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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arial Black" data-source="post: 6690631" data-attributes="member: 6799649">I was addressing your point:-Although, conceptually, the action is non-stop and continuous, this doesn't mean that every action within it happens simultaneously with every other action in it. In real life combats, no-one takes 'turns'. However, some stuff happens before other stuff, and some stuff happens in response to other stuff and would not have happened otherwise.The game can only cope with all this by going in turns. We know that this is an approximation, and we know it represents continuous combat. But we really cannot say that all of the turns happen at the same time, both because the combatants most definitely do act in turns in the game, but also because it accurately models some stuff happening in response to other stuff.Therefore, the target with the higher initiative does not automatically become aware of what the assassin hasn't done yet, when he doesn't even know the assassin is there!Certainly, two gunfighters in a fast-draw contest can see each other going for their guns and react faster, because they can already see each other. This does not apply to a surprise attack. If one gunfighter was to draw and fire when the other has his back turned, sure, have a Stealth/Perception contest; if the target is not surprised (because his victory in the contested roll means that he hears the gun being drawn) then his faster initiative means he can turn and fire at the dirty backshooter! But if the victim failed the contest, he is not only surprised, he could not attack the backshooter even if he could act on his first turn, because he doesn't know that there is a backshooter! He will be unsurprised if he hears the shot (he now notices a threat), and his initiative total is neither here nor there in that regard.</blockquote>

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