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No, because the surprise round activates if the party is not aware/ready for combat. Although, the wizard could go invisible or have a high enough stealth to attack against flat-footed but he does not gain a surprise round while attacking a party that is in combat with something else. Casting the summon monster spell would be considered the surprise round in most cases if the attackers are not aware of them.
Sure... You and your buds can do that.
Bob: I see goblins up ahead. Quick, let's wrestle so they can't surprise us.
GM: Um...
Marley: Sure! Suck it, GM-dude! *rolls dice* I get 14 for initiative.
GM: Fine. Everyone, roll for initiative.
*rollin' and wrastlin' ensues*
GM: Bob, roll perception.
Bob: Uh, 13.
GM: The goblins stealth around in the undergrowth, 5-foot step, and shank you with full-attacks. You are denied your Dex bonus to AC. Does a 17 hit?
Bob: o_o
GM: Where are all my sneak attack dice? You can never find a handful of d6s when you need them.
Answer: Being in combat does make you immune to a surprise round... But it doesn't make you immune to being surprised.
Of course I'm agreeing with you. The very first word of my response was, "Sure."
In fact, I encourage you to do so. :)
All snark aside, no, you don't get "surprise rounds" mid-combat. You can, however, set up a diversion and then ambush the enemy, say from the side or from behind. It's sound strategy and it's what the Stealth skill, invisibility, and "target is denied their Dex bonus to AC", among many other things that are in the rules are designed to allow you to do.
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For instance, if I do not want to be surprised I could say to one of my allies that we should start sparing with one another (obviously not hurting one another or fighting with weapons that don't hurt one another "grappling off and on while walking for instance").
You could do this, but that would be foregoing your standard action every round in lieu of avoiding surprise. That would include casting any buff spells, actively searching for traps, etc.
I'd also offer this counter: In my opinion, the reason why being 'in combat' makes you immune to surprise rounds is because you're fully engaged in defending yourself against every serious threat. If you and an allied party member were just 'play-wrestling' or doing the equivalent of smacking each other with Nerf bats, I simply wouldn't accept that as combat; at minimum, I'd argue you'd be doing something that would inflict at least nonlethal damage for it to be considered 'combat'.
That all said, I agree that the concept of a surprise round is kludgey.
For example, if you've got side A and B engaged in a combat, and side C sneaks up on them, what happens? I'd probably give A and B perception checks to notice the new force entering the battlefield, but if they fail, then what? Does C immediately interrupt and get a full round of attacks before integrating into the initiative order, or what? Groups A and B would be denied their AC and be considered 'flat-footed', but C loses their surprise round because the other two groups were already fighting when they arrived?
For example, if you've got side A and B engaged in a combat, and side C sneaks up on them, what happens? I'd probably give A and B perception checks to notice the new force entering the battlefield, but if they fail, then what? Does C immediately interrupt and get a full round of attacks before integrating into the initiative order, or what?
If I was planning on side C to join mid-combat, I'd roll initiative for them along with everyone else. Likely, I also roll a d4 (or 1d3+1) to determine how many rounds it takes for them to join the battle already in progress. If I want them to ambush, I call for perception checks from the PCs and then roll opposed stealth checks for side C. PCs who fail the perception check are denied their Dex bonus from side C's full-attack actions.
No reason you can't have a surprise round mid combat... DnD rarely deals with combats with three sides, so its not mentioned in the rules. This is a case of DM interpretation.
People in a real battle are constantly looking out for danger all around them. That is why, for example, when your party is fighting a troll out in broad daylight in a wide open field and the rogue wants to sneak up and attack it with stealth, he cannot do it (he needs cover or concealment to use stealth) - the troll is alert for threats in all directions.
Likewise, so is your party's fighter, alert in all directions. If a second troll enters the battle a bit late and runs up to attack your fighter while he's busy with the first troll, it does not get any special surprise round. Likewise, if a ghoul or a tiger or a wererat or an evil gnome or whatever runs up to attack your fighter while he is fighting the troll, these new enemies do not get any special surprise round even though they're a third "side" in the battle.
Surprise rounds do not guarantee that you get special attacks, they don't guarantee that your enemy is even surprised.
For example, if a barbarian, a troll, and a ghoul are walking in a cave with multiple passages, and they all step into a small intersection at the same time, they might all be surprised, or none of them, or only some of them. One possibility is that the barbarian and the troll are surprised but the ghoul is not (lots of combinations, this is just one of them). Because of this, there is a surprise round. If the ghoul attacks the troll, then the troll is flat-footed because it is surprised. But if the ghoul attacks the barbarian, he is not flat-footed (uncanny dodge) - just because this is a surprise round doesn't guarantee any special benefits to anyone's attacks. Switch that so that the troll is also not flatfooted, the ghoul attacks the barbarian and then the troll attacks the ghoul, all in the surprise round, and nobody is flat-footed.
What do surprise rounds do? Well, for one, they limit you to only taking one move or one standard action, not both, not a full attack either.
Actually, that's about it.
So surprise rounds are actually tools to limit what the unsurprised combatants can do before letting the surprised parties take their turn.
I repeat, the surprise round is a limitation, not a benefit.
So why would anyone want to be limited in the middle of the fight? Wouldn't it be better to just use some available cover or concealment to get up to where you want to be and then unload a full round of actions on your enemies rather than having to limit yourself to just a partial round?
Why do we need to "avoid the absurdity of shadow boxing your friends to avoid a surprise round"? If an enemy wants to do that, let them since it means you can get the jump on them mid-combat with stealth. Their strategic mistake plays right into your hands.
Vice-versa if its the players that want to just make things harder on themselves. It's a foolish choice but if they really want to... Then fine. It's their funeral.
As for stopping combat and making everyone re-roll initiative... Well, nothing in the rules says you can't do that but you'll probably have confused players at best or annoyed/upset players at worst if they're trying to delay initiative for some tactical reason. Plus, there are special feats and abilities that are balanced around the fact that they can only be used once per combat in a surprise round and then everyone becomes flat-footed again (not just denied Dex... full-on flat-footed which is worse) so it just opens your combats right up for some ripe munchkining if done poorly.
So surprise rounds are actually tools to limit what the unsurprised combatants can do before letting the surprised parties take their turn.
I repeat, the surprise round is a limitation, not a benefit.
So why would anyone want to be limited in the middle of the fight? Wouldn't it be better to just use some available cover or concealment to get up to where you want to be and then unload a full round of actions on your enemies rather than having to limit yourself to just a partial round?
QFT
Do kids still say that these days? QFT? I'm trying to keep "hip", yo.
What do surprise rounds do? Well, for one, they limit you to only taking one move or one standard action, not both, not a full attack either.
Actually, that's about it.
So surprise rounds are actually tools to limit what the unsurprised combatants can do before letting the surprised parties take their turn.
I repeat, the surprise round is a limitation, not a benefit.
So why would anyone want to be limited in the middle of the fight? Wouldn't it be better to just use some available cover or concealment to get up to where you want to be and then unload a full round of actions on your enemies rather than having to limit yourself to just a partial round?
That's a fairly disingenuous statement.
Yes, the surprise round is a round limited to one of two actions.
But it's also a round where only the 'surpriser' gets to act. And that can be a massive benefit, because it means that you have one attack action worth of damage up on the 'surprised' - which, if pre-planned, can be a significant amount.
You try to pose it as an either\or - either you get a single surprise attack, or you move into position and get your full round of actions. And that's just not true; you get one action plus the next time you come up in initiative order you get your full gamut of actions.
What do surprise rounds do? Well, for one, they limit you to only taking one move or one standard action, not both, not a full attack either.
Actually, that's about it.
So surprise rounds are actually tools to limit what the unsurprised combatants can do before letting the surprised parties take their turn.
I repeat, the surprise round is a limitation, not a benefit.
So why would anyone want to be limited in the middle of the fight? Wouldn't it be better to just use some available cover or concealment to get up to where you want to be and then unload a full round of actions on your enemies rather than having to limit yourself to just a partial round?
That's a fairly disingenuous statement.
Yes, the surprise round is a round limited to one of two actions.
But it's also a round where only the 'surpriser' gets to act. And that can be a massive benefit, because it means that you have one attack action worth of damage up on the 'surprised' - which, if pre-planned, can be a significant amount.
You try to pose it as an either\or - either you get a single surprise attack, or you move into position and get your full round of actions. And that's just not true; you get one action plus the next time you come up in initiative order you get your full gamut of actions.
It's not the least bit disingenuous.
You said "you get one action plus the next time you come up in initiative order you get your full gamut of actions."
But that doesn't consider the very real possibility that your enemy wins initiative next round. In that case, all you get is one action, a partial round, nothing more.
Consider the alternative. What if the rules still had the idea of "Surprise" (aware group gets a free round before the enemy can even respond) but there were no limited "Surprise Round" rule at all? Two groups approach, roll Perception, one of them is aware but the other isn't. The aware group rolls initiative and then makes full attacks (or other full-round options) against flat-footed enemies.
With the limited "Surprise Round" rules, now the aware group can only make partial actions. Clearly, if we did not have the limitation of partial actions in the "surprise round", then getting "surprise" against your enemies would be even stronger than it is with the limiting rules.
Or to put it a different way:
Fred surprises Barney and wins initiative. Current rules allow Fred to make one partial action in the surprise round, then next round he gets a full round of actions, all before Barney ever does anything. If the limited "Surprise Round" rule didn't exist, then Fred would get two full rounds against Barney.
Or
Fred surprises Barney but loses initiative. Current rules allow Fred to make one partial action in the surprise round, then next round Barney goes first - all Fred gets is one partial action. If the limited "Surprise Round" rule didn't exist, then Fred would get a full round action against Barney before Barney gets to act first next round.
In both scenarios, it's obvious that the limited "Surprise Round" reduces the number of actions compared to what would happen without the limitation.
