I liked how Pathfinder handled it with “half-turn” surprise turns.
Never played this, can you explain how it worked?
In a Pathfinder surprise round, characters can do only one "thing." Translated to 5e terms, each character that acts in the surprise round could take one of: an action OR move OR a bonus action. And that action could only be used for a single attack even if you have Extra Attack.
It lessens the potential for absolutely nuking the enemy during a surprise round, while still allowing a surprise round to be impactful.
