Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lyxen" data-source="post: 8549408" data-attributes="member: 7032025">This is strictly according to the rules, you know ? That being said, I agree that the rules are very general, and the podcast helps a lot understand the spirit in which they were written. It's a lot about doing things quickly and recognising that the circumstances are really critical in determining what happens. And, as the DM is the only one who has all the information, he is the only one who can make quick calls and rulings.Indeed.Then, since the adventurers have not detected the upcoming ambush, the next paragraphs in the travelling rules come into effect. The DM determines that the characters encounter the creature, since the PCs are not aware of the ambush, the orcs decide to attack (note that, had they been noticed, they might decide to take another course of action, like running away).Then it's the final paragraph in "noticing threats", the adventurers encounter a hostile creature or group, and might be surprise, go to chapter 9.No, as mentioned in the travel rules (and reminded above), this goes straight to the surprise rules: "The DM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the DM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter."So let's see:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The characters are not trying to be stealthy (if they are, it's another scenario, we can explore that later if you wish), so they are automatically noticed by the orcs.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As the orcs are stealthy, we compare their Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side.</li> </ul>If a PC does not notice the orcs, they are surprised. This is where the "stealth had already been rolled and the PP does not change" part comes in handy, because it has not changed from the "noticing hidden threats" from the travel rules, so barring any change on the conditions, the people who were looking for threats are already known to have their PP below the orcs' rolls, and don't need to be checked again, so you can in general assume that you only need to check for those who were conducting other activities.Note that, depending on the circumstances, it might get slightly more complicated than that. For example if you rolled a group check for the orcs, you might want to see what it does to the surprise. The PCs are certainly going to be surprised, since to avoid surprise, they must have noticed all the threats and you know that some orcs are still unseen (Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter). It's all in the circumstances and how you choose to describe things.Note that this thing about surprise can actually become fairly complicated, but it has nothing to do with the travel rules, it's when you have a mixed group, for example, the PCs might know that they are attacked by orcs, but might have failed to notice the assassin at the back, which means that they can still be surprised.</blockquote>

Verification