Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="discosoc" data-source="post: 7006150" data-attributes="member: 6801554">The only thing predetermined is that the goblins will not be surprised.  They can still very well fail to detect a character sneaking up alongside the road (provided the DM thinks there's enough cover for it), but even if that person notices the goblins and attempts to attack from stealth (say with a bow attack across the road), the goblins will not be surprised.  All this means is that, no matter what, the goblins will also act on the first round of combat.  If any of the players are surprised, they do not get to act or react for that round.  Everyone still rolls and initiative to determine when the actions take place, but that's it.  Combat would flow something like this:1.  Player is crouched and hidden on one side of the road (successful stealth check) and notices some goblins crouched on the other side (they failed their stealth check).2.  Player decides to YOLO rather than head back and alert his companions, and says "I want to attack the closest goblin to me."3.  DM calls for initiative for all sides (even if someone is surprised, they still need to roll initiative here).  Player rolls 15, Goblins roll 18.4.  Goblins go first but they don't actually see the player because he's still hidden.  Since they are waiting in ambush, a "READY" action makes sense, with the trigger being that they charge out or whatever as soon as they see a target.5.  Player fires a shot at a goblin.  He gets advantage because he's an unseen attacker, hits, and kills the goblin.6.  With the player now noticed, the 3 remaining goblins' READY action is triggered, allowing them to react.  The module states that two were intending to rush into melee, and two were going to hang back and attack with range, so you'll need to know which one the dead goblin was going to do.  Those that were attacking at ranged get their attack now that the READY action is triggered.  Those that were going to rush into melee get to move up to their speed, but can't attack.7.  At the end of the round, YOLO McStealth has killed one goblin, but is now facing three more.  His companions may very well hear the sounds of combat, but are probably too far away to save him.</blockquote>

Verification