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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7583798" data-attributes="member: 97077">I will never defend an adventure module as being perfect (I find them frequently terrible), but I haven't seen anything like that in the WotC adventures I've read (granted, I've not read them all). I'd be curious to see any citations if anyone knows of any.Check out the trapper in Volo's Guide to Monsters for a floor-lurking monster.Whether it's a darkmantle on the ceiling or a trapper on the floor, I'm resolving it the same way because I value consistency and the rules of the game help with that: I'm telegraphing the threat of hidden monsters, perhaps even these ones specifically. I'm asking the players what they are doing, generally, as they travel the dungeon. If they say they are staying alert for hidden dangers (as opposed to drawing a map, foraging, tracking, navigating, or any task that is at least as distracting as those), then surprise is determined normally and their passive Perception applies. If they are performing a distracting task other than staying alert for hidden dangers and aren't a ranger in favored terrain, then the character is automatically surprised when the darkmantle or trapper attacks. They made a decision to take the risk of not being alert in exchange for performing some other (presumably useful) task.</blockquote>