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<blockquote data-quote="bgbarcus" data-source="post: 6773872" data-attributes="member: 6784891">The concerns over initiative ruining a perfectly good ambush are easy to understand.&nbsp; It took me a while to get past the idea that ambushes are now far more difficult than they used to be.&nbsp; But, after playing with initiative and surprise as written, I decided the rules work very well, even with that (@#$%&amp;) Alert feat in play.The D&amp;D world is a dangerous place so it is reasonable to think most residents are watching for threats.&nbsp; The type of people who take up adventuring or run afoul of adventurers would be even more wary.&nbsp; An ambush could be spoiled by the noise of a bowstring, a dislodged pebble, a startled bird, or any number of other things. Rolling initiative at the beginning, before the ambush attack is resolved, is the game's way of handling the vagaries of luck.Classes like assassin which depends heavily on winning initiative are built with high dexterity, thus a greater chance at going first in the turn order.&nbsp; DM's can reward exceptional planning by granting the ambusher advantage, players can improve their odds of making the ambush work by using Inspiration on the initiative roll.&nbsp; Still, the target of the ambush may just be having a really lucky day and notice something that lets him avoid the surprise.The 5e initiative and surprise rules feel strange at first but try them as written. The authors of the game did a good job with the rules but a lousy job of explaining why the rules work.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="bgbarcus, post: 6773872, member: 6784891"] The concerns over initiative ruining a perfectly good ambush are easy to understand. It took me a while to get past the idea that ambushes are now far more difficult than they used to be. But, after playing with initiative and surprise as written, I decided the rules work very well, even with that (@#$%&) Alert feat in play. The D&D world is a dangerous place so it is reasonable to think most residents are watching for threats. The type of people who take up adventuring or run afoul of adventurers would be even more wary. An ambush could be spoiled by the noise of a bowstring, a dislodged pebble, a startled bird, or any number of other things. Rolling initiative at the beginning, before the ambush attack is resolved, is the game's way of handling the vagaries of luck. Classes like assassin which depends heavily on winning initiative are built with high dexterity, thus a greater chance at going first in the turn order. DM's can reward exceptional planning by granting the ambusher advantage, players can improve their odds of making the ambush work by using Inspiration on the initiative roll. Still, the target of the ambush may just be having a really lucky day and notice something that lets him avoid the surprise. The 5e initiative and surprise rules feel strange at first but try them as written. The authors of the game did a good job with the rules but a lousy job of explaining why the rules work. [/QUOTE]

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