Surprise - How do you do it?

[bryanb]

Hi HERO fans,

I am running a campaign and find the current rule of "GM Decides" for surprise a little...flat?

How do others out there handle the chance of being surprised? Other game systems use random rolls or rolls on specific stats - has anyone come up with an equivalent for HERO?

Thanks again for your input.

[Fitz]

Perception roll for the party, or for part of the party if appropriate. I use an average of the PER rolls for all those who might perceive the threat, +1 per two pairs of effective eyes/ears/antennae/whatever in the group, and modified (of course) by the stealthiness of the approaching Hideous Ravening Monster of Doom.

If the threat is detected, I determine who sees it randomly or by whim, give them the heads-up (by note if only one or two of the party are in the know) and then start the clock. If they alert the rest of the party there's no surprise, if they don't, then there is.

[NuSoardGraphite]

I go in this order of importance:

Danger Sense-->Combat Sense-->Special Senses-->Normal Perception.

If Danger sense applies, treat as normal.

I allow Combat Sense against hidden attacks that the characters normal senses can't detect.

Special Senses that might have a chance of detecting something before a characters normal senses (like Radar sense or Motion Detectors etc)

Then normal Perception if applicable.

A Critical Success on the Perception roll indicates that not only does the character detect the impending attack (or trap or whatever form the "surprise" takes) they get a bonus to their DCV (or skill roll to avoid the "surprise")

A Normal Success means the character gets their normal DCV or skill roll to avoid damage.

A Normal Failure means the character is Surprised (1/2 DCV etc)

A Critical Failure means the character is in Total Surprise (0 DCV, X2 stun damage etc)

If a character is totally relaxed and not expecting anything at all (i.e. "Surprised: out of combat") a Normal Failure is at 0 DCV X2 stun damage as per the rules in the FREd. And a Critical Failure is special...I allow the attacker to perform a Coupe De Grace if they so wish. (i.e. the character is taken completely unawares with no means of defense whatsoever)

[cutsleeve]

I would have put danger sense at the end of that list as a last resort kind of ability. But id also give penalties to anyone who is concentrating on something or using a skill that can be distracting they still get a chance to be aware of the attack whether they decide to act or not.

[Old Man]

Speaking of surprise, how do you balance Stealth and PER?

When does a person get a PER check against somebody that is using Stealth?

[TheEmerged]

Originally posted by Shadowpup
Speaking of surprise, how do you balance Stealth and PER?

When does a person get a PER check against somebody that is using Stealth?

Pretty much whenever someone is using Stealth -- it almost always works out as a Versus check in my experience.