starts immediately after the door is kicked down. Since your init was low, the others rush past you after the door is down, before you make your way into the room.

 

[kengar]

That's the way the rules are written, yes. I understand why you ask, though. Try picturing the scene this way:

Your character kicks in the door. BOOM! The bad guys knew you were outside because they heard the party moving around (or whatever), so they're waiting with weapons ready. Your character is momentarily off-balance from the rather forceful application of boot to door, so he has to take a second to "get his feet under him." While he's doing that, the rest of the party (and the baddies), who had nothing to do but prepare while you kicked, explode into action; with your character only a moment behind them.

Make sense?

 

[Antikinesis]

"I kick open the door and charge into the room!"

"roll initiative"

The occupants of the room were apparently aware of my existance, so there is no surprise round. I roll a 5 on initiative. Everybody else in the party rolls higher.

So I'M the one who kicks down the door to charge into the room, and the other characters are already inside slinging spells and swinging swords by the time I get there.

Am I interpreting the rules incorrectly somewhere?

Was your party aware that the room was occupied? If so, then initiative started before the numbers were rolled. (Which isn't a problem; that happens sometimes to keep from giving things away. The DM just waits to ask for the rolls until they're actually needed.)

If you were at the door, then kicking it open and charging in would happen before your other party members' actions. However, if you move more than a 5-foot step, either before or after the door is opened, your actions for the round are consumed. (Opening a door is move-equiv. action.) Your allies were basically delaying their initiative until the door was open, so they get their turns after you.

(Unless any of them had prepared an action, triggered by the door being opened... but that gets messy. A prepared action comes before the event that triggers it, but how could they do anything requiring the door to be open, before it's opened? I'd rather not go there.)

-AK

 

[MerakSpielman]

yeah, we knew they were there.

Ok, so the way I'll handle this if I'm DM:

"I kick open the door and charge into the room!"

"Roll Initiatve"

(door kicker)"5" (companion x) "10" (monsters) "15"

on fifteen: The monsters wait, wondering if the marauding adventuers will pass them by.

on ten: Companion x does nothing

on five: You kick open the door and charge in

on fifteen: You are attacked by monsters

et cetera.....

 

[smetzger]

yeah, we knew they were there.

Ok, so the way I'll handle this if I'm DM:

"I kick open the door and charge into the room!"

"Roll Initiatve"

(door kicker)"5" (companion x) "10" (monsters) "15"

on fifteen: The monsters wait, wondering if the marauding adventuers will pass them by.

on ten: Companion x does nothing

on five: You kick open the door and charge in

on fifteen: You are attacked by monsters

et cetera.....

So now the door kicker _always_ goes first? Thats not right, after all the monsters are ready to pounce on you as soon as you breach the door. If anything the monsters should get a situational +4 to init.

 

[MerakSpielman]

On their initiative, the monsters could have readied an action to do something nasty to the PC, yes. In my example, they didn't.

And what if the door isn't there? It's a short section of hallway with a turn at the end and some critters around the turn. The person who announces they charge around the corner might not be the first one there, the way I have it in my first post.

 

[Particle_Man]

I thought you had to charge in a straight line. How do you charge around a corner?