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Message: <blockquote data-quote="touc" data-source="post: 7419892" data-attributes="member: 19270">Reference basic rules (PHB p189). If no one is trying to be stealthy, ignore surprise. Otherwise, make an opposed skill check (generally Perception vs. Stealth). Now, if you have 20 goblins, this can become cumbersome. Could one goblin step on a branch while the other 19 are quiet as mice? Sure. Does this mean you roll 20 times to see if this happens? In principle, yes. If that doesn't work for you, consider a home-brew rule where you assume everyone but 5 goblins rolled a 10 and just roll for those 5 (or whatever arbitrary number seems fair]. Otherwise, RAW you're left to try a "group check" (if half succeed it works) and that doesn't work too well because (1) you're still rolling a ton of dice and (2) you have different Difficulty Checks of the players to beat.If even 1 goblin is noticed by a player, s/he isn't surprised (and vice versa if the players are sneaking around).Surprised creatures cannot take any actions during the first round, including reactions. They still get an initiative roll, which is needed in case there's a round-by-round effect you need to track that occurs on the creature's turns.As written. If they're conscious, they can't be surprised. The player forfeited an ability score boost and all its benefits for this situational Feat, so don't screw them over by finding ways to take it away. In my games, it's generally uncommon that enemies set up ambushes or are trying to sneak around, so this Feat doesn't get many chances to shine for the player.NarrativeGood suggestions already. If you have media, cue battle music. Consider individual narrative for players who are surprised and not surprised. Barbarian, you sense something wrong in the woods. The insects have gone silent. Your weapon is out by instinct, your body moving reflexively even as you register your companions hesitating. Druid and Wizard, you were chatting about the worst taverns in Dogtown when Barbarian's axe came out, and you haven't yet registered what's going on until the arrows start flying.</blockquote>

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