Editing Initiative

{{ up to date | 2023-08-19 }} <!-- Date format is YEAR-MONTH-DAY, like 2023-08-07. -->
[[Category:Gameplay Mechanics]]
'''Initiative''' determines the order of turns during combat.

== Rolling Initiative ==
When combat begins, every participating combatant rolls <span class="bg3wiki-info-blob">{{DieIcon|d4|Physical}} D4 + [[Dexterity#Dexterity Modifier Chart|Dexterity Modifier]]</span> to determine their position in the initiative order. The participant with the highest roll goes first and the participant with the lowest roll goes last. If two participants roll the same Initiative result, the one with a higher [[Dexterity]] Score goes first.

In certain battles the roll above is completely ignored for enemies and is fully scripted, resulting in their initiative to be high beyond impossible to always start first or downright extremely negative to begin last, giving you a disadvantage or an advantage respectively.

== Surprised ==
{{SmIconLink|Surprised Condition Icon.webp|Surprised (Condition)|Surprised}} is a special [[Conditions|Condition]] that overrides the '''Initiative''' roll made by a [[List of Creature Types|Creature]] for the first round of combat. When one side of a combat encounter is unaware of the other side, they may be '''Surprised'''. A '''Surprised''' creature cannot take any [[Action]]s or [[Reaction]]s for one combat round. Characters with the [[Alert]] feat cannot be '''Surprised'''.

'''Surprise''' can be achieved when initiating combat by attacking an unaware enemy while [[Hide|Hidden]].
* Some creatures, even when '''Surprised''' themselves, may call out to nearby allies to prevent them from being '''Surprised'''.
* Certain combat encounters are rigged to always '''Surprise''' either the player's party or the enemy party when the proper conditions are met. For example:
** The first encounter with the [[Lesser Imp]]s during the [[Prologue]] always grants the player a '''Surprise''' round.
** A [[Mimic]] will always '''Surprise''' the player's party when interacting with the object it's disguised as.

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