Surprise

[Lombardio]

Hi again all,

We seem to having a little trouble understanding the Surprise rules. Well not the rules themselves but a few of the different ways they seem to have been used in various add-ons etc.

The way we read the rules as written on page 115 was that if i the CK felt one side was "immune" to surprsie for whatever reason, only the other side rolled a Wis check. Easy enough. If both were surprised then both rolled. Again easy enough.

Our confusion came when i started reading a few of the things i've bought since then, specifically the modifiers that were being listed.

Eg1. Players Guide

"The chances for surprise can be mitigated by many circumstances. If a party is well hidden or camouflaged and awaiting a group of poorly perceptive orcs on a brightly lit road, the Castle Keeper may decide to penalize the wisdom check for the orcs. In general, the bonus or penalty should remain within a range of -5 to +5, although it might be greater in extraordinary situations"

Cool, so far so good.

****May contain minor spoilers*******

Eg 2. Dwarven Glory II- Wyrm Well

"He is deadly silent and unless someone is actively searching down the well he gains a +4 on his surprise roll"

So my initial reaction was that +4 is added to the CB of the Wis check of the party to see if they are surprised by his immergence, if so why does it state "his roll"? Surely it doesn't need to roll to see if it is surprised when it only emerges (according to the adventure) when it hears pc's above?

Eg 3. The CK Screen

The table relating to surprise list the following:

Camouflaged/Concealed +5

Actively Searching +3

Normal +0

Running/Charging -3

Sleeping/Unaware -5

So someone waiting in ambush is Camouflaged/Concealed, is that +5 mod added to the CB of check made by those they are ambushing/hiding from? or does it mean that someone that is Camouflaged/Concealed is less likely to be surprised themselves?
I guess our confusion comes not from the rule itself, which is very simple, but as to how these modifiers are to be applied, and when.

I really hope my rambling makes sense, if not let me know and i'll try clarify a little more.

Cheers.