These are great questions,  none of these for whatever reason have come up in our game. 

I know you want an official answer but I had fun thinking about how I would handle the various situations.

Ambushers:  prepares a party of non rangers to attack by suprise (static).  It also gives a party entirely of rangers an increased chance of surprising while traveling.  I would guess one of the rangers would take the lead in positioning and preparing thus the bonus would not stack.

Alertness:  My guess that they don't stack but as a bonus increase the die by the number of rangers in the party to 1 in d8 for 2, d10 for 3 etc.

For monsters Like the albino ape then the travelling band of rangers would surprise the ape on 2in6.  A static and well positioned group (by a ranger) would also surprise the wandering ape on a 2in6.  A travelling band of non rangers even led by a ranger would only surprise the ape on 1in6.

again great question

Morgan
 

Last edited by mabon5127 (7/01/2014 12:51 pm)

Kirowan wrote:

I have a few questions about these abilities and surprize in general.

1. Does Alterness stack if you have more than one character with it in a party? I'm guessing you can't go below 1 in 6 chance of being surprized in any case, but say the party with two rangers is facing a monster with a 3 in 6 chance of surprising. Would that be reduced to 1 in 6 then?

I do not stack this. I figure the two rangers are aware of the same impending danger at the same time when the d6 surprize roll is made. There nigh equal attentiveness, to my way of thinking, is not enhnaced by one another's ability.

2. Does Ambusher stack if you have more than one character with it in a party?

Same answer. However, with more than one "ambusher" in the party, I would allow for a much larger group preparing to ambush; a double-sized party (say up to 18 or 20 individuals).

3. Some monsters, like the Albion Ape, can only be surprized on a 1 in 6 chance. A ranger surprizes on a 3 in 6. Would a ranger surprize the Abino Ape on a 2 in 6 then, or is that 1 in 6 absolute?

Same answer as mabon.

If the answer is 2 in 6, I think it would be useful to write all being surprising or surprising chances as modifiers in character and monster entries to always be working against a base of 2 in 6. That way, you can calculate the total modifier easily. (I remember running into this in AD&D.)

Noted. Thanks.

4. When facing monsters with different chances to surprized and surprize, do you use the best chances?

Usually. Unless they are incapable of communicating an impending danger.

Thanks,

Nick

My pleasure!
 

Thanks for the great answers all. I'm clear on this now.

nDervish wrote:

Kirowan wrote:

4. When facing monsters with different chances to surprized and surprize, do you use the best chances?

I tend to treat surprize as an individual, rather than a group, result, with each side rolling a single die, but applying and being affected by their modifiers individually.  So, in the most common case for my group, if the PCs encounter a group of monsters and the PCs roll a 2 on their surprize die, the ranger can spring into action immediately due to his greater situational awareness, but everyone else is surprized and loses a round.

There is nothing wrong with that approach, but in AS&SH it would be a house rule.