Among the rule changes in theDungeons & Dragons2024 Player’s Handbook, a certain condition has received a major downgrade. Surprise, once one of the most powerful tools in a player or DM’s belt to quickly turn the tide of battle to favor one side considerably, has lost its bite. As such,builds that rely on ambushing enemies and getting surprise attacks have gone down in strength.
Admittedly, surprise, as it worked in earlier versions of 5e, was probably too powerful, in addition to commonly being misunderstood. The new clarifications, which are already available in thefree version of the new rules on D&D Beyond, are simpler and less impactful on the flow of combat. Some players, tired of being ambushed on the road by monsters, may see this as a good thing. Others may already be mourning the loss of their surprise attack strategies that will no longer be viable.
Surprise Was An Encounter Destroyer In Past Editions
Ending A Fight Before It Begins
As it worked previously, surprise could be used to essentially give one side of a fight an extra round. Contrary to popular misconception, however, there wasno such thing as a “surprise round.“Rather,creatures that are caught unaware or off guard when a fight starts receive multiple penalties from this condition. They get no action or movement on their turn, and they cannot take reactions until the end of their first turn when the surprised condition ends. In addition, attack rolls against surprised creatures have an advantage.
Creatures still roll initiative at the start of combat, even if surprised. There’s a chance they could roll higher than the creatures ambushing them. In that case, they still wouldn’t get to do anything on their turn, but they could take reactions later in the round, and attacks against them would no longer have an advantage.
This is a lot, and certain builds can use surprise to obliterate their opponents.Gloomstalker rangers and assassin rogues, in particular, get attack and damage bonuses on the first round of combatand against creatures who haven’t gone yet in the initiative. And even without those subclasses, clever players getting multiple turns to act without enemies being able to do anything about it can put the fight in their favor right at the start. Of course, stealthy enemies could do the same,which made the alert feat valuableto avoid the effects of surprise.
New Surprise Is Not Useless But Is Nowhere Near As Devastating
These Changes Devalue Ambush Tactics And The Power Of Remaining Alert
The new surprise rules only affect initiative:If a creature is surprised, it has a disadvantage on its initiative roll at the start of combat. This could mean that even if players go through the trouble of planning an ambush, they could roll badly and end up going after their enemies anyway. This makes surprise less of a threatening condition, and for better or worse, getting ambushed less scary.
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Interestingly enough, rules-as-writtencan actually help assassin rogues trigger their abilities more often. They rely on getting a higher initiative roll to gain advantage and deal first-turn critical hits, something previous surprise rules technically didn’t affect. But for the gloomstalker and other builds created around acting while enemies are still too dazed to react, this is a major downgrade.
Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons is a popular tabletop game originally invented in 1974 by Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson. The fantasy role-playing game brings together players for a campaign with various components, including abilities, races, character classes, monsters, and treasures. The game has drastically expanded since the ’70s, with numerous updated box sets and expansions.
