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<blockquote data-quote="Plane Sailing" data-source="post: 2106339" data-attributes="member: 114">I'm trying to picture the shape of the room where the necromancer is behind 5 zombies, but there is a way past his meat shields which the fighter can take to get to him within one move... was it like a 30ft square room with 2 zombies on one side and 3 on the other leaving a channel for the necromancer to see his enemies through?FWIW I would have played that as the combat &quot;started&quot; with the quick dialog between the necromancer and the PCs, so that when it actually comes to blows neither side is flatfooted because they are all effectively past round 1.If combat broke out in the middle of a conversation between people who were nominally at least neutral to one another then I'd start the melee with initiatives and flatfootedness, the works. But when two sides which know that they are out for one anothers blood are discussing something they already have their weapons gripped that bit more tightly, keyed up for when the action goes down. They are not flatfooted at that point.Regarding that encounter itself, I don't know what spells they gave the necromancer. I hope that one of his 2nd level spells was false life that had been pre-cast. 1d10+5 extra hp for 5hrs is a pretty significant benefit, and necromantic to boot!Still, villains soliloquising and then getting taken out by the good guys is a genre classic...Cheers</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Plane Sailing, post: 2106339, member: 114"] I'm trying to picture the shape of the room where the necromancer is behind 5 zombies, but there is a way past his meat shields which the fighter can take to get to him within one move... was it like a 30ft square room with 2 zombies on one side and 3 on the other leaving a channel for the necromancer to see his enemies through? FWIW I would have played that as the combat "started" with the quick dialog between the necromancer and the PCs, so that when it actually comes to blows neither side is flatfooted because they are all effectively past round 1. If combat broke out in the middle of a conversation between people who were nominally at least neutral to one another then I'd start the melee with initiatives and flatfootedness, the works. But when two sides which know that they are out for one anothers blood are discussing something they already have their weapons gripped that bit more tightly, keyed up for when the action goes down. They are not flatfooted at that point. Regarding that encounter itself, I don't know what spells they gave the necromancer. I hope that one of his 2nd level spells was false life that had been pre-cast. 1d10+5 extra hp for 5hrs is a pretty significant benefit, and necromantic to boot! Still, villains soliloquising and then getting taken out by the good guys is a genre classic... Cheers [/QUOTE]

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