I have some questions about surprise attacks and stealth during combat. I am new to the system and have read through most of the book so I might be missing something.
As far as I can tell, surprise attacks can never happen on a character already engaged in combat. This means that an individual can not be distracted by one person attacking allowing a second to get behind and surprise attack.
An example:
Player 1 attacks an NPC while Player 2 remains stealthed (succeeds at an opposed roll with the NPC's perception) out of the fight. Player 2 spends a round getting behind the NPC and want to make a surprise attack.
A follow up/related question on stealth. Is it possible to use stealth during combat (ie to escape or prevent reactions from enemies)? If so, what mechanical effect does it have? I would guess that it would be similar to blind fighting in which the subject of the attack has limited action dice or surprise with half defense.
One final question - what defines a combat for armor damage? I am thinking of having a chase/fight scene through a bazaar where the players need to escape. I want to have the enemies periodically catch up and have a mini (only a few rounds) combat. Would this be one continuous fight or several short ones?
As far as I can tell, surprise attacks can never happen on a character already engaged in combat. This means that an individual can not be distracted by one person attacking allowing a second to get behind and surprise attack.
An opponent that senses the approach of an attacker in some way or is already engaged in combat is not considered unaware and enters combat with the attacker normally using a standard Initiative Roll. (Compendium p223)
An example:
Player 1 attacks an NPC while Player 2 remains stealthed (succeeds at an opposed roll with the NPC's perception) out of the fight. Player 2 spends a round getting behind the NPC and want to make a surprise attack.
A follow up/related question on stealth. Is it possible to use stealth during combat (ie to escape or prevent reactions from enemies)? If so, what mechanical effect does it have? I would guess that it would be similar to blind fighting in which the subject of the attack has limited action dice or surprise with half defense.
One final question - what defines a combat for armor damage? I am thinking of having a chase/fight scene through a bazaar where the players need to escape. I want to have the enemies periodically catch up and have a mini (only a few rounds) combat. Would this be one continuous fight or several short ones?