Surprise Attack

A surprise attack takes place when you attack an unsuspecting opponent or group of opponents, that are not expecting an attack by you.
Perhaps this is an elaborate ambush, or perhaps you are suckerpunching someone.
This is a group contested roll:

• Ambush: The attackers must roll Agility & Sneak and the defenders Perception & Notice.
• Suckerpunch: The attackers must roll Manipulation & Deceit and the defenders Smarts & Sense Motive.
• Other relevant: The GM decides.

The difficulty the defenders must beat to succeed is given by the lowest roll on the side of the attackers.
Every opponent that doesn't succeed in his roll doesn't get a turn in the first combat round.

Not every Suprise Attack is a Sneak Attack, however, every Sneak Attack is also a Surprise Attack.

A party of 2 Brutes, 1 Linja and 1 Naturemaster stage an ambush against a patrol of 5 warriors. The lowest Agility & Sneak roll was made by a brute, an 8. Luckily for them, all the warriors in the patrol scored below 8.
Hence, in the first turn:

• None of the patrol warriors is able to attack.
• The brutes run from their hiding spots approaching the patrol from each flank, screaming battlecries, managing to reach their targets, and attack using longswords, without any additional benefit apart form the fact that the targets will only start attacking them in the next round. They miss their heavy weapons, but they were too slow for an ambush (3 action points).
• The Linja approaches silently from her hiding spot, from the rear, dagger in hand, targetting the rearmost warrior in the patrol, making another Agility & Sneak roll against the Perception & Notice of her target, with a +2 modifier to its roll, since the brutes are creating a major distraction. She succeeds, gets his back, and so her target is considered Defenseless, since he never knew what happened to him. Hence, her surprise attack is also a Sneak Attack, and since she has the Assassin's Strike edge, everything looks bleak for the warrior. She makes a called shot against her target's throat, and she succeeds, inflicting a devastating wound, a knockout and the poor bastard starts bleeding to death.
• The Naturemaster was in a treetop with a loaded longbow. She spends 2 action points aiming towards the patrol leader, and makes a called shot for the head. Since she never moved from her original hiding spot and she already succeeded in her Agility & Sneak roll to remain hidden in the treetop, her target is considered Defenseless against her, so her attack is also a Sneak Attack. She succeeds in her attack roll, inflicting a terrible wound to the head.