I created a House Rules section for us to share our rulings and other additions. In my case, it'll be useful to ask your opinion on ideas that might make it in the final book. Here's one:
Surprise rounds
There are two ways I do surprise in my games. The first way I can handle this is auto effect: the player failed at a WIS check, or the attacker was undetected somehow. The attack succeeds and the character takes damage, is affected by a spell, etc. This is pretty harsh and I almost never do it.
Soft surprise is another way to handle characters being caught flat footed by sneaky opponents. The character gets their turn as they react to the attack, but they have to roll with disadvantage.
So how do you handle surprise in your games?
Art is from Dungeon Meshi - a manga about an island that somewhat bases its economy around adventurers who plumb the depths of a mysterious magical dungeon. Don't worry - that lady dwarf gets better.
ReplyDeleteHmm... I'll have to track this down. Thanks for letting us know, Jim Heath!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say your disadvantage method for surprise seem so simple and reasonable that I don't know why anyone wouldn't use it.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Ball Thanks! Sometimes the simplest rules are the last to come to mind =)
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