Surprise Round Variant: Preemptive Strike

[Jonathon Robinson]

The surprise round rules fall short for me so I am planning on introducing a new rule in my campaigns to compensate. I'd love to hear your feedback on this.

The Problem

There are many reasons for characters to be surprised. Besides being ambushed, the players could be in a situation where they don't know if they should even attack (e.g. parlay with a dragon) or in a situation where they simply don't expect combat (a mimic). As soon as the players roll for initiative they know (or suspect) they are entering combat. So instead of the dragon surprising them, the characters with high initiative can potentially get the jump on the dragon, or mimic, or whoever. I don't have a direct issue with this, sometimes the players should get the jump on the monster, but other times it can break the narrative: for example, the monster is supposed to stab the character, or the dragon is supposed to use his breath weapon, but the player rolls higher initiative and is either confused (should I wait for the enemy to go to see what they will do?) or they change the story (hold monster). I don't have an issue with the story changing but I would like to see something more fluid.

Proposed Solution

In a situation where it is clear the players will not attack first, or they should be legitimately surprised, I propose an alternative: preemptive strike. Essentially this is just the "side initiative" variant from the DM guide with the monsters automatically going first. The monsters all take their turns first. Then the players roll initiative (or simply select their turn order) and take their turns. Combat is run normally with monsters then players.

In some cases this will be better for the players (nobody will see a monster go twice before they get a turn) and in other cases this will be worse for players (nobody will get to go before a monster does). I think this would work for the players as well: the players could set up an ambush for the enemy and they would get a preemptive strike if successful.

I'm unsure what to do with certain effects (e.g. weapon of warning) but at the moment my group doesn't have any abilities that could warn them so I'm going to play this one by ear.


Thoughts?

 

[Dragongrief]

From your description, you may be missing a step on determining surprise - Perception.

At the start of any of those situations, the players should all roll perception to notice that something is off:
*The dragon is inhaling to breath fire, vs just taking a deep breath.
*There is something in the bushes and it isn't a squirell.
*The faint sound of a dagger being drawn as a would-be assassin approaches.

If a character fails the check, they don't get to take any actions the first round. Even if they roll higher on initiative, that just means they've recovered enough to effectively defend themselves.

If they do succeed at the check, then they noticed in time and were not surprised. Now they can act to change the story on their first turn.

 

[Tony Vargas]

As soon as the players roll for initiative they know (or suspect) they are entering combat. So instead of the dragon surprising them, the characters with high initiative can potentially get the jump on the dragon, or mimic, or whoever.

The surprised characters don't get to act on their turns, so, at most, might get to speak or take a reaction if they win initiative.

If you want to avoid the 'on alert' effect of calling for inituative, don't call for it until the monsters have taken their first round of actions.