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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ridley's Cohort" data-source="post: 2217513" data-attributes="member: 545">Is that really so crazy in this case?Realistically speaking, if you have sword in hand and are mentally ready for a fight, just because I know you are on the other side of that door, does that mean I should automatically get Surprise and therefore an extra attack on you?  Considering that Initiative starts at the exact moment the door is open, should I be able to automatically and unfailingly react to the door being open faster than you?I have the advantage of the lay of battlefield.  You have the advantage of knowing exactly when that door will be opened.  Seems to me like those should more or less cancel each other out.  I can see throwing a minor Intitiative mod one way or the other, but a Surprise round seems like massive overkill in this case.I think there are three factors that should be weighed to adjudicate Suprise:(1) Awareness: What have you directly detected?  What creatures can you observe now?(2) Expectation: Are you mentally prepared for the combat will/might unfold?  What do you think is about to happen?(3) Initiator: Whose action is precipitating the combat?  Is that person an ally who is coordinating with me actively?As a rough rule of thumb, if you can say you have 2 of 3 on that list to your credit you probably should not be Surprised.As a practical matter PCs should be presumed to be mentally ready for a fight pretty much all the time (condition #2).  To do otherwise means that the DM is roleplaying the PC for the player ("It seems to me your PC was thinking ____.") or potentially punishing good roleplaying.</blockquote>

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