TaranTheWanderer
Legend
Maybe beating a dead horse here, but a player was asking and we started looking for direct quotes and I could find nothing.
They were curious if some or all attacks in the surprise round were at advantage if the opponent was surprised. My assumption was you got advantage for the round.
Then I looked up surprise:
"Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter. If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t." PHB 173
No mention of advantage.
Assassin Archetype gets advantage but not because of surprise, but because it's their ability to get advantage on anyone who doesn't act before them. Surprise doesn't let you act in the first round, so they'd get advantage and double damage. But this is a function of their assassin power, and not Surprise.
I looked up hiding:
"In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, so if you come out of hiding and approach a creature, it usually sees you. However, under certain circumstances, the Dungeon Master might allow you to stay hidden as you approach a creature that is distracted, allowing you to gain advantage on an attack before you are seen."
Is the character considered sufficiently 'distracted' in the surprise round to warrant advantage? They didn 't detect the threat and, as a result are surprised and lose an action but as soon as swords start flying, the attackers are no longer 'unperceived'.
So, my final call, if I were to dm, would be 'it depends on the situation' and not allow every attack to be with advantage but probably some might be with advantage, mostly likely, the first attack, for sure.
Did I miss a quote somewhere or is this the consensus?
They were curious if some or all attacks in the surprise round were at advantage if the opponent was surprised. My assumption was you got advantage for the round.
Then I looked up surprise:
"Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter. If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t." PHB 173
No mention of advantage.
Assassin Archetype gets advantage but not because of surprise, but because it's their ability to get advantage on anyone who doesn't act before them. Surprise doesn't let you act in the first round, so they'd get advantage and double damage. But this is a function of their assassin power, and not Surprise.
I looked up hiding:
"In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, so if you come out of hiding and approach a creature, it usually sees you. However, under certain circumstances, the Dungeon Master might allow you to stay hidden as you approach a creature that is distracted, allowing you to gain advantage on an attack before you are seen."
Is the character considered sufficiently 'distracted' in the surprise round to warrant advantage? They didn 't detect the threat and, as a result are surprised and lose an action but as soon as swords start flying, the attackers are no longer 'unperceived'.
So, my final call, if I were to dm, would be 'it depends on the situation' and not allow every attack to be with advantage but probably some might be with advantage, mostly likely, the first attack, for sure.
Did I miss a quote somewhere or is this the consensus?
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