Awareness

Sometimes one knows that a fight is able to happen without really knowing why. Other times, some get caught flat-footed. Other times, the fight is looming but there are events leading up to it before the actual first swing. All of these things are managed by the game concept called Awareness.

Determining whether something is noticed or not is the effectively just a mechanism of Perception. Yes, the sub-attribute, and the short story is Awareness is little more than a Perception check. However, it is used for non-obvious circumstances. If a boulder is in the road, no one has to make a Perception check to know it is there. However, if a stealthy follower is trailing the group, then it would be needed.

Also, many Awareness checks will be performed in secret by the GM when it becomes pertinent. However, a player might ask to actively scan the area for anything unusual. The roll again should be made in secret by the GM, but a +4 bonus would be used on the roll. Also, keep in mind, there are skills which train up a character’s Awareness ability.

For things that do not generate their own TM from skills or magic, there is a default baseline of TM:14 that is used. Conditions only apply if they are relevant. For example, mist would not be a factor for the friends cantrip.

To simplify things as much as possible, the modifiers are intended to increase or decrease the TM so that the roll can just be adjusted by the character’s Perception and not worry about all the other factors. Of course, there are times that individuals may need specific modifiers that don't apply to the rest of the party.

Putting all this in context of pre-battle, there will be times where an encounter is noticed long before there is a chance to start a battle. However, there will be scenarios where a street corner is turned to view a small group of thugs mugging victims. This is where a Awareness check would be needed. The thugs might not notice your party closing in. The bookworm of your party might have missed the rest of the group turned down the alley.

One additional note about how Awareness works: most skills and attribute checks do not use the raw die values; however, Awareness does. Therefore, for an Awareness check, “natural 20” and “natural 1” represent dumb luck beyond the math.

Surprise

Not every encounter gives an equal opportunity to respond. This would be in cases of sleeping persons, being caught in an ambush or someone breaks parlay to attack. When the GM determines that surprise is involved, then there is an opportunity of a “surprise” round; however, how this works is not purely one side against the other but rather all individuals on the battlefield. Just to clarify, the following few paragraphs are about a surprise scenario, not every combat.

When an event or an entity’s action creates an unexpected combat, that episode typically occurs prior to any round. This could be an act of emotion that no one expects or it could be a planned part of an ambush; however, that cast axiom or shot fired will usually be resolved and calculated separately before starting the initial round of battle. However, that is a GM decision; for instance, if that axiom had five or six second casting time versus one second. Obviously, the one who took the action is automatically aware. All others must make an Awareness check to have an action in the immediate round. Depending on one's state and restrictions will impact the difficulty, which is by default TM:14.

Those who had foreknowledge that the trigger would happen are allowed to roll the Perception at advantage with the base being only TM:10. Foreknowledge would something like allies of someone signaling for the ambush to begin. Those prepared can be caught off guard or distracted at the wrong moment, but with the lower TM and advantage it should be rare. All others who have no restrictions use the TM:14 default, with of course only one d20. Of course, there are special circumstances that must be managed. These are usually detailed by the restriction type. For example, for someone who is asleep, the Awareness would be 3 points more difficult (TM:17) on the check and would only be allowed a die roll if the event had noise, heat, smell or something reasonable to wake the person.

Those who are aware, can take an action that first round; while those who failed on Awareness are considered surprised. This restriction does not mean the combatant at disadvantage if attacked. However, it does mean that combatant is not prepared in that moment. This could be one knows something is happening but cannot spot the threat to make an effective action. It could mean one’s sword is unexpectedly stuck in its scabbard. Perhaps the combatant runs to do something, then gets distracted, changes his mind, goes to do a different action and becomes ineffective for the first round. In game terms, surprised beings do not take an action; however, reactions and movement are permitted. The GM might not permit some reactions such as a flee attack. Finally, those whose Awareness roll with all adjustments is a score of 5 or lower, are in “panicked surprise,” unable to move or use reactions either.

While surprised targets are not at advantage to be attacked per se, they do become potential targets for a sneak attack in that first round. The failed Awareness for surprise does not act as the first check of the sneak attack. The surprise merely means creature is not prepared to have an action, not that the target is oblivious. Read more about this in the Sneak Attack subsection. However, those “panicked” by being in surprise do have that failed Awareness become the first check against a sneak attack.

Thus, when someone wishes to look for a potential victim for a sneak attack, those unprepared in surprise are noticeable; however, without special skills, one cannot distinguish the surprised combatants from the panicked ones. As a guideline, at the start of this first round, the player can ask the GM about up to two combatants to determine whether a sneak attack is viable. At this point, the GM will say which ones are because one or both are panicked; that, or because a new Awareness roll permits it against the only-surprised victims. “Can I get a sneak attack on anyone?” is not an acceptable question for most characters. Instead “Can I make a sneak attack on either green-hat archer or that dwarf?” would be the question to ask. Of course, players should keep in mind that the approach of a sneak attack is made by moving at only half speed, and of course the target must be reached to strike (unless firing with a range weapon).

Once that first round is over, all participants in the combat will interact normally, even those who were panicked. Of course, if there were sleeping persons during that first round who were not wakened by Awareness, they would still be asleep but allowed another Awareness check to wake to take action during the second round. Of course, wakened does not mean alert and mindful of the scenario; thus the freshly awakened person must make a second check to determine the state of surprise.