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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arial Black" data-source="post: 7687040" data-attributes="member: 6799649">'Combat' takes place in 'combat rounds', in initiative order. The rules don't allow you to attack an enemy with a weapon outside of initiative.In combat, all the participants are aware that they are in danger, and act/react in combat according to the rules. If you know you are in combat with anyone, then you cannot be 'surprised' in game terms because you are already bobbing and weaving and on the lookout.'Surprise' represents the disadvantages you have by not realising you are in combat. You are not bobbing or weaving, ready for a sword swinging at your head. That's why you are vulnerable to assassins, who train to take advantage of this.The DM determines surprise. He can just say that a creature is or is not surprised by fiat, but where there is doubt then he is expected to call for opposed ability checks, most commonly Stealth/Perception.The Initiative roll at the start of combat represents how quickly you react. However, initiative (a Dex check, measuring reaction speed) does not make you aware of danger in the first place, only to react quickly when you do actually perceive danger, and that is not represented by a Dex check but by opposed Stealth/Perception checks.If you have no idea that there is any danger (because the assassin's Stealth beat your Perception), then having a good reaction speed doesn't help you notice the attack, just to be able to react quickly once you do notice.If you roll a higher initiative than the undetected assassin, this won't make you a harder target because you are still not aware of any danger. When your initiative comes up, nothing has happened; there is nothing to react to! It shouldn't make you suddenly impossible to auto-crit because you still haven't detected danger.</blockquote>

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