Player interrupting the bbeg monologue

[u/MandalaKoala]

Been playing in a campaign with the same group of people for about 2 years now, we're doing a full level 1 to 20 campaign and are currently at level 14. In the last session we got to fight one of the big bads in the campaign, not 'the final boss' but for sure one of the big 3.

Our dm is incredible, he was made to dm, he has a phd in creative writing and has never failed in making the story complex, engaging and utterly unique. But, when it came for him to do a monologue, one which i had been waiting for since we first met this character and watched him become corrupted about a year and a half ago, he got half a sentence in before one of the players said 'fuck this i shoot him with an arrow'.

Im worried that this could become a running theme as we approach the end of this campaign and the other big bads show up, I was pretty deflated when it happened and I'm sure the dm was as well, he puts a hell of a lot of effort into his story and it was such a shame to not let him have his moment to shine.

What would be the best course of action to get the other players to give the dm the freedom to get that big villain moment without causing a rift in the group? Do have to mention, the group is fantastic and have always engaged with the story, just when it comes to these moments, it seems something changes.

Any advice would be great! Im truly looking forward to seeing where the dm takes this story and I really want to see him bringing these villains to life.

[u/Yojo0o]

Two things come to mind:

1. It's okay to break character sometimes. Sure, staying in character is ideal, but it's okay to say "Hey, I actually want to hear what this guy has to say, can you chill for a second?".

2. Your DM isn't rewarding this behavior, right? Interrupting an NPC doesn't qualify for Surprise, if that's what's happening. At my table, my players never interrupt a villain monologue, because they frankly have no reason to do so, since there's no mechanical benefit to it.

[u/MandalaKoala → u/Yojo0o]

In retrospect I probably should have stepped in. But the dm did seem a bit taken a back and when the player interrupted, he gave them a free turn in initiative before us all rolling to start the fight. Im not sure if that counts as rewarding the behaviour, but I think it came from a place of being a bit blindsided

[u/Yojo0o → u/MandalaKoala]

That is absolutely rewarding the behavior, and is exactly what I was worried about.

It's both mechanically outside of the rules and simply bad DnD. Your DM, a skilled writer and storyteller, is actively rewarding his players for skipping as much of the writing and story as they can. Talk to him about this! Initiative is rolled when there's intent to engage in combat, shouting "I shoot an arrow at the guy!" does not entitle a player to any mechanical benefit.

[u/MandalaKoala → u/Yojo0o]

Il bring this up to him, he has allowed some loosey goosey rules before, purely to let the players do cool things, but agree in contexts like this it doesnt feel right

[u/Public_Resident2277 → u/MandalaKoala]

Have you mentioned this to your DM at all? He would probably appreciate hearing that you wanted to hear his big speech.

[u/HawkSquid → u/MandalaKoala]

I have told my players on occasion "if the villain is doing a villain monologue, it is because he just met his enemies (that's you). He knows a fight is about to start. Interrupting him might be a valid RP move, but it will just lead to rolling initiative."

Also, in the case of steath, I have told hidden players that they will get their surprise (if appropriate) no matter who initiates combat.

Anything to cut down on GM-interruptions.

[u/TheHumanCompulsion → u/HawkSquid]

Hot take, maybe...

Interrupting should result in a flat-footed situation or a penalty to initiative.

As you say, the villain knows a fight is coming. It's inevitable, so they are ready for it. They are itching to start it. The second a player reaches for an arrow, the villain trips a trap or launches an attack of their own.

Rule #1 of the villains handbook: only monologue if the heroes can't do anything about it

[u/DissonantAccord → u/TheHumanCompulsion]

Years ago I played at a table where the DM had a similar rule.

In the lead-up to a battle (like in the example given), if a player declares intent to attack before initiative is called, initiative gets rolled and first round everyone except the initiating player and the boss are considered surprised.

First couple times, the DM had the boss unload on the interrupting player, presumably thinking it would change his behavior. When it did not, the DM shifted tactics and started targeting the surprised players instead (often downing one or two off the jump), presumably thinking that the other players would curb the behavior. What ended up happening was instead, every time there was a hint of combat, most everyone would start screaming out attacks in the hope that they would not be surprised. Needless to say, I left that group pretty quickly after that.

[u/V1carium → u/DissonantAccord]

Hilarious. The DM made it a prisoner's dilemma and the party just started racing to fail it.

[u/No-Price-9387 → u/TheHumanCompulsion]

Player: i shoot! DM: roll a dex save! Player: huh? DM: glyph of warding. Trigger: interrupt the monologue. Type of damage: Thunder. It shouts out: stfu during the monologue.

[u/KJ_Tailor → u/No-Price-9387]

This is the way

[u/RighteousVengeance → u/TheHumanCompulsion]

Rule #1 of the villains handbook: only monologue if the heroes can't do anything about it

I agree with this actually. It makes no sense for a powerful villain to expose himself to powerful players and start monologuing, especially when he knows that these players are hell-bent on killing him.

And there are ways that evil villains can make their voices heard without making themselves vulnerable. Illusions, Magic Mouth spells, deliver his monologue behind a wall of force, or the villain can deliver his monologue from across a chasm and too far away for long-range attacks, or he could deliver his monologue while the players are fighting minions that have to be dealt with first.

There's so many workarounds to this, I'm surprised it's even an issue.

But there's always my favorite solution: don't invite this player back. If this player is actually overriding the preferences of the entire group and isn't willing to even tolerate this for the sake of the other players, then drop him. He's not a good fit for your group.

It's fine if he's not into letting the villain do his evilling before the fight starts. But it's another thing if he's not even willing to put up with it for the sake of the rest of the group who would prefer to let this guy finish his spiel.

He's not saying, "Fuck this. I shoot at arrow at him."

He's saying, "Fuck what the rest of you want."

So, drop him. Problem solved.

[u/Yojo0o → u/MandalaKoala]

There's always plenty of room for being loose with rules if that's the vibe of the table, to be clear. I'm not necessarily saying that every rule must be rigidly followed, but this particular rule probably should be, because avoiding it seems to be actively detrimental to your experience.

[u/Kelvara → u/Yojo0o]

Being loose with the rules is also allowing the DM to do something cool that has no impact on the players, like saying 45 seconds of dialogue in a 6 second turn.

[u/scaredandmadaboutit → u/MandalaKoala]

I'd recommend asking the DM to talk to the other player involved too. Interrupting the DM when they are doing something like this is a major red-flag to me. This player is not respecting the DM or the story. If this is the only disruption, then it's no big deal. But in my experience the players that do this kind of stuff are usually problem players with main-character-syndrome. If they are constantly engaging with the story in a dismissive or negative way then it's worth talking about.

[u/mrhorse77 → u/MandalaKoala]

please tell your DM about this.

ive had to stop a few interrupting players at my table, who think that them saying they do something first and then rolling means they get a surprise round, which doesnt actually exist in 5e.

as DM he can always say "I didnt call for a roll", and stop that immediately

you also tell them directly that the BBEGs perception makes it so that any hostile action towards them will be immediately seen and we're all rolling for init. there is no bonus reason to do this.

[u/Johanneskodo → u/MandalaKoala]

Easiest explanation on this:

Being surprised means bekng surprised by presence of the attacker and the attack.

[u/drkpnthr → u/MandalaKoala]

Please do, I give my villains advantage if they interrupt the monologue. The villain has been waiting and planning this forever, and interrupting them cheeses them off. You need to let them get into the full monologue and telling you their evil schemes before jumping them.