Surprising the enemy

[Oogie]

In a scenario, I choose to shoot first...stating I shoot him just because thats what my character would do, while everyone else is trying
to figure out what to do. Would this constitute a surprise round..Gms make everyone roll initiative, becauseit starts combat, which means I may or maynot go first even though I started it, without their blessing ot the target starting anything shouldnt this be asurprise round?

[blahpers]

Combat wrote:

How Combat Works

Combat is cyclical; everybody acts in turn in a regular cycle of rounds. Combat follows this sequence:

1. When combat begins, all combatants roll initiative.
2. 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. See the surprise section for more information.
3. After the surprise round (if any), all combatants are ready to begin the first normal round of combat.
4. Combatants act in initiative order (highest to lowest).
5. When everyone has had a turn, the next round begins with the combatant with the highest initiative, and steps 3 and 4 repeat until combat ends.

Combat wrote:

Surprise

When a combat starts, if you are are aware of your opponents and they are aware of you, you’re surprised.
Determining Awareness

Sometimes all the combatants on a side are aware of their opponents, sometimes none are, and sometimes only some of them are. Sometimes a few combatants on each side are aware and the other combatants on each side are unaware.

Determining awareness may call for Perception checks or other checks.

It sounds like you were aware of your opponents. Were they aware of you? If so, proceed to normal rounds. You only get to act on the surprise round if you are aware of your opponents but somebody else isn't.

Regardless, everyone always rolls initiative first, if for no other reason than to figure out who goes first on the surprise round.

[Zarius]

It's not really enough info to go off of. You haven't told us the scenario at all.

[SheepishEidolon]

Your character attempts to just shoot him - this attempt will be noticed by the target. So it's rather about whether the target realizes it fast enough - which is represented by initiative checks. I wouldn't give you a surprise round, but if your initiative roll is better than his, you still get a full round against a flat-footed enemy before he can act at all.