Does the Lurk’s Reflexes ability make them impossible to surprise? Or does the Lurk need to be aware of his attacker to ask the question ‘Who acts first?’
Does the Lurk’s Reflexes ability make them impossible to surprise?
Does the Lurk’s Reflexes ability make them impossible to surprise?
I believe that someone with surprise is going to act first if it’s just them and the Lurk. It’s the case where the Lurk is in a situation with another character and who goes first might be important that the Reflexes is (I think) going to matter. And where the Lurk and someone/something are facing off then the Lurk with Reflexes should go first unless there is an issue of Position or Effect.
At least in John’s Blades game, there was a situation where some Red Sashes ‘surprised’ the players and the person with Reflexes (Adam) was able to shoot the attacker before he could attack properly. John could probably clarify.
I think I’d probably handle this somewhat situationally, but Reflexes is very much there to give the player control in situations where they might not normally get control, and I think surprise applies here, unless there is just no way in the fiction that acting first would make sense.
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If there’s no question — that is, it’s perfectly obvious who acts first — then Reflexes doesn’t automatically apply.
I tend to err on the side of the PC in all gray areas, though. In the case with the Red Sash ambush, they had the initiative in the situation until the moment of the attack. As soon as they launched their assault, though, the question arose. “Do they all drop in and attack or can someone interrupt them?” With Reflexes, Canter could interrupt them automatically.
The scene Chris O’Keefe brings up is a bit of an odd example. In that scene, there wasn’t a question for anyone else as to surprise (it was “yea: surprised” for everyone) but apparently there was for Canter. Not sure what fiction dictated that, but anyways: in play, there is this point where John clearly could tell Adam wanted this ability to let him act, and so he bent a little.
I run it as written: sometimes there is no question of surprise, because the fiction says the Lurk got surprised. However, when there is a question of surprise (ie: when rolls are being called for to act before a sneaking threat): the answer is always “no. the character with Reflexes is not surprised.” If no one else gets a roll because there were no signs of approaching danger (maybe via a Fortune roll), then I may let the Reflexes character roll when no one else can in order to take an action to avoid the thing, otherwise they can just resist as usual. Then resume the fiction as usual.