Interrupting the BBEG to Start Combat

[Olaf the Stout]

Twice now in my game one of the PC's has interrupted a BBEG talking to start combat. After discussing it with the players I ruled that everyone but the interrupting PC rolls initiative and his PC then goes just before the highest initiative. It has worked ok but I'm not entirely happy with this solution.

How have you dealt with this situation?

Please note that I'm not trying to punish my player or anything like that. If he doesn't want to listen to what the BBEG has to say then that is ok. The party may miss out on some useful information as a result of it but they can deal with that. It just seems a little unfair (to both the bad guys and the other PC's) that by my current rules he gets to automatically go first.

I had thought about the bad guys having readied actions as one possible solution. This would allow them to react to the PC's doing certain things. I am interested to see what other people can come up with though.

Olaf the Stout

 

[IcyCool]

Why isn't he rolling for initiative just like the rest of the party?

At any rate, we have a standing "rule" in our games. There's always time for villain monologues and witty banter during combat.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

If he's interrupting conversation to begin combat, it's time to roll initiative. As normal, for everybody. D&D doesn't give someone a benefit for being the first to interrupt roleplaying conversation with combat.

I also have a house rule that soliloquy effectively takes no time. Basically, just like in the movies, everybody stops in mid-violence to hear what the heroes -- or villains -- have to say. If a particular PC's player wants to say his PC doesn't stop and listen, that's fine, but he doesn't get any benefit for doing so.

 

[Brian Gibbons]

The BBEG speech is a staple of the genre, albeit unfortunately one that doesn't stand up to too much IG logic--after all, once the PCs have come upon the BBEG, their logical next step would be to attack immediately before he has time to summon guards, activate traps or otherwise decrease their chances of success. After all, they can (theoretically) always question him later. If a BBEG has the actual power to force all of the PCs to stand there passively while he gives a speech, he's probably too tough to fight.

But, it's a staple of the genre, so let's try to make it work.

You need to look at how you are incentivizing the players. Your current system gives an incentive for a player to interrupt the BBEG speech, and a pretty large one at that. If your desire is to actually include BBEG speeches in your game, this is a mistake. (Beyond that, it's an incentive found nowhere in the rules, and I'm a little perplexed as to why you would make up a house rule to encourage behavior you don't want to happen.)

You next need to look at whether or not you have been giving other incentives to interrupt. For example, in the past, have players been punished for sitting there patiently listening to the speech by having the BBEG summon guards, activate traps or set up some magic spell/device at the end of his speech? If so, then you're training your players in exactly the opposite direction of what you claim you want.

Here's the easy solution: Interrupting the BBEG causes combat to start, with normal initiative being rolled. The player who chooses to interrupt gets no special benefit (the IG explanation for why this is the case is that, like a gunslinger in a shoot-out, whoever rolled higher than the person trying to interrupt saw the putative interrupter start to move and beat him to the draw).

You then explain to the players: "Okay, guys. If you don't let the BBEG talk, we all roll initiative and fight. If you do let him finish talking, we all roll initiative and fight. There is no benefit to not listening to the boxed text, and I will not punish your characters for doing so."

(As a final issue, you should probably examine your BBEG speeches. Sometimes, the reason why players interrupt is that they're tired of sitting around listening to the GM talk to himself. As the players are indicating by their interruption that they think that sitting around listening to your speech is a waste of time, you should probably examine the speeches to see if they're right.)

At that point, if your players are still interrupting your BBEG speeches, then either you need new players or you need to join an amateur theater troupe to get the urge to soliloquize out of your system.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

One of our party mottos is "Never give up the suprise round" so we routinely enter the BBEG lair with a barrage of silence spells, tanglefoot bags, and other area effect.

It does frustrate the GM, however it promotes PC survivability.

DS

 

[JRRNeiklot]

There is NO save against flavor text!

 

[frankthedm]

Twice now in my game one of the PC's has interrupted a BBEG talking to start combat. After discussing it with the players I ruled that everyone but the interrupting PC rolls initiative and his PC then goes just before the highest initiative. It has worked ok but I'm not entirely happy with this solution.

How have you dealt with this situation?

In a world where just a few syllables can kill someone and worse, I don't expect PCs to let evil people be able to speak any longer than they have to. Even if the BBEG does not plan to punctuate his last sentence with a Power Word, every moment that passes while a villain is speaking is a moment his reinforcements may arrive.

Initiative should be rolled when the 2 sides meet. Then one sided turns the other into meat. The BBEG should be busy giving coded orders to his minions, not monologing.

If the game uses “Action Points” or “Hero points” for the players to commit deeds of daring-do and / or heroic survive then docking them one of those points for not playing in genre seems appropriate to me.

 

[Graf]

When I was DMing regularly I tried to intersperse speaking with combat.
BBEG goes and says something... etc.
But I don't use to many "talkers".

 

[javcs]

Twice now in my game one of the PC's has interrupted a BBEG talking to start combat. After discussing it with the players I ruled that everyone but the interrupting PC rolls initiative and his PC then goes just before the highest initiative. It has worked ok but I'm not entirely happy with this solution.

How have you dealt with this situation?

Please note that I'm not trying to punish my player or anything like that. If he doesn't want to listen to what the BBEG has to say then that is ok. The party may miss out on some useful information as a result of it but they can deal with that. It just seems a little unfair (to both the bad guys and the other PC's) that by my current rules he gets to automatically go first.

I had thought about the bad guys having readied actions as one possible solution. This would allow them to react to the PC's doing certain things. I am interested to see what other people can come up with though.

Olaf the Stout

The interrupting PC gets a surprise round. Then combat as normal. Except for the fact that the BBEG is angry because them darn PCs interrupted his monologue and unloads on them ... well, more so than usual, making PC deaths more likely (that the dice gods are displeased probably didn't help them much anyways.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I agree with Brian Gibbons' remarks.

If they insist on interrupting the BBEG, give the villain a +2 bonus to all d20 rolls for the remainder of the encounter; let the players know that is the price for not letting you talk.