When can you come out of delay?

[Tindalen]

scenario, I am GMing: a PC delays, as I am deciding what an npc is going to do a player decides they are coming out of delay, I think to myself that, the npc should get to act without letting the pc interrupt. I decided to allow the player to come out of delay interrupting the npc' turn to go.

I did this because I felt it would be a penalty to the players to say they could not come out of delay at this point.

So my question is, when is a player, or npc for that matter, allowed to come out of delay?

[Jarred Henninger]

If the NPC's turn had already started then they have to wait till the turn is over. You can't interrupt someone's turn and you can't get more then one turn by waiting till the next round.

Personally I ask everyone in delay if they want to come back in after each round, if they say no then the next persons turn starts and they have to wait till it's over to come back in.

[Chess Pwn]

They come out of delay between other character's turns
Original order
p1
p2
npc1
npc2

P1 delays. He can go after p2 and before npc1 or after npc1 and before npc2. But he can't interrupt anybody.

[ZZTRaider]

Well, if the NPC had taken any action, even a free action, the player cannot interrupt with a delay at that point. You can never actually interrupt someone in the middle of their turn by delaying.

As a GM, I usually look at the initiative order and verbalize, "Alright, Player B, that's all for your turn? Alright, NPC A is next." If there's anyone delaying at that time, I'll at least look their way for a few seconds or ask them outright if they want to take their turn yet. If they decline or don't say anything, I'll move on and begin the NPC's actions. At that point, it's too late; they'll have to wait until that NPC is finished before they get another chance.

[Tindalen]

This happened before any actions were taken, but after I "thought" it was the NPCs turn. It's obviously a lot easier with a pc coming out of delay right before another PC as a an agreement between the players can happen. I think my main question would be, is there a rule that decides when it is ok to declare when you are coming out of delay and who has priority, the person coming out of the delay, or the character who's turn is being usurped? I am feeling as this is more aligned with the advice forum than the rule forum.

I am inclined to rule that PCs can chose to go before NPCs, an NPC can chose to go before a pc but the pic can overrule, and a pic must get the ok to go before a pc.

Yea, I think this is probably more advice than rules.

[Thanis Kartaleon]

Your initial feeling was correct. If a player wishes to insert his action before another creature, he should use the Ready action. Re-entering initiative order with Delay happens after the turn currently being resolved. A creature being a PC or NPC is irrelevant.

However, if you were taking some time to decide what the NPC was doing - as in, you were unsure - it is easy enough to say that the NPC is ALSO delaying their turn, to be re-inserted into the initiative at a later point (possibly after the delaying player has finished their turn).

[Thanis Kartaleon]

Tindalen wrote:

I think my main question would be, is there a rule that decides when it is ok to declare when you are coming out of delay and who has priority, the person coming out of the delay, or the character who's turn is being usurped?

Absolutely. This is all covered in the language for the Delay action.

Delay wrote:

By choosing to delay, you take no action and then act normally on whatever initiative count you decide to act. When you delay, you voluntarily reduce your own initiative result for the rest of the combat. When your new, lower initiative count comes up later in the same round, you can act normally. You can specify this new initiative result or just wait until some time later in the round and act then, thus fixing your new initiative count at that point.

You never get back the time you spend waiting to see what's going to happen. You also can't interrupt anyone else's action (as you can with a readied action).

Initiative Consequences of Delaying: Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the delayed action. If you come to your next action and have not yet performed an action, you don't get to take a delayed action (though you can delay again).

If you take a delayed action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round.

Bolding for emphasis.

[Tindalen]

Excellent, thank you. So as long as an action has not happened, someone can come out of delay. For tables sanity, players can have a discussion of one disagrees, but NPCs should, again for table cohesions sake, not require a discussion.

If an argument happens, the GM should default to the player, or in the case of two players, they should provide sane judgement.

I am good with this and appreciate the confirmation.