Surprised

Rule

A surprised character cannot act in the bonus round. If a character is surprised later in the combat, the characters who surprised them have an edge on attacks against them for one round.

Surprise

It’s up to the Narrator whether or not a given character is surprised, as this depends a great deal on the circumstances of each situation—especially when things like illusions, mirages, invisibility and darkness come into play.

Characters who are surprised by their opponents when combat starts have

on their initiative check. A surprised character cannot act in the bonus round.

If a character is surprised later in the combat, the characters who surprised them have an

on attacks against them for one round.

Example: In the middle of a battle, the Invisible Woman turns invisible and sneaks up behind Doctor Doom, who is busy fighting the rest of the Fantastic Four. The Narrator makes a check for Doom to see if he detects the Invisible Woman, but Doom fails it. When the Invisible Woman attacks, Doom is surprised, and the Invisible Woman gets an edge on her attack against him.