[Mechanics] Encounter Thread

[Ganguropocky]

Awe, we're totally fine! Haha.

[Ganguropocky]

By the way, how are you going to handle dealing out advantage?

[MontageManiac]

In general I'll be sticking closely to what's described in the rules for advantage/disadvantage. If I feel like a particular situation is worthy of an advantage/disadvantage ruling, then I'll do so. It'll be on a case by case basis, and I'll try and keep it consistent.

[Ganguropocky]

Do you still lose your Dex bonus for having not moved yet in combat in 5th ed? Flat footed and all that.

[Ganguropocky]

And that's cool. I was more curious how you were going to denote it.

[MontageManiac]

Not that I'm aware of... no I don't think that's a penalty. It definitely wasn't in 4e and I don't think it is in 5e.

[Ganguropocky]

Wow... that's crazy. Though I suppose it doesn't shock me that much with how streamlined things are. I play a ton of pathfinder so the simplicity is almost confusing.

[Ganguropocky]

Does this edition have like. .. combat maneuvers? Like charging and stuff?

[G in Japan]

Originally Posted by Ganguropocky

Does this edition have like. .. combat maneuvers? Like charging and stuff?

Fighters can take an archetype that gives them maneuvers. Charge is only a thing if you take the Charger feat. I couldn't find any information about a charge like in 4e.

[MontageManiac]

Updated with dantas and Agnes damage

[G in Japan]

I think putting in the HP/AC is useful, as it allows the player to finish their turn completely. If, say, one of our melee guys was in melee and so attacked first, not knowing whether it hit or miss could potentially delay any move action they might want/be able to take.

One DM I play under doesn't give the defenses until they have been hit. So at first, no one knows which defense is the lowest. Once a defense is hit, he reveals what that defense's score is. Just like if we were keeping track in a tabletop game. It doesn't cause too many issues, but that's in 4e where things aren't usually going to be a one-shot kill, unless they are minions.

I use these rules for my own game:

Initiative Orders in Combat
The following process will be used for determining posting order for combat encounters:

1. The DM will roll initiative for the players and the NPCs. (Exception: In cases where combat is anticipated, the players may have the opportunity to roll initiative for themselves.) NPCs of the same type will roll initiative once.
2. NPCs will be grouped by initiative in the following way: Group 1: 1-10, Group 2: 11-20, Group 3: 21-30, etc. The initiative for each group of NPCs will be averaged and all NPCs in the group will act on their group's average initiative count.
3. PCs will be added to the initiative count based on their rolled initiatives. In the event of a tie with an NPC group's initiative score, the PC will go first.
4. 'Blocks' of PCs may act within their block in any order they wish. NPCs will act in their group, ordered by dexterity count.

Death Saves
The following process will be used for death saves:

When a character is reduced to 0 HP or less, a death save is required on their turn. Due to the 'block initiative,' players may want wait to the end of the round to allow others to heal them, which lowers the sense of urgency generated by falling to 0 HP. Therefore, characters reduced to 0 HP or less will still require a death save if they are healed by someone who would not be able to heal them before their turn if we were strictly following initiative. They do not require a death save if they are healed before their turn would normally come up if we were following initiative.

Example:
The enemies have an initiative of 10, Tim the Enchanter has an initiative of 7, and Bob the Warlord has an initiative of 5.
On their turn, the enemies reduce Tim to 0 HP. Tim and Bob can still post in any order. In this case, Tim doesn't post until after Bob has posted and healed him. Tim must still make a death saving throw because, normally, his turn would come up before Bob's.

In this case, Tim cannot perform any actions on his turn, even if he has been healed.

Example 2:
The enemies have an initiative of 10, Bob the Warlord has an initiative of 7, and Tim the Enchanter has an initiative of 5.
On their turn, the enemies reduce Tim to 0 HP. Regardless of when Tim and Bob post, Tim does not need to make a death saving throw after Bob heals him because, following initiative normally, Tim's turn would come up after Bob's.

In this case, Tim would have his full complement of actions as normal. If Tim rolls his death save and then Bob heals him, the results of the death save will be nulled.

[MasterMind007]

GinJapan, that's a great suggestion, I might use it someday.

[Spizzow]

It would be helpful if the enemy tokens where also marked with a number so we could see which one is at which HP for now I'll just attack the one nearest me and let you deal with the hps. =)

[G in Japan]

Originally Posted by Spizzow

It would be helpful if the enemy tokens where also marked with a number so we could see which one is at which HP for now I'll just attack the one nearest me and let you deal with the hps. =)

An easy way to do this is to make a comment about each token. I added one to Moonbrook as an example. When you mouse over the comment, the token it is connected to is highlighted. Quite useful for big maps with many tokens, as numbers on the actual tokens can become too small to see.

[MontageManiac]

That's brilliant. Oh Google, you're that much closer to ruling the world through convenience.