IвЂ™ll discuss when and how combat erupts later in this article.Д¬hapter nine of the PHB outlines combat rules and further explains rules for surprise. The last bit of this travel section that refers to surprise is вЂSurprising Foes.вЂ™ It says the DM decides whether the party or the monsters are surprised, and that decision is made when combat erupts. Passive Perception is penalized by five if the group is traveling at a fast pace. In either case, passive Wisdom (Perception) is the skill check of choice in the PHB for avoiding surprise while traveling. DMs may decide that only adventurers in the marching orderвЂ™s back rank will notice enemies tailing and shadowing the party. Noticing threats is easier for party members in the front rank of the marching order. The traveling section includes rules regarding marching orders for adventuring parties. The subsection refers back to chapter seven for rules about hiding. The вЂActivity While TravelingвЂ™ section of the PHB (p.182) in chapter eight has a subsection for вЂStealth.вЂ™ It says you can travel at a slow pace to stealthily surprise or circumvent groups of monsters you encounter during travel (as long as youвЂ™re not in the open).

This is expounded upon in chapter eight of the PHB. Spotting a creature, object, or other noteworthy feature that isnвЂ™t obvious will be more difficult if vision is limited. Visibility can be impaired by obscuring factors like fog or thick foliage. You canвЂ™t cause a creature to be surprised and lose a turn in the middle of combat, but you can hide from them, so you become an unseen attacker (expounded on later). Gaining advantage on Perception checks will grant +5 to Passive Perception. Creatures who are not actively searching for threats may still spot them with Passive Perception. Leaving a hiding place to strike will typically reveal your position, but DMs may be generous. Once combat begins, itвЂ™s difficult to hide from a creature because it will be alert to danger. You canвЂ™t hide from a creature that sees or hears you. The gist of the hiding concept is to roll Stealth contested by the Perception checks of those who would detect you. By the rules as written, you need to be hidden if you want to surprise anyone. Hiding is integral to surprising enemies. With the quick clarifications out of the way, letвЂ™s get lost in the weeds regarding Surprise rules in D&D 5e.

Surprised creatures cease to be surprised when their first turn in the combat order ends.

This is based on chapter nine of the PHB regarding вЂ Unseen Attackers and TargetsвЂ on page 194. Surprising an enemy doesnвЂ™t give you advantage to attack them, but being an unseen attacker does.

Surprised creatures are attacked with advantage because ambush attackers are assumed to be unseen.

Surprised creatures cannot take reactions in combat until their first turn has ended.

Surprised creatures cannot move or take actions (bonus actions included) on their first turn during combat.

Here is what happens to a creature when when it is surprised (p.189 of PHB): This wouldвЂ™ve made it clear that there isnвЂ™t a surprise round but a condition that deprives a creature of its actions and movement during its first turn in combat (and reactions before its turn). I believe D&D 5e shouldвЂ™ve created a вЂSurprisedвЂ™ condition, just like Frightened or Charmed. When a player referees to a surprise round, itвЂ™s a reference to the first round of combat if any character is surprised for that round. The вЂsurprise roundвЂ™ concept may be a relic of past editions or other TTRPG systems, but it may also be an organic effort of the D&D community to understand 5eвЂ™s surprise rules. LetвЂ™s get this out of the way: there is no such thing as a вЂsurprise roundвЂ™ in D&D 5e. ThatвЂ™s really all that Surprise means in D&D 5e, though peripheral rules complicate things. Technically no, but you can think of it as a condition in the first round of combat that goes away after a creature cannot act on its first turn. Surprise does not directly allow advantage on an attack, but being unseen does. Being unseen allows an attacker to attack with advantage. By the rules, 5e Surprise is based on an attacker being unseen and a target being unsuspecting.

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