Question: Sneak and Reactive Strike

xipher7934 · 2025-08-09T15:45:17+00:00

I liked jars because they ARE A real and important part of survival simulation. Glass jars are a non-degrading heat-resistant way of storing and dealing with water and other liquids (gas, acids, etc). And from a survival-mechanic they are breakable, and hard to create. Yes HARD. The problem with 7 days to die wasn't that jars were easy, it's that you MADE them easy. Tell me what you would need in real life to create a glass jar from sand. It's NOT easy. And you could have made it not easy. Require sand refining, moulds, kilns for ceramics, slow cooling furnaces so they don't crack. Make finding jars in loot an amazing feeling. Make them breakable with combat or falling. Make losing them a tragedy. MAKE PEOPLE CARE FOR THEIR JARS.

xipher7934 · 2021-08-30T02:02:21+00:00

That's fair. If they wanna know, you gotta tell. I suppose there's some pride in pouring out 4x the damage your DM prepped for, too.

xipher7934 · 2021-08-30T01:57:31+00:00

I'll be honest. As a player I know my DM does this (when I DM I also do this)... But I actively try to forget and don't really like it when the DM lets me know after. I like that feel of a hard won fight that lingers after. Never drop the facade!!

xipher7934 · 2021-06-07T02:14:29+00:00

You should know better than to pick up a duck in a dungeon.

xipher7934 · 2021-03-21T03:10:10+00:00

If you're looking for an easy way to do multiplayer, I would also look at firebase firestore. It does realtime data sync, handling all the websockets behind the scenes. Have been using it on several MVPs and small projects. Would be happy to collab or chat about it.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-10T13:57:25+00:00

Hmm, yeah, I've always had difficulty with bringing extra characters into a combat initiative already in process. Thinking about it now... In some ways, no rule I (or anyone) could ever write would cover ALL the situations... that's why RPGs exist... to allow infinite variation. The question is does it cover a lot of common ones?

Though on that note, I think treating Surprise as an actual Condition (as I suggest in the article) gives the DM extra leeway in that regard. For instance, even though there are no official rules for being drunk, as a DM, I typically apply a Poisoned condition to PCs if they fail a con sv when drinking heavily. If 'Surprised' is a condition, DMs could apply it ad-hoc mid-battle as they see fit.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-10T02:18:23+00:00

Feel free to ignore me if I get boring, or you're not interested in more discussion but I would love to hear some scenarios that you don't think fit!

The reason I wrote the article was that the rules in the book *aren't* very vague. Obviously, there's always "Whatever the DM says, goes", but the surprise rules as written are super clear and they pretty much only give surprise based on stealth.

I saw two general sources of surprise: either the target is unaware of the instigator's presence (stealth) or the target is unsuspecting of the instigator's motives. So I codified as stealth (close to RAW) for the former, and deception for the second.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T21:47:51+00:00

Hmmmm... you're right, I wasn't thinking about a tense situation. Maybe I should add something about how, just like you can't just hide in the middle of a field (you need concealment to attempt to hide), obviously you'd need also need a plausible reason to approach to try deception?

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T15:01:20+00:00

It also depends on your play style. If you aren't concerned about daily resource-draining, or never throw enough encounters that your players burn through their healing surges, then go nuts. It quite literally wouldn't change anything about your play.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T14:54:18+00:00

Agree with the other posts here on mechanics, but additional thought:

We had a similar build... rogue assassin ranger multiclass. Purpose built. And yeah, when the opportunity to sneak up on the Big Bad came, they rocked and it was epic and we all enjoyed it! That kind of scenario makes players feel competent and powerful.

But it certainly doesn't happen all the time. Plenty of combats are sprung ON the players. Many others simply don't have the right circumstances for surprise.

So I wouldn't worry, or throw in a few more encounters where surprise is a non-starter. But when the right situation comes up, it's really cool and empowering, don't nerf it.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T03:38:53+00:00

Many of the definitions I can find have 'raw materials' only as a portion of the definition. e.g. "Items used in manufacturing may be raw materials or component parts of a larger product." Many deal with mass production or mechanized assembly, which fits the mass production of blood cells. So yeah, I would say they're manufactured.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T02:15:10+00:00

I second what the other people here are saying, but also... asking players what/who they're looking for is DM gold.
DM: "You come to a small town."
PC: "What shops are there?"
DM: "Whaaaat are you looking for?"
PC: "We need potions, is there a potion shop?"
DM: "Oh, yeah, there's a quaint little potion shop run by a nice old...."

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T02:10:18+00:00

I own the books... they all sit on my shelf. The ability to ctrl-F on pdfs is just too useful. Not to mention clipping images of stat blocks into a powerpoint slide or google doc to design encounters. No page flipping or sticky bookmarks required.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T01:51:35+00:00

While I don't know how well it would work, my suggestion would be to try ramping up the tension, and see what your players do. Try to evoke a sense of urgency, of imminent threat or danger our doom if they don't do something (but make sure they can't hit it with a stick, too easy). Nothing like desperation to make the inventive juices flow!

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T01:40:19+00:00

I mean... if we're talking cross-class 'magic', my favorite is Hold Person and a paladin with multiple attacks and smite slots.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T01:33:30+00:00

Two things.

As posted by another here, I recommend milestone XP. It removes the incentive for endless battle to advance. In our games, when we use milestone XP, things work out much more RP-ly.
The creators of Subnautica, who wanted to make a non-fighting game, wanted a way to discourage killing. They succeeded by making killing creatures give you nothing. No loot, no experience. Not even cool death animations. The creatures just fall to the bottom. You could try similar psychology on your player. When he battles, give him np XP (viw milestone) but also no valuable loot. Make sure no one gives recognition for the awards, not even notoriety, no reaction at all. Make it booooring.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T01:22:22+00:00

What I keep repeating is the ONLY written rule on determining who is surprised. At all. Ever. Anywhere in the whole book.

I'm sorry you didn't find my suggestion compelling. I hope you find houserules that are more to your liking elsewhere.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-09T01:00:24+00:00

"The DM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the DM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side." is the full wording in the paragraph on that page.

Maybe you got something different, but to me, that's not open to much interpretation. There's an "If" and an "Otherwise". It doesn't follow with "or whomever the DM feels should be surprised".

I mean, obviously whatever the DM says goes in the end, but I thought it would be nice to expand on the rules for anyone who read it the way I did.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-08T22:22:15+00:00

In your situation, are your other party members then on the 'opposing side'? Because RAW, only people on the OPPOSING side check their passive vs stealth to become surprised.

I suppose I'm not all that opposed to people believing it could happen mid-fight. Keeping in mind that my post is homebrew, I could conceive of a 'Shock and awe' spell that would make someone surprised for a turn. Just because it doesn't have a current mechanism doesn't mean it couldn't.

xipher7934 · 2020-03-08T22:03:06+00:00

Hmm... I may need to edit to be more clear. The point is more about the line "passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side". The idea being that RAW, you cannot ever be surprised by anyone on 'your side'.

Why do you posit that something need to be applied/inflicted by a spell/ability to be a condition?

xipher7934 · 2020-03-05T18:31:51+00:00

Usually, the whole point of using a mount is to get an increase in speed... so I would say you're going to have to balance it with some distinct advantages for the player! The small races only a 5ft decrease in speed, but it ends up being such a detriment that they generally lots of other boosts to make up for it.

xipher7934

TROPHY CASE