There's nothing about the weapon of warning that prevents the party from being ambushed. Literally all it does giving advantage on initiative rolls and the wielder and their friends aren't affected by the mechanical condition "surprised".
It's not an ambush if it isn't a surprise.
What on earth makes you believe that?
Of course it narratively is an ambush. It's just one where the ambushed aren't suffering from the mechanical condition of being "Surprised". Which isn't any different from if, for example, they all have a passive perception higher than the Stealth roll of the hidden ambushers.
I think it is readily apparent from Pantagruel666’s post and a basic understanding of colloquial speech that they were trying to say “It’s not a successful ambush if it isn’t a surprise, and guaranteed unsuccessful ambushes are not fun.”
Except that there's nothing that say that the ambush will automatically be unsuccesful if it isn't a surprise so the entire point is moot.
Which I fully agree with. Ambushes are fun mechanics - as a player, I like that they add a sense of danger and excitement to the world; as a DM, I like that they keep players on their toes and add a touch of suspense to certain situations. A weapon of warning takes that ability and enjoyment away from the DM and the players.
Not true. What makes you think that? There is absolutely nothing about a WoW that makes the actual ambush less of a surprise to the players. You still roll initiative as usual and the WoW doesn't actually tell you what the ambush is. Literally all a WoW does is to take away the surprised condition. Which succesful perception rolls, high passive perception or any number of other things could do. Would you ban the Alert feat as well? What about the Barbarian's Feral Insticts?
I will also note that your example of passive perception is a false equivalency. A weapon of warning is near-absolute, unless you split the party - it simply prevents the ambush’s success. Passive perception is not absolute - the enemy or enemies can beat it, which means there still is a chance for the ambush to be successful, fulfilling the entertainment goal. Passive perception is not even that hard to beat - an enemy that lies in wait is likely going to have a decent stealth check, and there are tools like Pace without Trace to mitigate low-stealth enemy rolls.
No, it is not a false equivalence, you're just making a strawman out of it. The important condition is that the PP needs to beat the stealth roll. IF the PC's passive perecption beats the stealth roll then there is no difference what so ever from having a WoW.
And again, what makes you think that ambushes can only be succesful if they are a mechanical surprise? Statistically most ambushes against PC are NOT succesful regardless of the surprise condition (otherwise you'd have a bunch more dead or captured PCs).
I don't find them game breaking at all. There are only a handful of times during a campaign in which an ambush or surprise element is important. Additionally, surprised doesn't mean the wielder isn't subject to traps.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
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Except that there's nothing that say that the ambush will automatically be unsuccesful if it isn't a surprise so the entire point is moot.
Not true. What makes you think that? There is absolutely nothing about a WoW that makes the actual ambush less of a surprise to the players. You still roll initiative as usual and the WoW doesn't actually tell you what the ambush is. Literally all a WoW does is to take away the surprised condition. Which succesful perception rolls, high passive perception or any number of other things could do. Would you ban the Alert feat as well? What about the Barbarian's Feral Insticts?
No, it is not a false equivalence, you're just making a strawman out of it. The important condition is that the PP needs to beat the stealth roll. IF the PC's passive perecption beats the stealth roll then there is no difference what so ever from having a WoW.
And again, what makes you think that ambushes can only be succesful if they are a mechanical surprise? Statistically most ambushes against PC are NOT succesful regardless of the surprise condition (otherwise you'd have a bunch more dead or captured PCs).
I don't find them game breaking at all. There are only a handful of times during a campaign in which an ambush or surprise element is important. Additionally, surprised doesn't mean the wielder isn't subject to traps.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale