Here's the setup: The PCs are preparing to ambush an individual they expect to teleport into the killzone sometime within a 15 minute window. They are concealing themselves and will attack as soon as the target appears. They have no other information regarding the teleporting individual's whereabouts or other actions.
My interpretation: When the target teleports into the killzone, the target will have the opportunity to make a perception check to spot the concealed PCs. If the target is successful both parties will roll initiative and combat will begin as normal. If the target fails its perception check, the target will be surprised and the PCs will get a surprise round.
Is my interpretation correct by the rules?
Sounds perfectly correct. There may be a few circumstances where an automatic surprise round is justifiable, albeit I cannot think of any.
The only question I have is whether the target has to beat all of the PC's stealth checks or just one? If the target is anticipating a trap then likely they would only have to perceive one of the PCs in order to be alerted to the trap (and hence avoid a surprise round).
If the target isn't suspecting a trap at the destination point, then I would rule that a PC that isn't perceived would get a surprise round while the others (who were noticed) would have to wait until after the surprise round. Good luck!
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The only question I have is whether the target has to beat all of the PC's stealth checks or just one? If the target is anticipating a trap then likely they would only have to perceive one of the PCs in order to be alerted to the trap (and hence avoid a surprise round).
If the target isn't suspecting a trap at the destination point, then I would rule that a PC that isn't perceived would get a surprise round while the others (who were noticed) would have to wait until after the surprise round. Good luck!
Any PC that wasn't spotted would get to act in the surprise round. If all PCs are spotted, there is no surprise round. This is the case if the target is expecting a trap or not.
Any PC that wasn't spotted would get to act in the surprise round. If all PCs are spotted, there is no surprise round. This is the case if the target is expecting a trap or not.
That's how I think I would handle it, too.
Any PC that wasn't spotted would get to act in the surprise round. If all PCs are spotted, there is no surprise round. This is the case if the target is expecting a trap or not.
I'll have to think if I want to handle it this way. I don't know if I like characters getting to act in the surprise round based not on their awareness of the enemy but the enemy's awareness of them.
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Any PC that wasn't spotted would get to act in the surprise round. If all PCs are spotted, there is no surprise round.
If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens.
You don't have to be aware of all of your opponents; you only have to recognize that there are, in fact, opponents.
Example: The wizard teleports in with a rogue, cleric and fighter. The rogue spots all of the PCs. The wizard spots some of the PC's. The cleric and fighter spot none of the PCs. There is a surprise round. The cleric and fighter don't get to act. The wizard, rogue and all PC's get to act.
Example #2: The wizard casts invisibility before teleporting. If the wizard spots one PC, he gets to act in the surprise round. Only the PC's who can see him get to act in the surprise round. If the wizard spots one PC and all PCs see him, there is no surprise round.
Any PC that wasn't spotted would get to act in the surprise round. If all PCs are spotted, there is no surprise round.
If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens.You don't have to be aware of all of your opponents; you only have to recognize that there are, in fact, opponents.
Example: The wizard teleports in with a rogue, cleric and fighter. The rogue spots all of the PCs. The wizard spots some of the PC's. The cleric and fighter spot none of the PCs. There is a surprise round. The cleric and fighter don't get to act. The wizard, rogue and all PC's get to act.
Example #2: The wizard casts invisibility before teleporting. If the wizard spots one PC, he gets to act in the surprise round. Only the PC's who can see him get to act in the surprise round. If the wizard spots one PC and all PCs see him, there is no surprise round.
This is correct. I was thinking of something else.
Here's the setup: The PCs are preparing to ambush an individual they expect to teleport into the killzone sometime within a 15 minute window. They are concealing themselves and will attack as soon as the target appears. They have no other information regarding the teleporting individual's whereabouts or other actions.
My interpretation: When the target teleports into the killzone, the target will have the opportunity to make a perception check to spot the concealed PCs. If the target is successful both parties will roll initiative and combat will begin as normal. If the target fails its perception check, the target will be surprised and the PCs will get a surprise round.
Is my interpretation correct by the rules?
If the characters "know" the enemy wizard is going to TP into a killzone, they may probably ensure they get the wizard flat-footed at least by readying a "when the enemy teleports in" action. Readying an action "interrupts" the target's action (in this case somewhat difficult, PC's cannot interrupt the teleport since the wizard is somewhere else until he actually finishes teleporting to the killzone), but in all other scenarios works similar to an AoO, it's triggered and executed before the action that provoked it. So they're essentially waiting to drop the hammer the moment the wizard's ugly face pops in.
If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character.
I'd allow that readied action to trigger the moment he ports in but before he can take any other action (not even the perception check).
Also, while it might count as houseruling, readying works for standard, move, swift or free actions and the surprise round allows up to a standard action, so you might consider that those readied actions happen in the surprise round.
Finally, the following turns all PC's will act right before the wizard, at the same initiative value, so you would only have to roll initiative for the wizard.
Your initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action.
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If the characters "know" the enemy wizard is going to TP into a killzone, they may probably ensure they get the wizard flat-footed at least by readying a "when the enemy teleports in" action. Readying an action "interrupts" the target's action (in this case somewhat difficult, PC's cannot interrupt the teleport since the wizard is somewhere else until he actually finishes teleporting to the killzone), but in all other scenarios works similar to an AoO, it's triggered and executed before the action that provoked it. So they're essentially waiting to drop the hammer the moment the wizard's ugly face pops in.Here's the setup: The PCs are preparing to ambush an individual they expect to teleport into the killzone sometime within a 15 minute window. They are concealing themselves and will attack as soon as the target appears. They have no other information regarding the teleporting individual's whereabouts or other actions.
My interpretation: When the target teleports into the killzone, the target will have the opportunity to make a perception check to spot the concealed PCs. If the target is successful both parties will roll initiative and combat will begin as normal. If the target fails its perception check, the target will be surprised and the PCs will get a surprise round.
Is my interpretation correct by the rules?
They can't ready actions until they are in combat rounds. Since readying is a standard action, doing it in the surprise round wouldn't give them any more actions, though they might choose to do so for other reasons, such as to interrupt spells that they might expect a wizard to cast.
They can't ready actions until they are in combat rounds. Since readying is a standard action, doing it in the surprise round wouldn't give them any more actions, though they might choose to do so for other reasons, such as to interrupt spells that they might expect a wizard to cast.
You're right, a readied action can only happen in combat. The point is, players are aware, expect the wizard to do something pretty specific and prepare for that. Wizard is totally unaware of the situation and simply ports in, not expecting to find anyone on the destination. In that scenario I'd totally give advantage to the PC's instead of simply rolling a reactive perception check for the wizard.
Since that readied action can only be done in the surprise round and since the PC's actually guessed the condition, I'd say they can be granted the surprise round. They must "waste" the surprise round readying but still get to act before the wizard on the first combat round so he's caught flat-footed. If an archer is waiting for 5 minutes pointing at a closed door with his crossbow, ready to shoot the moment it opens, I'd say the first unexpecting orc that enters that door won't get a perception check and be able to raise his shield before the bolt buries deep in his stomach.
At least this is how I'd play it.