It seems to me like the current system for surprise is kind of crap. All it does is make people lose their two free action points for dodging. What if a surprised character gets first initiative,though? He effectively doesn't get the penalty of being surprised. Why can't the rules for surprise just be "you get no action points this turn"? You get to make a roll for it not being surprised, and it makes thematic sense that people who are shocked to have someone opening fire on them out of nowhere would probably not be able to react that well. Or if that seems overpowering (bad initiative character gets surprised could get totally wiped out in a two rounds of combat. Maybe you could change it to allowing them the two action points for evading until the next round.

For that matter, the current two extra action points in round one is weird. Why is everyone suddenly super good at evading for a single turn? Those two points are useless for people who go at the beginning of the round? I think it would be a lot simpler to just say that everyone gets 4 points at the start of every round and unused points disappear at the end of the round. Say that when someone is surprised they get no points in the first round. Yes, that can brutal but so is having someone open fire on you out of nowhere. You could add a paranoid talent that lets you get action points even if surprised.

If having no AP is too harsh for the surprised targets, maybe switch things up: Give the surprising party extra AP on their first turn, so they can really set up their attack (Called Shot, extra Aim, more movement to Charge, etc.).

Of course, that does run a risk with high-RoF weapons.

For that matter, the current two extra action points in round one is weird. Why is everyone suddenly super good at evading for a single turn? Those two points are useless for people who go at the beginning of the round? I think it would be a lot simpler to just say that everyone gets 4 points at the start of every round and unused points disappear at the end of the round. Say that when someone is surprised they get no points in the first round. Yes, that can brutal but so is having someone open fire on you out of nowhere. You could add a paranoid talent that lets you get action points even if surprised.

At the start of a round, if you are surprised by an enemy ambush you get no AP from your "previous turn".

It seems "in line" with the normal flow of actions.

At the stard of a round, if you prepared an ambush against an enemy (succesfully or not) you get 4 AP from your "previous turn" (naturally only for reactions).

My players pointed out that (in addition to the benefit of surprising an enemy being very minimal), it is almost impossible to 'surprise' anyone. The reason is the Keen Intuition talent.

• Keen Intuition (After failed Observe may re-roll with a -10 per attempt)

As it currently appears an attempt to ambush an opponent would be Stealth or similar opposed by an Observe test, this very cheap talent, 1st in it's tree, enables players to endlessly reroll their surprise until they pass. My players all bought this at level 1.

I had not noticed how broken Keen Intuition is. Crikey.

My players pointed out that (in addition to the benefit of surprising an enemy being very minimal), it is almost impossible to 'surprise' anyone. The reason is the Keen Intuition talent.

• Keen Intuition (After failed Observe may re-roll with a -10 per attempt)

As it currently appears an attempt to ambush an opponent would be Stealth or similar opposed by an Observe test, this very cheap talent, 1st in it's tree, enables players to endlessly reroll their surprise until they pass. My players all bought this at level 1.

Okay, this is quite clearly a broken talent, but I see your point. This talent should state "If the reduction reduces the characters perception to 0 or less, further attempts are no longer possible", or introduce a fixed amount of rerolls (3 or so).

On the topic of the actual effects of surprising somebody: Maybe surprising should give an initiative bonus to the surprising characters for the first round as well?

My players pointed out that (in addition to the benefit of surprising an enemy being very minimal), it is almost impossible to 'surprise' anyone. The reason is the Keen Intuition talent.

• Keen Intuition (After failed Observe may re-roll with a -10 per attempt)

As it currently appears an attempt to ambush an opponent would be Stealth or similar opposed by an Observe test, this very cheap talent, 1st in it's tree, enables players to endlessly reroll their surprise until they pass. My players all bought this at level 1.

OK, so there are a couple of reasons why i'd suggest the 'endless reroll' isn't possible.

1. 'Regardless of modifiers, a roll of 1 on a test always succeeds, and a roll of 100 on a test always fails.However, the GM can always determine that a proposed task is too difficult, and that the character fails automatically without even taking a test.This is to avoid players attempting impossible tasks to "fish" for a natural 1.' p14

So a GM could clearly decide to limit the rerolls possible, especially if the chance of success is only 1.

2. Wording is key here (my emphasis) 'Keen Intuition: After failing an Observe skill test , the character can re-attempt the test with a –10 modifier on each new attempt.' p101 OK, so...

...although the rules on surprise and ambush don't explicitly state that this Observe skill test is opposed, i think it's reasonable to assume that you'd want to oppose this against the ambusher's Stealth skill.

Here's the Opposed Test rules (my emphasis).

Opposed Tests

Some tasks involve a character testing himself not against his own mettle, but pitting himself against another character. Here, a character is attempting to perform a task while being directly opposed by an adversary, such as attempting to sneak by a guard or deceive a suspicious trader, and in these cases the GM can call for an opposed test. In an opposed test, each participant makes his own separate test as normal , and whoever scores the greater number of degrees of success on his test wins the opposed test. Note that it is likely the tests are undertaken using different characteristics, and possibly with differing difficulties. For example, an opposed test for a saboteur attempting to sneak past a weary guard might have the former test using Agility, and the latter testing using Perception but with a –10 penalty due to the lateness of the hour. If both parties fail, whoever scores the fewest degrees of failure wins. If both parties tie, the character with the higher value in the skill or characteristic being used for the test wins.If it is still a tie, the test is re-rolled until there is a victor.

So... if you succeed with your Observe test, even if the ambusher beats you on DoS , you've still haven't failed an Observe skill test so the Keen Intuition reroll dosn't apply.