Vaalingrade
Legend
The Stealth rules.What's bad about perception vs. stealth to determine surprise?
The Stealth rules.What's bad about perception vs. stealth to determine surprise?
Yeah the issue with stealth is that its vague in 5e. Which wouldn't be such a problem except that as already discussed....surprise is a BIG deal. Like a REALLY BIG deal. So you have a vague mechanic that can also trigger the most powerful combat shift in the game....that's when it gets problematic.The Stealth rules.
Reasonable question.Coming off one of the many perception threads as well as being in the process of writing up a lot of the minutia rules for my own system, I'm struck by the thought that... maybe surprise is not worth having as a mechanic.
Okay. That's not the surprise rules, though. I personally find the surprise rules to be just fine.The Stealth rules.
I think, though, that a table will quickly clarify for itself how stealth works and will remain consistent with that procedure.Yeah the issue with stealth is that its vague in 5e. Which wouldn't be such a problem except that as already discussed....surprise is a BIG deal. Like a REALLY BIG deal. So you have a vague mechanic that can also trigger the most powerful combat shift in the game....that's when it gets problematic.
Reactions only. No actions or bonus actions.Reasonable question.
I'm a little surprised to see that you feel it has minimal impact, although those surprised are allowed bonus actions in the first round rather than nothing at all.
It's very important as the encounters are balanced around damage output vs. hit points. A free round of damage output is huge.I don't know 5e well enough to comment on how much that mitigates being surprised. Having a round or two of attacks before a meaningful response seems major- does your group not pursue attempting to surprise, or do you find that when they do they don't gain much advantage from it?
This depends on the players and group. My group usually has one stealth guy that scouts ahead. If he finds a danger, he will go back and they will make a plan to avoid, a plan to parlay, or a plan to try and surprise it. Of course, for some reason they are content to just sit there for an hour while he scouts, too.Does a game need surprise mechanics? No. In my experience, surprise happens rarely for the players, but being surprised happens from time to time. If you already have rules for being attacked by an opponent that you were unaware of, they aren't really necessary either- though when you start an encounter and have everyone roll initiative, and ask players what they want to do if they haven't spotted any enemies, that can be a little strange, which is probably why a mechanic that prevents people from acting exists.
yes but may clarify to a set of rules that turns out to be exceptionally OPI think, though, that a table will quickly clarify for itself how stealth works and will remain consistent with that procedure.
Yeah. But........if they are having fun, it really doesn't matter, and if they aren't they will change it. We all made mistakes when we started out and fixed them as we went along. All games, even ones like 5e, having learning curves.yes but may clarify to a set of rules that turns out to be exceptionally OP