Trigger happy PCs


Advice


When I am describing a room that has enemies in it my group (particularly my sorcerer) immediately wants to cast a fireball into the room and initiate combat like that. I've started to have them roll initiative anytime they walk into a room with enemies but that doesn't allow for things like the BBEG from doing his big speech before he start having to fight.

Has anyone else had groups like this and what have you done about it?


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Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

There is a good chance that the players may see not having to listen to the BBEG's speech as a bonus.

But do your players do that before they are sure that the people in the room are in fact enemies? If so, then you might consider setting up a situation where the people they are encountering are a non-hostile source of information -- and your players would blow it in more ways than one if they attack. But be sure that you have set things up so that it is actually reasonable to have a non-hostile encounter at that location.


They try to start lobbing fireballs before you're done describing the scene? Time to start adding barrels of gunpowder late into the description - after they cut you off.

Works with powerful creatures that are immune to fire too.


Ghostwolf27 wrote:

When I am describing a room that has enemies in it my group (particularly my sorcerer) immediately wants to cast a fireball into the room and initiate combat like that. I've started to have them roll initiative anytime they walk into a room with enemies but that doesn't allow for things like the BBEG from doing his big speech before he start having to fight.

Has anyone else had groups like this and what have you done about it?

I say them them do it. First have a hallway leading to a grand room. Let the sorc cast fireball and cut off the description only to find the BBEG's personal wizard had used divination and found out about the party's particulars and made the door to the grand room invisible only 15 feet from the hall entrance. Unfortunately those sacks of "flour" stacked up along the hallway walls you were going to describe were filled with sleeping powder... just my thoughts.


What you do is that you give the BBEG his monologue first.

A man wearing a red robe with his face horribly disfigured by runic tattoos, his eyes alight with fanaticism takes his attention from a portal outlined with fiery flames and turns to the party.
"You're too late. The Gate to the Abyss has already been opened and soon his hordes will come to claim this world in His Name!" He then gives a peal of diabolical laughter, echoing throughout the summoning chamber.

Then tell the party, roll init.


Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

But don't try that with a speech much longer than the example given.

Grand Lodge

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If they want to throw fire, have them roll initiative. They don't get surprise round actions just by declaring an attack. If they ask how the enemy beat them to the punch, explain that they were obviously about to attack and if they themselves would not do the same to an NPC preparing to cast.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Honestly the players don't get to ignore the rules for initiative and surprise rounds just because they yell their actions faster.

If the last room opened up with a fireball from the sorcerer the next rooms probably heard the explosion, so now the next rooms should show up in round 2 and make what could have been a simple fight into a big brawl.

Or maybe they heard the explosion and don't want to get burned themselves, they overturn tables and furniture and use it for full cover (+4 Cover bonus to AC and Reflex saves is a pretty major boon).

Or the mage in the next room prepares counterspell for fireball, and the minions ready actions to shoot at anyone not wearing armour.

Make your NPCs react to your PCs tactics realistically, and your players will learn to switch up tactics so they aren't so darn predictable.


Break up the speech? Think of the many video games that do this, the villain spouts lines of dialog throughout a combat. In Pathfinder you could have the villain deliver a sentence or two of his speech each time his initiative comes up along side his normal actions. "The cultist slashes at you with an ornate dagger screaming 'You're too late! The McGuffin has awakened, Xag-Na-Garoth will consume you all!', he hits AC 18." and so on.

Elastic time? If you read comic books you may notice that people get through a block of dialog in a single panel even if that panel is illustrating one punch or a flying leap. Rounds can be the same way, the sentence above may be over six seconds, but so long as it is close it isn't a problem.

I also agree with the above comments about surprise rounds. You only get a surprise round if the enemy is unaware of your presence, just being the first to resort to violence doesn't grant one. If we're all standing around trading insults and the sorcerer gets sick of it and says "I cast fireball" you roll initiative.


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You simply let them know that no spell, power, or even god can overcome the stasis caused by a GM reading flavor text and tell them to wait until you are done.


Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

...alternatively for a home campaign, start a counter at the beginning of the monologue, have it sit at say, 22.

And drop the number a couple for each sentence the opponent gets off before the party decides to blow things up.

This activates the Contingency spell for the Empowered Maximized Fireball aimed at the spot the caster of the player Fireball is firing from.

The counter indicates how many dice are the 'base' damage.

Sovereign Court

Tell the players:

1) You will never be penalized for listening to speeches/box text.
2) You will never get an advantage for not listening.
3) You will shut up while I'm reading stuff to you.
4) If you didn't hear it right, or want me to say a name again for your notes (good, you're taking notes), raise your finger, try not to break up the momentum of the speech.


Ghostwolf27 wrote:

When I am describing a room that has enemies in it my group (particularly my sorcerer) immediately wants to cast a fireball into the room and initiate combat like that. I've started to have them roll initiative anytime they walk into a room with enemies but that doesn't allow for things like the BBEG from doing his big speech before he start having to fight.

Has anyone else had groups like this and what have you done about it?

There are a tons of ways to solve it...

Exemple: Learn them to not fire until they can assess if everything in the room was truly a foe.
For exemple, I once make the adventurers find a diary in a slain foe belongings, described how he was coerced to obey the BBEG, his wife and new born threatened to make him obey, and how he heard about intruders and was hoping to get on their good said by telling them where is the hidden stash full of incredible magical items in return from them to helping him to fake his death and allow him to sneakily return to his family without the BBEG noticing the trick....
Also added that they felt their "good" alignement got slightly swayed by this ignorant rampage on a poor and innocent victim.

Another exemple: make such that the BBEG starts to speak to them BEFORE they are in range for an attack. Like, you see, magical voice "Oh, I see you have gone so far... I never thought you would have overcome my minions... I'll have now to kill you all myself, which is a bother because I don't have time for such trivial things, busy as I am to set up this artifact of doom to turn the whole town in obediant zombies"

Or again: make them impotent during the speach. OMG, they got captured. And now they are bound and powerless, the BBEG is totaly going to give into the tradition to expose his whole plot while they are busy to find a way to sneakily evade from here.

Truly, there are tons of ways to do it... or then, just make them find the diary of the BBEG after they defeated it.

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