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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jonathon Robinson" data-source="post: 7418137" data-attributes="member: 6950524">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 ProblemThere 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 SolutionIn 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?</blockquote>

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