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Old 06-18-2019, 08:14 AM   #14
kdtipa
 
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Southern New Hampshire
Default Re: Examples of "surprise" from B393?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
All of that is pretty much subsumed into the GM responsibility for determining surprise, no? The rest of the surprise rules are really about how long you're surprised (0 turns, 1 turn, 2 turns, etc.) rather than whether you end up being surprised.
Yes... I just included it in my attempt at a quick house rule for completeness.

The length of time surprised is not the only bit in the surprise rules. That "partial surprise" section makes no sense to me. Why would the entire side of a conflict be surprised together? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the rules, but Total Surprise seems to work on the individual and Partial Surprise seems to work on a group. That just doesn't make sense to me.

I much prefer leaving "freezing" out of it entirely, and just using Mental Stun. It's possible for people to remain stunned for multiple rounds, but a player can't be completely stuck for up to 6 turns with nothing they can do about it. Maybe that's realistic. I don't know. But it seems punitive to me in game terms.

So, my attempt at house rule was meant to get rid of the concept of a group suffering the same fate, and to make the surprise rules less punitive to players.
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