Ways to get a surprise round.

[Deadkitten]

So simple question.

What ways are there to get a surprise round?

[Calthropstu]

A surprise round is initiated when a combat starts and one party is unaware of the attackers existence or hostile intent.

Once a combat starts, the only way to get a surprise round is to stop the combat, and reinitiate it.

To obtain one before combat starts there's a few ways to go about getting one.

The most often I have seen used is hiding the attacking party. Invisibility, illusions, or just plain sneaking. All of it works. The second is to bluff your way into your target's good graces, then strike at an opportune moment. This method usually involves a lot more interaction, and is more dangerous... but much more rewarding. Plus, you can try to pass it off as enemy control if you lose.

[eggynack]

Wild shape or shapechange for dire tortoise form does the job well. It lets you always act in the surprise round.

[Rebel7284]

10 Levels of Divine Oracle or the Foresight spell also give immunity to surprise, effectively always giving you a surprise round.

[Gemini476]

10 Levels of Divine Oracle or the Foresight spell also give immunity to surprise, effectively always giving you a surprise round.

Eh, not really - a surprise round is pretty distinct in how it works. That just means that if there is a surprise round, you're part of it. It's not like the Dire Tortoise, which guarantees there being a surprise round in the first place.

The Dire Tortoise will pretty much always get to attack before somebody (unless everyone notices it and gets a better initiative roll!), but the person with Foresight might go last.

[The Viscount]

There is a cheesy answer to your question, depending on what it is that you want.
If you want to have a surprise round in which you act but your enemies don't, ignore this.
If you want to take part in a surprise round at the beginning of every combat, you can carry around some incapacitated creature such as a toad affected with 2 castings of blindness deafness. It will be unaware of the combatants, so will trigger a surprise round.

[eggynack]

If you want to take part in a surprise round at the beginning of every combat, you can carry around some incapacitated creature such as a toad affected with 2 castings of blindness deafness. It will be unaware of the combatants, so will trigger a surprise round.
That does seem like a good strategy for casters, given that they get a lot more value from the surprise round than melee oriented characters. A problem with it, however, is that the toad doesn't necessarily count as a combatant. I guess what one might want is an incapacitated creature that's allied with you. So, a blind and deaf familiar or animal companion. Getting rid of the combat utility of those creatures might be worthwhile for the upside of turning the first round into a standard action.