How to avoid being surprised?

[coo]

In Act 2 I am wandering around and running into fights I cannot win, simply because only my main character, a fighter, has something that prevents being surprised. If a fight has my group outnumbered, being surprised gives them a full round, perhaps two rounds, before the surprised members in my party start to fight. And so far, 2 or 3 of my party are dead or almost dead before round 2 of the fight.

I know there is a potion of alertness, but I have only come across one of them so far. What else can one do to increase the chance that the other party members are not surprised? In the battles I am facing, sneaking does not help, as the enemy is not seen at all until they initiate the attack.

[CrackeR]

There is also a "feat" you can choose for each party member called "alert"
Forgot to mention the glass eye you can get from Volo after his failed attempt to extract the tadpole which gives you permanent see invisibility.

[Orion Invictus]

Alert feat, potions, high perception (or whatever the roll for finding hidden enemies is), and some enemies you (the player) can see even if the characters can't.

[Estevan Valladares]

There are potions and "feats", but you have a simple problem most "non dnd presumed experts in dnd" fail to mention: If a situation calls for it, you will be surprised despite of anything.
There is however one thing that prevents you from being surprised regardless: You surprising whoever you fight. Dont barge into fights you know are to happen, dont choose dialogue options that obviously you are not starting the fight. A lot of them come with the "prepare to attack", or " do X and attack", etc.
Dont move around with your whole group even if you are just talking. Have one character, mostly the player one, to talk and the others to wait behind ungrouped.
When you are doing a "sloppy second" run, (or the so rude term "save scumming") ungroup, put your characters out of view (use shift) and start the fight with one character only. This way, if there is one character to be surprised (even with potions and feats, which are few and come later in game), it is only one character that is surprised.

I often post while playing the game, and right now I am starting another run and going through the temple you find Withers. I run it with at most Laezel (which I also often prevent from being caputed *lol*) shadowheart and my character. Using ungroup and positioning, in all fights the enemies dont even have a change to do an action. Dont even need a full group, and I do it at most at level 3, which dings during the whole exploration of the temple.

The "dungeon master" is not embodied in the game by the most powerful God for no reason. If the game imposes a certain condition to a certain encounter there is no potion, feat or anything that can go against it. But you being smart is the one thing no PnP or cRPG can take from you.

[IRMcG]

Alert feat's easiest as already mentioned, but you can lead with a high perception character (typically Ranger/Druid/Rogue) and have a good chance of spotting ambushes outside of any scripted ones.

[coo]

Thanks all. I did not realize that the alert feat was something that every class could obtain. I will try to give it to more, if not all, of my companions when I level up again which I think might be soon.

[Sir. Foxford]

If you're playing on honor, the feat "Alert" is a MUST and it should always be the first you choose.

[yaerav]

Also, an elixer of vigilance works wonders (in effect, it gives you the alert feat until the end of your next long rest. Really useful, I never enter the Last Light Inn without at least one party member quaffing one)

[coo]

Originally posted by yaerav:

Also, an elixer of vigilance works wonders (in effect, it gives you the alert feat until the end of your next long rest. Really useful, I never enter the Last Light Inn without at least one party member quaffing one)

I have difficulty so far finding enough ingredients to make many potions of any given type. I have tried to buy the essential ones at vendors, but having to depend on one to give me alert may be difficult. But I am paying Withers now so I can add alert to a few more of my party members.

[Dorian Gray]

Ditto on Elixir of Vigilance.

Yes, you are also correct that the ingredients are uncommon and maybe even rare.

It helps if you look for them throughout the game and stock up when they do appear - that is what I ended up doing.

[AokiYakumo]

Originally posted by coo:

Originally posted by yaerav:

Also, an elixer of vigilance works wonders (in effect, it gives you the alert feat until the end of your next long rest. Really useful, I never enter the Last Light Inn without at least one party member quaffing one)

I have difficulty so far finding enough ingredients to make many potions of any given type. I have tried to buy the essential ones at vendors, but having to depend on one to give me alert may be difficult. But I am paying Withers now so I can add alert to a few more of my party members.

For this bit about the potions, lately I've made it a point never to enter Act II without first maxing Deryth's approval, since she can sell alchemy reagents and maxing her approval makes it cheap. (I do this with Wyll after giving him a Rogue level to get Persuasion Expertise, since he's a WLK innate that CHA scales). As far as affording it is concerned, don't be: Grat, Jeera, Graymoon, and Brem all have valuable inventories and 3 of the 4 typically go auto hostile at some point, so doing the ol' "stuffing their inventory into a bag you sell them" can generally net 2-5k each plus all their goodies (Returning Pike, Gloves of Dexterity, Knife of the Undermountain King, Titanstring, Gloves of Thievery, Banshee Bow, that sort of stuff) plus a bunch of potions, scrolls and sh*t, depending on when I kill them off.