05-01-2018, 04:29 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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Surprise
In DFRPG
On the first turn of combat after one side has been surprised do you still go in Speed order? So Highest Speed (surprised): rolls and recovers from surprise Lower Speed (Ambushed) attacks. Or do you start the combat with the ambushers Speed acting? |
05-01-2018, 10:30 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Surprise
I interpret the rules as saying you go in speed order. So if you’re not faster than the opponents, they may already be out of stun by the time you attack them. You still get to strike first, so that seems fair.
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05-01-2018, 11:29 PM | #3 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Surprise
I always go in Speed order, but keep in mind Mental Stun is rough for a lot monsters to clear (heck it can be rough for some PCs to clear).
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05-02-2018, 02:32 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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Re: Surprise
Yeah I'm not sure of this.
Because it seems like "I take a wait" outside of combat should be a thing. Especially since combat might start with the ambusher breaking their cover to attack. Their would be no combat without their turn |
05-02-2018, 08:37 AM | #5 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Surprise
The combat sequence is unaffected by surprise. Proceed normally. However, if either side has surprise (and both sides can be surprised!), then when the first turn of someone on the surprised side comes up, that person must use it for a Do Nothing and an IQ roll. If they succeed, they don't get to act this turn but they no longer have defense restrictions; if they fail, the defense restrictions continue and they'll waste at least one more turn on Do Nothing. Thus, the slower a surprised person is (lower Basic Speed), the more likely enemies are to be able to exploit the defense restrictions before an IQ roll removes them; the stupider a surprised person is (lower IQ), the more likely they will waste multiple turns and face defense restrictions throughout.
The Do Nothing imposed by surprise replaces anything you said you were doing in What Were You Doing? (Exploits, p. 26). Yes, you might have been taking a Concentrate or Wait before the surprise happened, but by definition the surprise interrupted what you were doing and preempted it, so now you're waiting for your turn and then taking Do Nothing.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
Tags |
ambush, dfrpg, speed |
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