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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7758763" data-attributes="member: 97077">I would indeed run it as (b). It's no concern of mine per se that the drow assassin has a pretty good chance of surprising the PCs; however, I will have telegraphed this possibility at some point prior to this scene. (I'm pretty diligent about this.) The choice the players made to Keep Watch instead of, say, Draw a Map (which is worth gold in my games) or Track (which allows them to increase or decrease their chances of a wandering monster encounter), may be indicative of why the PCs are all Keeping Watch in this example. So, they made their informed choice and now we get to see the consequences of that choice play out. Their agency was in making the choice to Keep Watch based on the information they had when they made the decision. In my games, you'll quite frequently see the PCs change up their general tasks while exploring and traveling based on what information they've picked up. In some cases, you'll see some players are willing to Work Together with another PC to increase that PC's passive Perception (+5 due to advantage) rather than have a chance at avoiding surprise himself or herself. This is especially true if the PC who is Working Together has a poor passive Perception to begin with. He or she would rather someone in the party, typically a heavy hitter, not be surprised.Here, the rules for Combat Step by Step apply to resolve this situation. The DM describes the environment, determines surprise, calls for initiative, and so on. I see no meaningful impact to agency here.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7758763, member: 97077"] I would indeed run it as (b). It's no concern of mine per se that the drow assassin has a pretty good chance of surprising the PCs; however, I will have telegraphed this possibility at some point prior to this scene. (I'm pretty diligent about this.) The choice the players made to Keep Watch instead of, say, Draw a Map (which is worth gold in my games) or Track (which allows them to increase or decrease their chances of a wandering monster encounter), may be indicative of why the PCs are all Keeping Watch in this example. So, they made their informed choice and now we get to see the consequences of that choice play out. Their agency was in making the choice to Keep Watch based on the information they had when they made the decision. In my games, you'll quite frequently see the PCs change up their general tasks while exploring and traveling based on what information they've picked up. In some cases, you'll see some players are willing to Work Together with another PC to increase that PC's passive Perception (+5 due to advantage) rather than have a chance at avoiding surprise himself or herself. This is especially true if the PC who is Working Together has a poor passive Perception to begin with. He or she would rather someone in the party, typically a heavy hitter, not be surprised. Here, the rules for Combat Step by Step apply to resolve this situation. The DM describes the environment, determines surprise, calls for initiative, and so on. I see no meaningful impact to agency here. [/QUOTE]

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