Monday, July 4, 2016

Danger Sense and Surprise Rounds

Surprise rounds are a bit complicated in Savage Worlds. The Surprisers are all on hold, and the suprised have to roll a Notice check to get dealt in.

Now lets add someone with Danger Sense. They roll Notice -2. If they succeed, then they are also on hold. If they fail then they have to make the regular Notice roll to be dealt in.

That is a lot of rolls. Also if a hero with Danger Sense is on hold, and all of the enemies are on hold, then you are adding a lot of Agility rolls to see who interrupts who. And if anyone on hold gets Shaken, they loose their action that round.

I have a somewhat easier house rule that will simplify things:

  • Surprisers are dealt action cards.
  • Surprisees must make a Notice roll -2 to be dealt an action card in the Surprise round.
  • If a Surprisee has Danger Sense, they make a Notice roll with a +2 to get dealt into the surprise round.

It is faster and cuts down on a lot of redundant rolls in my opinion. It also maintains the benefit of Danger Sense while making it unlikely that anyone with advantage looses their turn in the surprise round.