Surprise Attacks and Initiative

When the PCs surprise a group of
adversaries, or vice versa, the sur-
prised party may not be able to react
immediately. In this case, the attack-
ers should get one or more “free
turns.” The GM is responsible for
determining when the attackers have
achieved surprise.
These advanced combat rules cover less-common
tactical situations, or offer additional detail. They
are modular – the GM decides which rules are in
force in a given situation.
A character with Combat Reflexes is
rarely surprised, and will never “freeze.”
He also gets +6 on all IQ rolls to recov-
er from surprise. Note that many wild
animals have Combat Reflexes – see
Chapter 16 for examples.