Surprised: How Is It Changing In The D&D 2024 Revision?

Surprise! The rules for being surprised are changing in the 2024 revision of the D&D rules. Here’s everything you need to know.

Wizards of the Coast has been slowly revealing more and more about the new 2024 revision of D&D 5e. Hidden among the reveals is the fact that the surprised rule is getting a bit of an overhaul to make it more balanced.

Below is everything you need to know about how this rule is changing.

Why is the surprised rule changing?

In the 2014 iteration of the surprised rule, being surprised was a devastating situation as the stealthy characters would get an entire turn before the surprised characters got a turn. If initiative was rolled favourably (or unfavourably), it could mean characters getting 2 turns before some characters had a chance to act at all.

This has the potential to completely unbalance a combat. This can be particularly devastating when it completely turns the tide of an important encounter like those that occur against a BBEG. It’s something I’ve seen and can be anti-climactic.

Because of this, Wizards of the Coast have opted to lessen the impact of being surprised by changing how this rule works.

Surprised rules for D&D 2024

Surprised in the 2024 rules is pretty simple now. If you are surprised, you have disadvantage on your initiative roll. This means that no one gets an extra turn before the other team. Instead, the stealthy team are just more likely to take their turns first.

Some classes and subclasses have abilities that give them advantage on initiative rolls or abilities with a similar impact. This includes the likes of the champion fighter, assassin rogue and barbarians. Essentially, this will just nullify the effects of being surprised putting such characters on an even keel with their stealthy enemy.

You can see the original reveal of this rule in the fighter 2024 reveal video below in the chapter on champions:

These changes certainly feel like a good move to maintain combat balance, though the drawback may be that stealth is bothered with less and feels less satisfying when it is used.

I do wonder if there might have been a middle ground that made surprising an enemy a little more powerful than it is in the new rules. Perhaps advantage on attack rolls against creatures that haven’t taken a turn yet or some other boon.

What do you think of the changes to the surprised condition? Let me know in the comments below.