In any case, that's only part of the real question: can a player choose to do nothing in the surprise round whilst leaving the other side in a state of unawareness? (Causing an effective start of combat in the normal round, and all the associated oddities.)
That's called Delay. You'd delay the entire surprise round into the next round. Note that the surprise round still exists, so that diviner would still get to do something in it.
Rules Quote: "If you take a delayed action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round."
In the OP's choices, it's 3). If player B "won" the initiative, it doesn't really matter, because player A's delayed action goes first, his initiative rising to that new point (just before player B).
What associated oddities are you referring to ?
3) Player A desires to initiate combat, and gets a surprise round. Player A decides to do nothing in the surprise round and just wait for the first normal round. Player A then uses Whirlwind Attack followed by Player B's actions.
This is probably the most balanced option, but is bizarre in the sense that Player B isn't surprised even though he should be. Further, imagine Player B had won the initiative... now Player B is being told to take his first normal round's actions without having any indication that he's being attacked at all!
Is Player B somehow aware that a fight is starting? If he readies for combat or casts a defensive spells, what happens if player A simply walks away instead of actually attacking? Btw, this same issues pops up when a class feature allows a player to act in the surprise round before they have any awareness of the attacker.
This would be my choice (or the start/finish full-round action).
I would also point out that if A has begun attacking, then there's no reason to believe that B is unaware of the attack, even if it hasn't landed. There are certainly enough moves from "real" martial arts (the reverse roundhouse kick is a good example) that can get you killed in a real fight, because they take so long to pull off that you might as well have told the opponent what you were about to try, and asked if he was ready. (The crane kick from The Karate Kid probably qualifies, too.)
So i would have no problem with believing that A tried to pull off some fancy full-round fighting s--- and simply got decked when B threw a quick jab.
1) Player A uses Whirlwind Attack in the surprise round. Player A can then Whirlwind Attack again in the first normal round, followed by Player B.
The obvious problem with this is that Player A only gets one action in the surprise round, and thus can't Whirlwind Attack in it.
Nope. No Whirlwind Attack in the surprise round.
Why?
It's not a full round. Clearly not six seconds. It's barely an instant. A brief moment when, possibly, some of the combatants are surprised while others who are more observant get to use that brief moment to do something quick. Quicker than a full-round action.
2) Player A uses Whirlwind Attack. Now the surprise round happens, in which Player A makes a standard action attack. Player A can then Whirlwind Attack again in the first normal round, finally followed by Player B.
So Player B gets hit by two full round attacks and a standard action before they can even act? This is even worse than the above, and I don't think it's intended to work like this.
Utter nonsense.
You're right, this is worse. Especially since it somehow allows Player A to make an attack without even being in combat.
No, the moment Player A decides to attack and designates his action, the combat has begun. IF there is a surprise round, he can take it if he wants, but it's still a brief moment, not a full six-second round, so he cannot use a Whirlwind Attack the surprise round.
So what if Player A had declared "I begin the combat with a Whirlwind Attack? Fine. Inform him that this attack is too slow to fully surprise Player B. He can use it, but we'll be in the first round, not the Surprise round. It's probably a good idea to make Player A decide this when he does not yet know the initiative order - he may decide to start winding up his big whirlwind, only to give himself away enough that Player B wins initiative and moves out of reach, wasting Player A's Whirlwind Attack. Or he might win initiative and begin the combat with a Whirlwind Attack in the first round.
3) Player A desires to initiate combat, and gets a surprise round. Player A decides to do nothing in the surprise round and just wait for the first normal round. Player A then uses Whirlwind Attack followed by Player B's actions.
This is probably the most balanced option, but is bizarre in the sense that Player B isn't surprised even though he should be.
This is mechanically equivalent to what I said above for scenario B. Although I wouldn't just stand around and waste the surprise round. If he's really going to do this deliberately, might as well stab the guy in the surprise round and then whirwind in the first round anyway.
Why is he not surprised?
Any answer will do. Here's one possibility: The Whirlwind Attack takes a bit of winding up, spinning around and gaining speed, before landing the first blow. Player B reacts to footfalls and the whirling blade and isn't surprised anymore (but he's still flat-footed because he lost initiative and hasn't acted yet).
Further, imagine Player B had won the initiative... now Player B is being told to take his first normal round's actions without having any indication that he's being attacked at all!
Is Player B somehow aware that a fight is starting?
Yes. See above.
If he readies for combat or casts a defensive spells, what happens if player A simply walks away instead of actually attacking?
Player A has decided to begin with a Whirlwind Attack. This negates his surprise round. How to explain it? Any way you want. Player B heard a faint sound, felt the movement of the air, or just had a wild hunch that he was in danger. His higher initiative lets him react to that even though he doesn't know what it is yet.
Now if Player A just walks away, he's not being stealthy anymore and he might take an AoO - we are in combat after all. If he sneaks away successfully, Player B will probably just shrug it off and think he was being paranoid.
Btw, this same issues pops up when a class feature allows a player to act in the surprise round before they have any awareness of the attacker.
Yep. But having an ability to act in a surprise round without being aware of the attacker works as I just described above - something tips this guy off. Something so unnoticeable that everyone else would have missed it, but not this guy. He can't say what or why, but when it starts hitting the fan, he's not surprised and he can act.
4) Player A simply cannot perform a Whirlwind Attack no matter how much he wishes to fight or how long he waits.
Sorry Player A, even though you're standing right next to Player B, you just can't find it within yourself to use that technique. Strain, flex your muscles, and amp yourself up all you want, for some reason you just can't quite do it, as if the universe were vetoing your desired action.
Nonsense again. See my answer to B. He certainly can, but he should be aware that this attack takes enough time with enough telltale signs that he will tip off Player B before he lands his Whirlwind, thus not surprising him.
But he can definitely use his Whirlwind Attack, with these consequences, of course.
SlimGauge:
The oddity is that it might be ruled that if you delay until the regular round, you can then take a full round's worth of actions.
This is exactly what happens. You delay until the first regular round so that you can take a full round action.
Assuming the victims remain unaware throughout the surprise round, they've effectively just been "surprised" with full round actions instead of the typical single actions typically imposed in these situations.
How would that be different from your invisible attacker using a stilled and silent spell as a standard action to self-buff, then attacking in the first regular round ?
Delaying in the surprise round doesn't really do anything except guarantee that you're going first in the subsequent full round.
Edit: fixed broken quotes tags
(The crane kick from The Karate Kid probably qualifies, too.)
No probably about it.
That was point-Karate. The only point-scoring attack Daniel San could make from a crane stance would be a crane kick. Johnny Lawrence is last year's champion, a well-trained martial artist, a better and more experienced fighter than Daniel, and a veteran tournament champion. He KNOWS his opponent can only score with one attack.
The ultimate "telegraph".
Of course, the veteran champion rushes in, chin-first, like all true champions do, and gets what he deserves.
Okay, let me clarify that I'm assuming no one has any special anti-surprise mechanics and no one on the attacker's side is doing anything to indicate their presence until the Whirlwind Attack happens.
The first thing the victims see or have any indication of is the Whirlwind Attack striking.
Assume everyone on the ambusher's side has Improved Invisibility and very high stealth checks.How is this handled?
Nope.
The first thing the victims hear is the Whirlwind Attack beginning.
It takes a full round. It involves spinning and whirling. Blades make noise whirling through the air. Feet stepping on the ground to pirouette fast enough to even remotely cause it to be a "whirlwind" are not going to be stealthy - the stealth rules even say "You cannot use stealth while attacking."
Or put another way, a Whirlwind attack is not
Strike
Whirl
Whirl
Strike
Whirl
Whirl
Strike
Instead, it's more like:
Whirl
Whirl
Whirl
Whirl
Strike
Strike
Strike
Gotta build up that whirlwind speed before slicing and dicing yoru foes.
RAW? Nope.
Fluff? Yep.
But this fluff justifies the actual rules about surprise rounds and why you can't get off a Whirlwind Attack.
Or, if you're the GM and don't care for fluffy justifications, just say "You can't do that" and move on. Or make a house rule that you CAN do that and move on.
Okay, let me clarify that I'm assuming no one has any special anti-surprise mechanics and no one on the attacker's side is doing anything to indicate their presence until the Whirlwind Attack happens.
The first thing the victims see or have any indication of is the Whirlwind Attack striking.
I reject that assumption, and present the reverse roundhouse kick as a counterexample. The first indication you have of an attack happening is when the attack starts, not when it lands. That's why "blocking" is a thing.
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Some full-round actions can be taken as standard actions, but only in situations when you are limited to performing only a standard action during your round. The descriptions of specific actions detail which actions allow this option.Restricted Activity: In some situations, you may be unable to take a full round's worth of actions. In such cases, you are restricted to taking only a single standard action or a single move action (plus free and swift actions as normal). You can't take a full-round action (though you can start or complete a full-round action by using a standard action; see below).So player A can start undertaking a whirlwind attack in the surprise round, but needs a standard action to actually complete it.Start/Complete Full-Round Action
The “start full-round action” standard action lets you start undertaking a full-round action, which you can complete in the following round by using another standard action. You can't use this action to start or complete a full attack, charge, run, or withdraw.
Yes this is how I would rule it.
Have half of the full round action attack go during the surprise attack and the other half for initiative, this way during normal rounds the player will get a Whirlwind attack in and have half of an action left to move or attack.
You could just as well replace the Whirlwind Attack in the above examples with a Stilled, Silent Summon Monster spell cast by an invisible mage. In this case, there's not even a question of whether there's visual or audible clues.
Yes, but you don't need visual or audible clues to detect something. Maybe your spider sense tingles, maybe you can sense variations in the local mana, or maybe you can smell the guy's pheromomes.
You can not pull off a full-round action in a surprise round, and if you get beaten on the initiative count, the opponent interrupts what you're doing (and possibly prevents you from finishing the action).
But as I mentioned, if you take issue with this, assume they have Improved Invisibility.
Same answer.