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I'm sure this has been answered, but I couldn't find it.
If two groups are talking, and someone decides to start the fight, and they attack, do they get an automatic free attack, and then initiatives are rolled? Or are initiatives rolled, and then they get their attack.
In the above situation, where everyone is anticipating a confrontation, is it reasonable to assume everyone in question on both sides has readied actions? and how do you deal with that.
The rules only explicitly work with the Perception skill to delineate who may act in the surprise round.
However, in the case you mention above, I would consider rolling bluff vs. sense motive to determine who acts.
In either case, the initiating party acts in the surprise round.
I would NOT rule that the initiating party gets a free attack before the surprise/initiative.
In such a situation, reacting is not impossible for the defender and depends on the skill levels involved. If I try to suckerpunch an aikido master out of the blue, something tells me I'm still going to end up on my ass.
If both sides are expecting aggression to be possible, but they're parleying before a possible fight, it becomes a straight-up initiative with no surprise round.
If the attacker is trying to mislead the other party before his attack, that's the bluff skill.
If both sides are anticipating trouble, there is no surprise round. Neither side is surprised. Everyone rolls initiative as normal.
If one side (or various individuals) are completely oblivious that a fight is about to break out, then there would indeed be a surprise round.
Everyone rolls initiative as usual. Those who get to participate in the surprise round go in initiative order. Then when you get back to the top of the order, everyone starts to participate.
The rules only explicitly work with the Perception skill to delineate who may act in the surprise round.
However, in the case you mention above, I would consider rolling bluff vs. sense motive to determine who acts.
This.
It basically works exactly the same, just a different skill check to determine awareness.