“Roll initiative.”

When does combat start? When does the dungeon master call for the initiative roll? Sometimes it can be hard to determine. The general rule of thumb is that initiative is rolled when a hostile creature or a member of the party has hostile intent. Certainly, any initiative is rolled before any hostile act is taken by any creature.

​​Combat Step by Step.

    1. Determine Surprise. The dungeon master determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised.
    2. Establish positions. The dungeon master decides where all the characters and monsters are located. Given the adventurers’ marching order or their stated positions in the room or other location, the dungeon master figures out where the adversaries are how far away and in what direction.
    3. Roll Initiative. Everyone involved in the combat encounter rolls Initiative, determining the order of combatants’ turns.
    4. Take turns. Each participant in the battle takes a turn in initiative order.
    5. Begin the next round. When everyone involved in the combat has had a turn, the round ends. Repeat step four until the fighting stops.

What is a surprise round? There is no surprise round! Being surprised is a status that individual creatures and characters can have. If a character or creature is surprised, the character or creature can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends.

      • A member of a group can be surprised, even if the other members aren’t.
      • Individuals can be surprised for more than one round.

What about a prepared or held actions? This is called the ready action. It must be your turn to ready an action because to ready an action you expend your reaction to perform an action before the start of your next turn. You can only ready an action while in combat or while under an initiative order. The instant you try to ready a hostile action out of combat initiative should be rolled and the dungeon master determines surprise.

Can you give a player or players the ability to perform a hostile action before combat starts? Sure, you can. You’re the dungeon master but keep in mind that most combat encounters last less than three rounds. You are allowing that character or the whole party a huge advantage and cheapening the encounter. Doubly so if the enemy is surprised.

Would the players think it fair if the hostile dragon breathed fire on the whole party before initiative was even rolled when they were not surprised?

      • If they were not surprised, how did the dragon get the drop on them in such a fashion?
      • If the characters were surprised how fair would they think it is if the dragon breathed fire on them before initiative was even rolled and then performed a multi-attack on the surprised wizard?

Initiative should be rolled before the dragon breaths fire on the party even if the dragon wants to perform the ready action. Otherwise, you are just dooming the players to experience a surprised status that lasts two effective rounds. The reverse applies if the character(s) attack the creature.