Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Schmoe" data-source="post: 222064" data-attributes="member: 913">Another trick I use regards negotiations gone sour.  If, during negotiations, one player yells out that he wants to attack, I have him make a Bluff check opposed by the opponents' Sense Motive checks.  Those opponents who successfully sense the character's intention to attack are not surprised.  If only one player yells it out, his fellow players must also make Sense Motive checks to see if they could sense the attack.  If they fail, they are also surprised.If the players had worked out beforehand that they would all attack on a given signal, none of them need to make Sense Motive checks, but they all need to make Bluff checks, and the opponents need only beat the lowest roll to prevent being surprised.This works in reverse, giving characters a chance to not be automatically surprised when an NPC suddenly attacks during negotiations.  If there are many NPC's (say, a tribe of 20 orcs), I will assume that most or all of the NPC's take 10 on the Bluff or Sense Motive checks.Regardless, in these situations I always play the first round as a surprise round, ie partial actions only.</blockquote>