Hey guys, just a quick question.
In my game, it looks like combat's going to be winding up with a surprise round. My character has a readied action to draw his weapon, but is within line of sight of the attackers (surprising them via bluff), and therefore doesn't have his weapon drawn yet.
My question is simple, is it possible to take the readied action, and combine it with the surprise round to get what is effectively a full-round surprise round? My GM's pretty firm on a no, and I'm not planning to argue it really, but I always thought this was a legit strategy. A regular surprise round being when your party just happens to be a bit more observant than the enemies they blunder into, while with a readied action it is more a concerted ambush.
One widely held position is that actions cannot be readied outside of combat (that is, before the surprise round). When you declare that you're readying an action, THAT was your surprise round. Others can react to your readying or not, based on awareness.
Yeah, it is considered impossible. However, what you can do as a character with at least a +1 BAB is draw as part of a move. You can also, in a surprise round, perform a 'half charge' in which you move one move's worth and attack with normal charge benefits/penalties (it is only allowed in cases where you are incapable of performing full round actions, such as a surprise round).
So you can, as part of the surprise round: charge someone, draw your weapon on the way, and attack them when you get there.
Thanks for the quick responses guys, alas my character is sitting, so standing and drawing will probably be my surprise round rather than making a charge. I am in a very "Han shot first" kind of situation.
Yeah, it is considered impossible. However, what you can do as a character with at least a +1 BAB is draw as part of a move. You can also, in a surprise round, perform a 'half charge' in which you move one move's worth and attack with normal charge benefits/penalties (it is only allowed in cases where you are incapable of performing full round actions, such as a surprise round).
So you can, as part of the surprise round: charge someone, draw your weapon on the way, and attack them when you get there.
Incorrect.
Charging is a special full-round action that allows you to move up to twice your speed and attack during the action. Charging, however, carries tight restrictions on how you can move.
Movement During a Charge: You must move before your attack, not after. You must move at least 10 feet (2 squares) and may move up to double your speed directly toward the designated opponent. If you move a distance equal to your speed or less, you can also draw a weapon during a charge attack if your base attack bonus is at least +1.
You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles). You must move to the closest space from which you can attack the opponent. If this space is occupied or otherwise blocked, you can't charge. If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can't charge. Helpless creatures don't stop a charge.
If you don't have line of sight to the opponent at the start of your turn, you can't charge that opponent.
You can't take a 5-foot step in the same round as a charge.
If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can't use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.
Curses! Foiled again by there being more words than I remember!
Just flip the table at the bad guys. That works well.
Well, think of it this way. You can be startled by sudden action even if you are expecting it. You may know it is coming but not when it is coming, and that can still result in a surprise. There's also the idea that the surpriser, while staring you in the eyes, waits until a momentary distraction. We're talking about ~3 seconds of action here.
Your best bet for avoiding a surprise round is to surprise them first. Shoot first like any good hero should!
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My biggest issue with surprise round in PFS is that they are nearly always unavoidable...
For example there were some giant birds guarding a nest. We knew that as we approached they would probably attack... They did and got a surprise round for it even though the party was expecting the "surprise" the birds then got a high initiative and ended up with two attacks against a flat-footed party before the party was able to react.This type of instance has been a recurring theme throughout all the PFS scenarios I have played. How do you mitigate a surprise round on obvious or highly probably combat situations? Tell the GM we are dropping into initiative before the "Surprise"?
Tell the GM to stop running the surprise round wrong.
Determine which characters are aware of their opponents. These characters can act during a surprise round. If all the characters are aware of their opponents, proceed with normal rounds.
If all parties involved are aware, there is no surprise round. Roll init and run normal rounds. If some are not aware, ALL those aware get their single standard action during the surprise round, then proceed to normal rounds.
In the scenario you described above there should not have been a surprise round. If for some reason not all of the party was aware, all those party members that were should have gotten a single action during the surprise round.
^^^ This. There is only a surprise round when one side doesn't know the other one is there, not just when someone decides to initiate hostilities suddenly. That is what initiative is for.
Gunslingers at high noon: if it worked this way, the guy who drew first would always win, no matter how fast the other guy is.
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You can't engage in combat outside of combat. If he wants to attack, there's going to be initiative rolled. Some sort of check (in this case, probably Perception against his Stealth) will determine whether his engagement begins in a surprise round or regular rounds.