The Value of Surprise

At the start of an encounter, each side rolls 1d6. On a roll of 1 or 2, the rolling party is Surprised. 

This means they do not get to act at all in that round and they do not get the advantage of their DEX bonus to AC. 

If the other side is not Surprised, that side gets an unfettered free attack against the Surprised side. 

If both sides are surprised, then they stare at each other, dumbfounded, for one stochastic Round. 

So let’s say, for an example, the Players’ side has won surprise. A clever group of players, having achieved Surprise, will coordinate their attacks in order to concentrate fire on one enemy figure, in hopes to remove it from combat before it can act. 

If this is successful, the Surprised side will have to throw a Morale check. Failing this, they will flee or surrender. 

So we can see that gaining Surprise in incredibly powerful and that using it to the full will make an adventuring party much more powerful, on average, than if the fight was even up or (the gods forbid) they lose surprise. 

The enterprising player will then ask, “how do I gain surprise more often?” And, “how do I minimize my chances of being surprised?” Read on. 

The surest way to gain surprise is through ambush tactics. If the several players know that there is an enemy figure about before the enemy figure knows of the players’ figures, then the players may attempt to ambush the hapless sod. Throw a hide check for the whole group, modified by the dexterity of the best PC, and then modified by the wisdom of the best target. If successful, Surprise goes off. 

In order to have the best chance of surprise, send a scout ahead of your party. The best scouts are elves, ratcatchers, dwarfs, rangers and hobbits, for various reasons having to do with hiding, sneaking and spotting. 

Certain character classes modify Surprise chance as well. Ratcatchers change the game underground and Rangers do outdoors. 

The other thing cannot players can do is to elect one player to be the battle captain. This player will call out priority targets to concentrate fire on, and keep track of hit point loss among the several opposing figures. 

Good tactics and careful play coupled with surprise and morale can turn a mediocre group into a force to be reckoned with. 

Perception, Searching, Stealth and Surprise

The easiest way to handle this, and I’m surprised that I haven’t seen it done, is to unify these mechanics in your head. 

The first step is to make them actually unified. For me, I chose to say that any of these things happen on a base roll of 1-2 on d6. 

Perception is passive information-gathering. It relies on your eyes and ears and sometimes other senses. The Referee rolls this for you in the presence of stimuli. 

Searching is active information-gathering. You “do” this rather than it happening to you. 

Hiding and Sneaking are also active activities (even though hiding is usually stationary.) These are things you are doing to someone else. 

Surprise is a function of someone else’s hiding and sneaking or of happenstance. It is most similar to a Perception check. 

You see something, find something, sneak by/hide from something or surprise someone on a 1-2 on d6. With 1-point modifiers.

Here are their modifiers. 

For perception and searching: 

We start with 1-2 on 1d6. 

We modify by Wisdom, +1/-1.

Perception includes being surprised in combat. Subtract your wisdom modifier from the other man’s roll, just as if you are making a perception check. 

For searching:

We further modify by any tool you might use, such as a 10’ pole or silvered hand mirror. 

There are some modifiers to search and perception based on race. 

For hiding and sneaking: 

We start at 1-2 on 1d6. 

We modify for metal armor: -1.

There are additional racial modifiers for Hobbits. 

For sneaking: 

We further modify for Dexterity. Apply your Dexterity modifier, +1/-1.