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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ridley's Cohort" data-source="post: 2224767" data-attributes="member: 545">The Assassin waiting around the corner is a good example to consider, Karinsdad.There are five notable differences between this case and the Spectre:(A) The Assassin knows with great precision exactly when his intended victim will step around the corner.  The Spectre does not know when the door will be opened.(B) The victims of the Spectre expect combat.(C) The victims of the Spectre are able to (or should be able to) control the timing of when the door opens to their advantage.  "Psst.  Everybody ready?  1-2-3!"(D) The Assassin could step 5' and be the initiator.(E) The victim is not performing an action that is precipitating combat in the sense we speak of actions in the RAW.  Strolling might be called an action during Initiative, but outside of combat it is just an activity.Regarding the last point, I draw a distinction between actions and activities.  The RAW tracks the PCs in three different ways:(1) Initiative: Precisely defined and timed actions using the combat rules and the Initiative system.(2) Preparatory time/rounds: Time outside of Initiative where the precise order of actions is largely irrelevant but the DM needs to roughly track who is doing what because combat may be imminent.  These are "preparatory" rounds as described by the DMG, and it is how actions are tracked at the beginning of an encounter before Initiative (if such a timeframe is relevant).(3) Narrative time: When there no time pressure and the players simply describe what they are doing in general terms.  ("We take the path heading south.  The Ranger and Rogue 50' in front.")The Assassin's victim lives in narrative time.  His activities would be described by a player with a normal story narrative.The Assassin waits in preparatory time once the intended victim detected, up until the moment the Assassin could strike.I would just give the Assassin Surprise.  There is a clearcut moment in time that the victim is unaware and the Assassin could plausibly attack.  The fact is he could say "I take a 5' step and throw my dagger" is sufficient reason to precipitate Initiative.</blockquote>

Verification