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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4975298" data-attributes="member: 82106">Hmmm, you've gotten a bit of a motley collection of answers here, though most of it is correct. Let me just throw my vote in.In essence surprise is always at the discretion of the DM. It happens when one side is able to unexpectedly launch an attack on the other. Stealth is usually, but not always, a major consideration. Generally you would structure these situations so that the potentially surprised party gets SOME sort of skill check to avoid surprise, but this is not a requirement. So in this case I might allow a perception check for the rogue to sense something odd about the situation (the voice sounds funny, he notices a hairy clawed foot sticking out from under the tarp, smells something funny, etc). If he didn't call out a perception check then its passive. You have to decide a DC (usually the monster's hide roll in this case). If the rogue fails the check then he's surprised, so the monsters get one action before he can react. Otherwise its just initiative order.Mechanically it doesn't REALLY matter when you roll the initiative. Sometimes it can be helpful to do it earlier because the PCs are treating the situation like a combat situation and its easier to regulate power use etc that way. You can still interject a surprise round when the actual battle starts. The sequence of combat rules cover the most common way things will play out, but you should feel free to vary that a bit if it makes sense.Technically the question here is what action the rogue attempted. He has a choice of Stabilize the Dying and Use Second Wind. In theory he has to pick one and stick with it, so if he picked Use Second Wind then it does nothing, otherwise it stabilizes the ranger. Given that they are the same action cost, use the same skill, and are basically both close to the same thing (helping someone who's hurt) I'd probably let it slide since second wind isn't an option. If he was trying to be vague just to find out which check he would pass before deciding, then I'd make sure he actually specifies the exact task first. Usually though this will come up when the player isn't sure how the skill works.A pit trap is a trap, which means the mechanics of the trap in its description will tell you how it works. Generally the trap will roll an attack vs reflex and if it hits then the character falls in. They don't get a save. The rogue could use Acrobatics to reduce the falling damage by half. IF the pit was just a pit in the floor and for some reason the rogue was pushed into it or something THEN he would get a simple saving throw to catch himself. As for XP from traps, its just like monsters. If you survive the encounter you get the XP. By RAW XP rewards for encounters are fixed by the XP budget and it doesn't matter what actually happens during the encounter. However its perfectly reasonable to award partial XP. If a party attacked monsters and then retreated they would get XP for the ones they killed. You might decide not to award XP for a trap that had no impact on the encounter, but the general concept is its part of the threat, so it should count. In the case of this pit the rogue definitely gets the XP, assuming he survives...</blockquote>

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