D&D 5E Surprise and initiative

[jusdup]

So... do surprised combatants still roll initiative on the first round of combat? Unless I'm missing something, that's what I'm understanding. I don't know why this bugs me, maybe I'm thinking too much about it. It's probably inconsequential if it's rolled on the 1st or 2nd round if they cannot act until round 2 anyhow. I guess I'm just thinking of initiative as almost an action/reaction in itself and if they are surprised then why would they be allowed to do anything. Handling initiative regardless if someone is even aware they are involved in combat yet is most likely just a way of speeding combat up right?

What do any of you think?

 

[BoldItalic]

Yes, you roll initiative for everyone before the first round of combat, regardless of who is surprised. It matters because, although a surprised creature can't act or move on its turn, from that point on it can take reactions.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Think of it less like a mini-action on their part, and more of a measure of how alert they happen to be at the moment (which is why they can still take reactions before round 2).

 

[jusdup]

Alright, thanks. That being said if you have the poorest initiative result then you wouldn't get a reaction within that first round because you need to wait until your turn ends if you're surprised right?

 

[PnPgamer]

Yeah exactly, bigger initiative helps even on surprise round.

 

[jusdup]

Excellent. TY

 

[Rune]

Technically, if I recall correctly, there is no surprise round. Surprised creatures simply can't take actions during their turn on the first round. Reactions, as has been stated, can be taken after their turn, as normal.

 

[Paraxis]

There is also the level 3 Assassinate ability of the Rogue(Assassin), that gives you advantage on attacks against targets that haven't taken their turn yet. So once the surprised creatures turn comes up in initiative they can no longer qualify for this even though they took no actions. There are probably other abilities where this might matter as well.

 

[Tormyr]

There is also the level 3 Assassinate ability of the Rogue(Assassin), that gives you advantage on attacks against targets that haven't taken their turn yet. So once the surprised creatures turn comes up in initiative they can no longer qualify for this even though they took no actions. There are probably other abilities where this might matter as well.

And auto crits. Fear the auto crits.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

There is also the level 3 Assassinate ability of the Rogue(Assassin), that gives you advantage on attacks against targets that haven't taken their turn yet. So once the surprised creatures turn comes up in initiative they can no longer qualify for this even though they took no actions. There are probably other abilities where this might matter as well.

So the the RAW read that if a surprised creature has the highest initiative, and the Assassin goes second, he can't benefit from this class ability against that creature?

Interesting. I hadn't read it like that, and honestly may choose to ignore that for my table... but I'm not sure. It can be a very powerful class ability, so having some slight detraction from it (you can hit all those other creatures, just not the one who went before you), might not be bad.

Trit