Initiative question

[mirzabah]

Scenario:

The party enters a 30'x30' hall. On the other side, barely lit by their flickering torch, they see a lone orc with a crossbow behind a barricade. Noone is surprised, roll for initiative, yada yada yada. Miraculously, the orc survives the first round of combat, though he's going to have a devil of a job getting the scorch marks and arrows out of his barricade.

The second round starts. Unbeknownst to the PCs, our plucky orc has some friends who have been lying doggo behind the barricade...

My question is this: can the hidden mooks be considered in combat from the very first round, allowing them to refocus in the first round and start the second round at the top of the initiative order?

 

[hong]

Given that they've been aware of what's been going on, I'd say sure.

 

[Artoomis]

Absolutely.

Though I don't know why they'd bother. Why not just delay until they want to at in the first round? The effect, of course, is pretty much the same - they get their chance to act before anyone else in the party gets to go a second time.

 

[Crothian]

They are in combat and can do anything that can normally be done.

 

[mirzabah]

Thanks

 

[Valmur_Dwur]

I'd even go so far as to allow the first and ONLY the first one to fire(I'm assuming?) at its target and forego any dex bonus. even tho' the party is in combat it's kinda of a surprise round deal for the first one only YMMV

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

They were still in combat, so you would have to have rolled initiative for them anyway, as something the PC's could have done could have affected them, or forced their hand. Taking the refocus action still requires it to be your turn to begin. What I'm trying to say is that they were in combat from the begining whether they liked it or not, and probably should have been given penalties to see if they were suprised, as they had no line of sight on the aproaching party. If the orc saw them coming from far enough away to insure his ability to rouse his friends, even if they chose to stay in cover, they would have had a good chance to suprise the party. If the lounging(?) orcs were suprised, it would be two effective rounds before they could refocus, and if the PC's had jumped the wall, they might not have been able to do anything. It might seem like splitting hairs, but I have seen little things like that make a big difference.