Multi combat help

[Davethedm]

Hi
Still finding my feet as a DM & im kinda finding this bit tricky..so..if my PCs attack say three orcs (1 each) & then the 3 goblins that where in the barrels jump out & get involed half way through the combat..what happens with initiative ?? When do the goblins join the combat ?? Do they roll then & just slot in depending on the roll or does everybody roll again or what ??

[AvvyR]

Generally, if I know there are enemies that will join the fight but aren't revealed yet, I'll roll all their initiatives at the beginning of the combat.

If for some reason you can't do this or don't want to, it's fine to roll them in at the top of the round they'll be entering.

For example: Combat starts players and orcs roll initiative with the following results

Rogue:20
Wizard:12
Orcs: 11
Cleric: 4

A round or two goes by and it's time for the goblins to appear, so between the cleric and rogue's turns, I roll for goblins. Say, I roll 17 for them. I then have the rogue take their turn, and the goblins jump out before the wizard goes.

[Davethedm]

Yeah figured i'll roll when they appear & just slot in..thanks

[Demonslayer666]

Hi
Still finding my feet as a DM & im kinda finding this bit tricky..so..if my PCs attack say three orcs (1 each) & then the 3 goblins that where in the barrels jump out & get involed half way through the combat..what happens with initiative ?? When do the goblins join the combat ?? Do they roll then & just slot in depending on the roll or does everybody roll again or what ??

Whenever I have combatants join the fray after combat has started, I usually just have them go last on that round. I do not have everyone reroll initiative unless combat has stopped for a while.

[Man_Over_Game]

Roll it as normal, but then just use the Surprise rules.

Surprise already takes into account whether a creature acts or not. If a player would have gotten a turn earlier than the goblins, they lost it due to being Surprised.

Using Surprise rules, creatures that are not surprised always act first. It doesn't create a contradiction of acting "faster" with a slower initiative, like some people think.

There isn't a need to create a new ruleset or anything.

Even if creatures show up out of nowhere in the middle of combat (say, more goblins), nobody would be "Surprised" since all creatures are expecting combat anyway.

[ThatoneGuy84]

Because I use Cards for keeping tracks if initative order, generally I roll for all creatures involved. Then I "skip" the creatures that are coming in later until I want them to enter the Combat. Usually I keep track of turns in combat with a dice, so it's easy to decide what "turn" another set of enemy's is activated.