Discussion:What happens if you have combat reflexes and a surprise round occurs?

What happens if you have combat reflexes and a surprise round occurs?

Forte 10:34, 2 December 2008 (MST)

Combat reflexes reads:

"Benefit:You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus.

With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed."

What I gather from this is it gives you the ability to make attacks of opportunity before you have acted in combat (as you are flat footed before your action, and thus can not normally makes OoA's)

In a surprise round you are flat footed (have not acted yet) but are ALSO unaware of the enemy. Does combat reflexes still work is such a situtation, or is it a special case?

  Hooper   talk    contribs    email   09:49, 2 December 2008 (MST)

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you've misinterpreted Combat Reflexes. Under normal circumstance, you can only make one attack of oppurtunity per round. So, for example: if four enemies pass thru your threatened area, you could only attack one (even though they all provoke an attack).

With this feat, you can take an additional number of attacks equal to your dex bonus. So, for example, if you have a +3 dex modifier then you could take a total of four AoO per round, thus in the previous example you'd be able to attack all four enemies that provoke instead of just one. That being said, the surprise round is just that: a surprise, so I'd assume that you could not use this until aware of the individuals (because you have to be threatening an area for them to provoke. When caught unaware you aren't threatening)

Once again, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I've always understood it to work.

Forte 11:07, 2 December 2008

The important part here is that it states in the feat description of combat reflexes that "With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed". In normal circumstances that means if battle starts normally but I do not act first, I can still make attacks of opportunity.

What I want to know is what happens during a surprise roundd. In that case I am still flat footed, so it would appear that I can make attacks of opportunity, but it is a SURPRISE round and my character dosn't know the enemies are around yet. Would I still be able to make the AoO's. As if for example the combat reflexes improved my reflexes to the point where I could react to something before I knew what was happening, Like when someone yells "think fast" and throws something at you, and you reflexivly put your hands up to catch it/protect yourself.

  Hooper   talk    contribs    email   10:11, 2 December 2008 (MST)

Seems like a gray area. If I were the DM, I'd say no for roleplaying reasons (since you're unaware of the combatants). I'd only allow it in other instances of being flatfooted. Other DMs may say differently though, so don't hold water to my answers.

S1Q3T3 23:38, 27 January 2009 (MST)

I would tend to say that there is surprise and surprise. If you have no idea you are being attacked, you don't threaten any squares and you can't exploit an attack of opportunity. If your opponents have achieved surprise and are swarming you before you would normally be able to react, I would tend to say a character with combat reflexes has an "autopilot" mode, the product of training or natural talent, that allows them to react to the opening presented even though they are mostly "frozen up," having been surprised. S1Q3T3 23:38, 27 January 2009 (MST)

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