Except for the aiming specifically at the sorcerer, everything is fine.
It's an ambush, the people initiating the ambush have the initiative. That's how ambushes work.
An ambush is essentially one big readied action. I put my boat here, aiming the broadside cannons there, as soon as people are in the beaten zone, we fire on my command...
Four people walk out into said beaten zone, command word given, cannons fire.
I am inclined to believe that parking a boat in the bay and facing your broadside cannons towards a fortress means some sort of combat is taking place.
The party could be completely unrelated to why the boat is there, all the people on the boat know is their orders.
Their orders are to shoot anyone coming out of the fortress. Pretty simple, and the rules support it.
Otherwise, how do ambushes work?
Yeah, out on the trail, at ranges of earshot and smell and perfect vision, you can roll perception, see if you notice the stinking goblins who are around the corner. This is a already faced boat, with its cannons loaded, and a crew waiting for the command to fire.
For whatever reason the party walked out in front of a faced boat with loaded cannons manned by people literally waiting for the command to fire.
Why the party walked out there like a bunch of goofs is entirely on them and they deserve to be fired upon.
Readying actions only happens in combat, you say?
Yeah, boats only square up broadside to target in combat, too. Combat was underway whether the party knew it or not, because that's what ambushes are.
In a turn based game, people setting up the ambush are already in combat, combat has started for them, they are all readying actions to act on whatever planned trigger ignites the ambush, and they should all have their initiative order established.
Go figure, there's a reason ambushes have been effective for literally all of time.
Agreed. The surprise round system exists for precisely this sort of situation.
Dave Justus pointed out something golden. The Commander would have to be using an active perception check to watch for anything odd on the part of the PC's (i.e. the sorc casting a spell). So by RAW, I believe that is a move action, as Dave Justus pointed out. Both the cannon operators AND the commander would both have to have readied actions, being that the cannon operators ready their action to fire upon the command "Fire!", and the Commander's readied action to perceive anything aggressive from the PC's and yell "Fire!".
That being said, I still believe that the RAW for aiming precisely at the sorcerer is not within the amount of time allowed in a readied action.
So, it would require a readied action of both the commander and the cannon crews, and at best, the commander can take his readied action to make an active perception check to notice the sorcerer casting a spell and then yell "fire!", and the cannon crews would at best be able to spark the fuse of the cannon, in whatever direction it is currently facing.
Therefore, the cannons should not have hit the Sorcerer PC in this scenario, unless of course, the cannons were drawn on the map in the specific direction that they were firing, and the Sorcerer PC deliberately or unintentionally stepped into the direct firing path of the cannon.
I don't think casting a spell is considered a fine detail. I don't believe casting a spell out in the open requires any more of a perception check than noticing someone drawing a sword and swinging it at you.
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Here is how it works from my perspective.
1. When combat begins, all combatants roll initiative.
2. Determine which characters are aware of their opponents. These characters can act during a surprise round. If all the characters are aware of their opponents, proceed with normal rounds. See the surprisesection for more information.
3. After the surprise round (if any), all combatants are ready to begin the first normal round of combat.
4. Combatants act in initiative order (highest to lowest).
5. When everyone has had a turn, the next round begins with the combatant with the highest initiative, and steps 3 and 4 repeat until combat ends.
Here is how I would run the situation.
Someone wants to attack, ready an action, or anything else in combat step 1 starts (see above).
Then proceed to step 2. Who was aware of whom in this situation?
1) Both groups no surprise
2) Just the ship. They get a surprise round (go to *).
3) Just pcs: they get a surprise round no ready actions for the ship
If 1 and the sorcerer win initiative they can get out and caster their spell.
If not (this includes if they stand around talking because the ship rolled initiative and don’t know an action has been readied) then proceed.
*The whole crew has to ready to fire on command and then the captain readies to order the attack.
For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action.
You can not change an initiative you do not have thus initiative has to have been rolled.
- Ready and delay are in the combat action Table.
As far as I can tell the moment any PC or NPC wants to do a combat action combat begins.
As for perception if the distance was reasonable or three was potential obstruction the GM could roll a perception check. I think it would be seeing a visible creature or hearing a Hear the details of a conversation would be good base DCs with penalties for distance and conditions.
Dave Justus pointed out something golden. The Commander would have to be using an active perception check to watch for anything odd on the part of the PC's (i.e. the sorc casting a spell).
So if I'm standing next to an enemy spell caster, I have to use a active perception check to notice him casting a spell? Nope, sorry, this is not accurate. Observing a spell being cast is definitely a reactive perception check - if needed at all. GM would need to decide whether a perception check is even called for. 200' distance? Maybe. 50' away, probably not - but a lot could change based on visibility etc. But a reactive check in both cases if needed.