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Message: <blockquote data-quote="discosoc" data-source="post: 7006100" data-attributes="member: 6801554">"Specific Beats General."Rulings don't really get more specific that being explicitly set in the adventure's encounter.  Usually an adventure will explain why something like is happening*1*, but as a DM you'll need to get used to filling in a lot of blanks even in the best of circumstances.That said, I think the way surprise works in 5e should be clarified for you a bit.  Basically, a character is either surprised or not.  There's no grey area where they might be surprised by one source but not another, and there's no such thing as a "surprise round."  For example, if a group of 5 PC's are sneaking up some goblins, and none of the goblins notices *any* of the PC's, then all of the goblins are surprised and can't act or react on the first round of combat.  If 1 of the PC's botched the stealth roll, but the other PC's passed, then the goblins are *not* surprised because they have detected a threat.  It doesn't matter that they don't fully understand the scope of the threat (they just see the one clumsy PC stumbling in the bushes, but don't know about the other 4), they are no longer considered "surprised," so they can act on the first round like normal, although they wouldn't know about the other 4 PCs.That means the 4 PCs who successfully stealthed start combat "hidden," which basically means they get an advantage to their first attack*2*.So if your rogue player sneaked up on the goblins, he starts combat as an unseen attacker (PHB p194).  The goblins aren't surprised (because the adventure says so), which means they get to act normally on the first round of combat (although they wouldn't be able to target the rogue until after he attacks or reveals himself).*1*There are a variety of reasons why it might not be possible to surprise the goblins.  Perhaps a goblin leader came through only moments before and they are on their best lookout.  Or maybe a wild dog just dragged a goblin away in the bushes and now they are all scared and paranoid about when it strikes next.  Those kinds of things could easily explain why the players are unable to surprise the goblins, at no fault of their own.*2*Attacking while hidden is another grey area with 5e, with how the stealth rules are kind of poorly-defined.  Making a ranged attack is simple enough, but according to the Hiding excerpt on PHB p177, creatures generally stay alert in combat and will see you as soon as you come out of hiding (such as leaving the bushes to move up and attack).  It then states that the DM might let you stay hidden if the creature is distracted, which would allow you to retain advantage to your attack roll.  The problem here is that, like many instances of 5e, you have one rule stating one thing, then immediately saying that it might not always be true and it's up to the DM.So as the DM, you'll need to clarify how you intend to handle these things, possibly on a case-by-case basis.  I generally allow unseen attackers to move into melee and attack as long as the stealth check still beats the passive perception.</blockquote>

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