A creature that was victim of the sleep spell during a battle wakes up to find that he is surrounded. Is he flat footed? Will the surrounding party get a surprise round over him?
A creature that was victim of the sleep spell during a battle wakes up to find that he is surrounded. Is he flat footed? Will the surrounding party get a surprise round over him?
I would rule no.
"At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act (specifically, before your first regular turn in the initiative order), you are flat-footed. (Core Rulebook 178)"
The battle commenced when sleep was cast upon them. Assuming he wakes on or after his first turn, he is no longer flat-footed.
I agree with you on the RAW. I asked cause in my mind waking up in the middle of a fight not knowing what happened during being sleep should be some kind of surprise.But of course that will make sleep even stronger than it is right now :)
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You are only flat-footed for VERY specific reasons, at the beginning of combat before you act and when you use the Acrobatics skill to balance.
Being unconscious means you lose your Dex bonus to AC, which is similar, but NOT the same, AND you're helpless (which is even worse)!
If you wake up on your turn you are no longer unconscious and therefore no longer denied your Dex bonus to AC. You are however most likely prone.
Unconscious: Unconscious creatures are knocked out and helpless. Unconsciousness can result from having negative hit points (but not more than the creature's Constitution score), or from nonlethal damage in excess of current hit points.Helpless: A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent's mercy. A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier). Melee attacks against a helpless target get a +4 bonus (equivalent to attacking a prone target). Ranged attacks get no special bonus against helpless targets. Rogues can sneak attack helpless targets.
As a full-round action, an enemy can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless foe. An enemy can also use a bow or crossbow, provided he is adjacent to the target. The attacker automatically hits and scores a critical hit. (A rogue also gets his sneak attack damage bonus against a helpless foe when delivering a coup de grace.) If the defender survives, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity.
Creatures that are immune to critical hits do not take critical damage, nor do they need to make Fortitude saves to avoid being killed by a coup de grace.
Prone: The character is lying on the ground. A prone attacker has a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls and cannot use a ranged weapon (except for a crossbow). A prone defender gains a +4 bonus to Armor Class against ranged attacks, but takes a –4 penalty to AC against melee attacks.
Standing up is a move-equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
If you lay down to nap and wake up to find yourself surrounded, are you flat footed? Why does what happened before you went to sleep alter that?
Because if I went to sleep surrounded by big scary monsters, would I be surprised by seeing them when I woke up?
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Flatfooted has nothing to do with being surprised, and everything to do with being 'ready.' You're flat footed when you haven't acted yet in the combat, meaning you haven't yet had time to get your bearings, figure out where all enemies are, basically get in your 'fighting stance' (figuratively and/or literally).If you lay down to nap and wake up to find yourself surrounded, are you flat footed? Why does what happened before you went to sleep alter that?Because if I went to sleep surrounded by big scary monsters, would I be surprised by seeing them when I woke up?
This is 100% correct. At the beginning of combat, everyone is flat-footed until they have acted during their normal turn (barring special class skills and feats). If they are surprised, however, it further changes the flow of combat by adding a surprise round at the beginning of the encounter.
Honestly, I don't believe there's a RAW solution to this, but in my opinion, yes, the target would be flat-footed if awoken on someone else's turn. I can't see a character being able to make an attack of opportunity against an enemy when I just woke them a few seconds ago (combat reflexes feat not withstanding). No dex to his AC and no attacks of opportunity...sounds like flat-footed to me.
Bearing all this in mind, wouldn't you think a character or NPC who has been put to sleep would fall prone? Especially if they're put to sleep suddenly in the middle of an action. Inertia alone would put them off balance and cause them to fall.