Opening Doors, and Moving Last

[FireHorse]

Suppose that figures A and B are inside a room, arguing about this very subject. Unbeknownst to B, C (a good friend of A) is eavesdropping at the door, plotting B's assassination.

A and B both decide they've had enough of the other one's mouth, so they draw their weapons and initiate Combat. Regardless of which one wins the initiative roll, one of them gets up in the other's face, and the other remains still, and the Movement phase (for them) ends with B's back to the door…

…LIKE SO…

…but then (regardless of whether he won or lost the initiative roll) C's Movement comes last.

Now: Can C just open the door and charge up behind B, thus gaining the +4 for a rear attack in the imminent Action phase?

Or does opening the door count as an Action all by itself (even if C had the knob turned and ready, or somebody else threw it open for him), meaning that the door cannot be opened (Action) and passed through (Movement) in the same turn, because of the sequencing?

[hcobb]

Opening a door as an action does simplify when traps spring.

[FireHorse]

Yes, but in that case the Surprise is held by the Trap. In the sort of ambush I described above, the figure coming through the door (C) has the Surprise. According to ITL 105, having the element of Surprise is worth a whole free turn — I'm just not sure how that works with tossing a door open and going through it, particularly when the people in the room have already moved.

[tomc]

Originally Posted by FireHorse

Yes, but in that case the Surprise is held by the Trap. In the sort of ambush I described above, the figure coming through the door (C) has the Surprise. According to ITL 105, having the element of Surprise is worth a whole free turn — I'm just not sure how that works with tossing a door open and going through it, particularly when the people in the room have already moved.

I'd probably allow it, but give B the opportunity to change facing and reduce/remove C's bonus.

[Skarg]

Unfortunately there are no rules for doors in combat. What it takes to open one is only the first of various situations that can come up. So far, it's all left up to the GM.

Personally, I would have it depend on whether the door is in a state to be immediately opened or if the handle needs to be turned, and what state of both readiness and alertness C is in. If C is a PC, I would ask him to describe his preparations and how he plans to act based on what he hears, and not show him the map till he opens the door.

In any case, I'd roll 3/IQ (and maybe 3/DX) for C and see how well C manages to pull things off.

If the door can just be shouldered open, and C hears enough and figures out this is the moment to burst in, and has his weapons out and is an experienced person at doing such things, I'd let him just move through the door (maybe charge +1 MA) and be able to attack. I would hide the part of the map behind the door he's opening, since he won't know whether ally D is in the blind spot if he's rushing to kill B.

But if the door had a handle that takes some doing to open, I'd want to know how he's going to try to do that while still holding a weapon ready, and unless the player has a very plausible answer, probably require 3/DX or more to not take a turn opening the door and/or re-readying the weapon.

Etc.

[larsdangly]

My standard table ruling is that opening a door is an action.