D&D 5E How does Surprise work in 5e?

[Manbearcat]

I have a scenario where a group of bad guys take a two-pronged approach: most of the bad guys directly confront the party & a few lurk in the woods very well hidden (their Stealth checks beat all the PCs' passive Perceptions) to act as snipers. My thinking is that this means the PCs are surprised. However, after reading the rules I am not sure...



So, being "surprised" by the couple guys in the woods means that the PCs can't move or take actions on their first turn of combat, even against the obvious bad guys right in front of them? Is that right?

I guess I'm having trouble grasping the logic behind this, where editions I'm used to made surprise a bonus attack for those who surprised their enemy. I'm not sure how to interpret 5e's surprise rules in the narrative of my situation.

Thanks for any help in advance

That is precisely how it appears to be. Combat procedure:

Determine Surprise > Roll Initiative > Everyone acts normally except... > Surprised characters can't move, can't take an action, and get no reaction on their first turns.

Which, of course, is absolutely brutally punitive to surprised foes in terms of overall action economy and it further pushes combat toward a rocket tag paradigm, especially at higher levels.

If I was running 5e, the first thing I would do is come up with a Surprise Round Action Economy that is roughly balanced and impactful but not nearly as utterly decisive to combat as the current Surprise Rules. Probably close to Bonus Actions, except no non-Cantrip spell. So you could:

* Cast a Cantrip
* Dash
* Disengage
* Help
* Make a single attack
* Search
* Use an object

 

[SirAntoine]

The description for what being surprised means does not cover this possibility. In such a case, the DM needs to make a ruling. There are many good suggestions here, but in my opinion the case actually shows that the concept of the surprise round is flawed so much it should be taken out of the game. Replace it with simple bonuses for attacking a surprised enemy. Anyone can be surprised by anyone at any time, and the incident does not take more than a moment to pass. There is a moment of being surprised, not a round in which you can't act.

 

[Essenti]

A simple solution is to give surprised creatures disadvantage on their initiative and attack rolls for the first round.

This gets rid of the stunned-like condition and replaces it with disadvantage, which is still strong but isn't quite as bad as action denial. Now you are at a disadvantage for being surprised rather than practically helpless.