AD&D Initiative – Surprise

Okay, a bit of a cheat here as I'm going to split this last introductory topic in two with this post being
about surprise rather than straight initiative. Partly this is because it is associated with initiative in
the rules but mostly because there is a bad mis-print in the PHB which has confused generations of
DMs about how surprise works. The DMG repeats the incorrect table from the PHB but the text is in
fact correct but by then for many DM's it's too late.

When two groups (of one or more figures) come suddenly upon each other there is a chance that
each will be surprised. Normally, each side rolls 1d6 and a roll of 1 or 2 indicates that they are
surprised as a group for 1 or 2 segments. A roll of 3 or higher means that they are not surprised.
Do not subtract the different sides' dice from each other (as suggested in the tables in the rules).

If A rolls a 2 and B rolls a 3, A is surprised for 2 segments and B is not surprised at all

That's the basics of the most common case of surprise. The first modification is that characters with
high (16+) dexterity scores will be surprised for less time than the die indicates and those with low
(5-) scores will be surprised for longer. However, low dexterity never causes an unsurprised
character to be surprised. If a member of party B has a dexterity of 4 s/he is still not surprised.
However, such a character in party A would be surprised for 4 segments since party A is surprised.

A character in party A with a dexterity of 17 or more will not be surprised under normal
circumstances as their dexterity reaction modifier means that even a roll of 2 will be reduced to zero.

Note that any encumbrance level above "unencumbered" negates all dexterity bonuses to surprise

(but not penalties, of course). If you want your character to be like Errol Flynn's Robin Hood, s/he'll
have to dress like him.

During surprise segments any character or monster who is surprised can do nothing beyond defend
normally (ie, there is no to-hit bonus during surprise) while those who are not surprised may attack
as if each segment is a full round.

If both sides are surprised then they simply gawp at each other for the required number of segments
until one or both of them snap out of it. Thus if side A rolls a 1 and side B a 2, then there will be one
segment of mutual gawping and one in which side A can act against side B as if the segment were a
full round.

The next modification is that some classes and monsters are more stealthy or more perceptive than
others, modifying their chances to surprise or be surprised. Rangers are an example of both - they
surprise on 1-3 and are surprised only on a 1.

However, a group only rolls one die for surprise and the value used by their opponent is that of the
least stealthy member of the group, so a normal party with a single ranger surprises on a 1-2 just like
any other. On the other hand, a group is surprised as easily as its most perceptive member so the
same party is only surprised on a 1 because of the ranger's presence.

When dealing with more complex examples, it's best to convert these modifiers into bonuses and
penalties. Thus a ranger surprises at +1 (making a roll of 1-3 surprise) and is surprised at -1. If two
rangers meet then these cancel out and both are surprised on 1-2. Elves in natural surroundings
surprise on 1-4, which is +2. So if an elf and a ranger meet the elf is surprised on 1-3 and the ranger
on 1-3 as well.

"Complete Surprise"
Being surprised is deadly. The rules consistently speak of "surprise" and "total surprise". As such,
you may want to consider ruling that two segments are the most surprise that a group can roll
(individuals can still get more due to low dexterity). This also allows you to use modifiers to surprise
without increasing the chances of a massacre too much.

Talking of "deadly" - the rules say that missile weapons fire at three times the normal rate in surprise
segments if they are ready. Yes, that's 6 arrows per segment (1 per second!). I don't know anyone
who has applied this rule in real life as a blanket case, although it can just about work if you're very,
very strict about what being "ready" means. I recommend ignoring it.

Oddballs

Some characters and monsters don't use d6 for surprise. The monk goes a bit further down the
weirdo route and starts off with a d6 and changes to percentile. Handling these cases is fairly
straight-forward (apart from the monk) if you use the idea that anything that doesn't surprise (or be
surprised) on 1-2 has some sort of bonus based on this norm.

To take an extreme example, a ranger encountering a green hag (MMII). The hag surprises on 1-5 on
d6 and is surprised on a 1, on a d20! We translate those values into +3 and -1 as above; the ranger is
on +1 to surprise and -1 to be surprised.

The net result is that the ranger is surprised on 1-4 (2+3-1) on d6 and surprises the hag on 1-2 on her
d20.

Monks
First level monks are surprised in the same way as anyone else; above 1st level there is a decreasing
chance that they are surprised for one segment. I rule that monks simply can not be surprised for
more than a single segment by anything as one of their special abilities.

That's it for surprise, next up is the main initiative rules.

Surprised and Confused

In Conclusion

This turned into a long look at how surprise has worked through the early editions in order to try to
fix the mess that later AD&D surprise became, so I decided to put the conclusion first so it’s easy to
refer back to.

So what’s the fix? Quite simply, to go back to the original idea of the surprise die indicating both
surprise and range, with “complete surprise” being the case where melee can start without any
closing of range. Literally “in your face” in the case of the catoblepas and some other monsters.

I don’t want to simply go back to OD&D, however. Many players feel that multiple surprise segments
is a core feature of AD&D and so I want to retain that. But I do want to get away from the idea that
anything can cause an adventuring PC to be unable to react for half a minute or more.

The proposal is:

1. Each party rolls for surprise (usually on 1d6).
a. If surprise exists, individuals modify this rolled “surprise number”:
 Unencumbered figures may apply any reaction bonus.
 All figures apply any reaction penalties.
 Figures with heavy gear get +1 to their surprise number.
 Figures who are encumbered get +2 to their surprise number.
b. A modified score of 0 or less is un-surprised.
c. A modified score of 1 is surprise.
d. A modified score of 2 or more is complete surprise.
e. If no one is surprised after these modifications, then it is a standard encounter at
normal ranges.
2. Surprised creatures are “frozen” for one segment.
3. Completely surprised creatures are “frozen” for two segments. If one is holding a crossbow of
speed, it fires in the second segment.
4. The less surprised (un- Vs surprised or completely; surprised Vs completely) figures have
automatic initiative on the first immediately following combat round. If both sides are equally
surprised then there is no initiative advantage.
5. If all the members of a party have the same score then that modified score is used to
determine the party level of surprise and encounter range. Otherwise, range is determined based on
the party die roll (and maximum available space, of course):

Party A Party B Effect Range

Unsurprised Unsurprised None, proceed to 1st round. Normal

Unsurprised Surprised B immobile for 1seg; A gains initiative 3”

Unsurprised Completely B immobile for 2seg A gains initiative 1-3”, at A’s choice

Surprised Surprised 1seg wasted 2”

Surprised Completely A: 1seg wasted; B: 2segs 1”

Completely Completely 2seg wasted 1”

If any opposing figures are not surprised then any “frozen” segments are part of any combat round
which is engaged in by those unsurprised figures.

Notice that this already allows for the possibility that a surprised party will receive three sets of
attacks before being able to answer back, so I don’t think there’s any need for a “3 segment cap”.

Note roundup

These notes are in priority order where there is a clash - so #3 can not override #1, for example.

1. Monks above second level can never be completely surprised by anything.

2. Piercers only ever surprise, they never completely surprise no matter what penalties the
target has. This is more to do with their need for a ranged attack than the level of shock they create.
3. Aerial Servants which are not detected always gain complete surprise without a roll;
otherwise normal rolling is done based on a chance of 1-4 on d6.
4. Quiet things grant +1 to the chance of surprising others. Quiet things include undead,
bugbears, hobbits or elves in non-metalic armour, rangers, golems, cats of any kind. Some of these
are already noted in the books, some are not.
o A party only gains these bonuses if all the members qualify. There’s no use a ranger
and a hobbit sneaking about if they have a donkey tapdancing on the stone floor.
5. Modifiers to the chance to surprise others are cumulative only insofar that they reflect
different advantages. Being silent is one advantage; being hidden is another. Hiding in shadows
while invisible is a single advantage. As a specific example, an elven thief hiding in the shadows of a
forest surprises on 1-4, not 1-5. In effect the hiding in shadows is assumed as part of the elven ability
to blend into woods. Monsters appear to have slightly different rules, but PCs generally can only get
+2 to their chance to surprise.
6. A party with any members with a reduction in chance to be surprised gains the best such
reduction.
7. Surprise reduced from 1 in 6 goes to 1 in 8, then 1 in 10, 1 in 12, 1 in 20. In the opposite
direction, 5 in 6 goes to 7 in 8, to 9 in 10 etc.
8. When encountering settlements, and fortresses use the standard rules on DMG p182-183.
9. Wilderness encounters with surprise are as per general encounters (1-3”).
10. Wilderness encounters without surprise are as per DMG p49.
11. Ruins are spotted at 1d10 half miles if no surprise; and 1-3” if the party is surprised. This
score is shared by any monsters within.
The Problem

On the surface of it, surprise is a very straight-forward mechanism in AD&D: when any encounter
happens each side rolls a d6; on a 1 or 2 they (not the opponent) are surprised and spend that many
segments in a state of basic helplessness as they fumble or drop weapons or what have you.

Characters with low dexterity are not surprised more often, but instead take longer to recover if they
are; high dexterity is the same, not reducing the incidence but improving recovery time. There is a
slight asymmetry in that high dexterity can eliminate recovery time, so in a practical sense the high
dex character is actually surprised less often.

This basic system is then absolutely screwed up even at this early stage by the sort of over-
explanation that melee weapons Vs spells suffers from. Because, the above is all you really need to
know and it is a simple and obvious consequence of these rules that if a PC walks around a corner
and meets an orc and both roll 2 for surprise then the net effect is that both are helpless for 12
seconds but unable to exploit their opponent’s state, while being surprised for 1 segment against an
opponent spending 2 segments fumbling gives you one segment to act.

Sadly, it was decided to spell this out in gruesome detail which (aside from a misprint in early
printings, which didn’t help) gave the impression that the DM was supposed to subtract actual time
spans from each other, leaving a muddle about what happens when two parties are surprised but one
or more extreme-dexterity individuals do not share the result of their companions.

So: the first rule of surprise club is that surprise is measured in segments and you never, ever
subtract one side or individual’s surprise from another. If I wait for ten minutes and you wait for 15,
that doesn’t somehow mean that you only have to wait for five minutes.

But, sadly, things did not rest even there. That 1-2 on d6 has some exceptions even in the days of
MM/PHB/DMG AD&D. For one, elves surprise on 1-4 on d6 when in natural surroundings. For
another, rangers are only surprised on a 1 on d6.
Now, the elves are a problem. Because each segment of surprise allows an unsurprised opponent a
full rounds’ worth of attacks. And four rounds of attacks is deadly. Those elves could be 7th level
fighters, so they get 6 attacks in that time. Given that this is all down to basically pure luck, that’s a
very big advantage, and if you have a dexterity penalty then leaving the house is basically suicide.

It gets worse. Later monsters introduced different dice, and eventually we have the example of the
greenhag from MMII who can attack from invisibility, gaining surprise on 1-19 on d20. Strictly
speaking, that’s a potential 19 rounds’ worth of attacks from a 9HD monster with 2 attacks per round
- against AC -5 she’ll do an average of 71¼ damage!

Additional complications include what to do about a ranger’s implied -1 to surprise when faced by
such a monster. Do we say that the greenhag surprises a ranger on 1-18? Big deal! Note that the
DMG specifically rules out the alternative suggestion made by some that we treat the ranger’s bonus
as a 50% modifier, which would reduce the greenhag to surprising on 1-10 (and only doing an
average of 136hp damage to an unarmoured opponent).

There are various monsters which surprise on x on d8 and d10 floating around too.

What a mess.

How it was in the old days

So, how did we get here? That’s a multi-stage process.

LBB

The very first published version of D&D included surprise. In book three (The Underworld &
Wilderness Adventures) surprise is introduced as a roll of 1 or 2 on a d6 and it states that the
existence of surprise indicates that encounter distance is between 10 and 30 feet.

The primary effect of surprise is to grant “a free move segment, whether to flee, cast a spell, or
engage in combat” (my bold).

In addition, the surprise roll is referred to as the “surprise distance deterioration” with a roll of 2
indicating a distance of 10 feet.

At this point I’m going to get controversial. The normal belief is that melee range in D&D is 3”,
because that’s what it was in Chainmail. However, Book III of D&D contradicts this once in plain
language and once more by implication, in both cases when dealing with surprise. The first is when
describing surprise distance in the wilderness: the statement is made that a range of 10 yards (1”)
will enable a monster to attack. Under the 3” rule, this would be a redundant statement since the
surprise range is between 10 and 30 feet - all of which would be in Chainmail’s melee range. The
second case is in the primary discussion of surprise in the underworld where surprise is described as
being an opportunity to close distance and also the encounter example which continues from
determining a range of 10’ (1”) to the wyvern attacking as if there were a connection. I believe that
these passages were written with a 1” melee range, the same as AD&D, in mind. This becomes
more important later.

In addition to granting one “free move” having surprise also grants initiative on the first round of
combat (a rule that is referenced in DMG without any real explanation).
There are no rules given for both sides being surprised but it’s not hard to imagine that the
expectation was that the DM would count this as a cancelling out. Since there was only one segment
of action possible, there was no real need to go into any detail.

Greyhawk

Greyhawk introduced nothing new except for the bugbear, who surprises parties 16⅔% more often
(in one sense, in another 50% more often). In other words, they surprise on a 1-3.

Notice that this has no real problematic aspects in the rules as stated so far. There’s still only two
questions being answered by the surprise roll:

1. Does either side get a surprise bonus move?

2. If so, are they in melee range to attack?

As before, if both sides are surprised then there’s just a general fumbling about and then combat
proceeds as usual. Some surprise is still all surprise and we can probably assume that a roll of 3 from
the bugbear means that it’s in melee range, just as a 2 did for the wyvern. The binary nature of both
surprise and melee range means there are no questions about being very surprised compared to
only slightlysurprised.

Although thieves are introduced in Greyhawk, the only mechanical application of their ability to
move silently is to allow them to make a backstab attack.

Blackmoor

Blackmoor does very little about surprise except for one paragraph in the introductory material
dealing with monks, which are a new class based on the Destroyer books of Warren Murphy and
Richard Sapir.

 Third-level monks, it says, are surprised only on a 1 on d6.

 Fifth-level monks are surprised on a 1 in 8.
 Seventh and higher level monks are surprised on a 1 in 10.

It seems from this that a 3rd or higher level monk can not find themselves in a surprise situation
where their opponent is in melee range unless they have the advantage (i.e., that is indicated by the
opponent’s die). This situation is still not a complication, however because both parties are still
surprised equally, in terms of time.

The paragraph (still dealing specifically with monks) goes on to note that “extremely silent
creatures will double surprise possibilities, i.e., halflings, thieves, bugbears, and undead”.

In the context of a monk who has a 1 in x chance of being surprised, doubling the chance is the same
as saying that the monster increases the chance by +1 - so 1-2 on d6 or 1-2 on d8 etc. Which fits what
we were told in Greyhawk about bugbears but is innovative here, as far as I can see, in extending this
to thieves and so forth.

Nothing in the text implies that this +1 to surprise is extended to situations not involving monks, but
I think that’s logical in the same way that I assume that the thieves in question must have rolled a
successful move silently check.
Eldritch Wizardry

EW took a look at the whole question of initiative which had been studiously ignored in D&D up to
this point, with DMs assumed to have cobbled together something based on Chainmail’s Man-to-
Man Combat section. As well as being incredibly opaque it introduced many key concepts such as
segments and (implied) spell casting time and the surprise die as a number of rounds of free attacks.
It may also hold the seed of a mistake.

EW tried to create a individual clockwork initiative system whereby the round was divided into
segments and each combatant would be assigned an attack rhythm within that round which would
essentially repeat from one round the next, at least as long as they fought the same opponent with
the same means.

On the initial round of combat, surprise was used to modify this system and the notes on the tables
involved included the statement that “complete surprise is basically a die of 2 when checking” (EW
p6).

To throw another spanner into the works there is also a note that says that “surprise is basically a die
1 when checking, or a die 2 in those cases where the creature in question is difficult to surprise and
has only a 1 in 6 chance of being surprised” (my ephasis).

The implication of this last statement is that in the EW system the chance of being surprised is 2 in 6
for everyone and the effect of being hard to surprise is just that you don’t suffer the penalties for
complete surprise. It’s pretty weird if it’s not a typo.

Anyway, we are also told that “If surprised lose the 1st segment on a die roll of 1 and the 1st and 2nd
on a die roll of 2”. This seems to mean that you lose your first one or two attacks, in the context. And
another way of looking at that is that the opponent gets one or two rounds of attacks free of reply.
Sound familiar?

And note the phrasing: the text does not say that a character that rolled 2 missed 2 attacks because
he was completely surprised. This creates a dangerous link between the number on the die and the
length of time a character is unable to fight back. EW never considers the possibility that a surprise
die might be 3 or more - much more.

My suspicion is that Tim Kask (who wrote the EW initiative system) was simply carrying on the
previous tradition of surprise starting either outside of melee or within melee, and that was the
distinction between plain surprise and complete surprise with no further consideration given to
higher values.

But by not saying “If surprised lose the 1st segment and the 1st and 2nd if completely surprised” he
unwittingly left the door open to 19 attacks from greenhags etc.

AD&D
 The Monster Manual

No further tweaks were made in official supplements to normal combat before the Monster Manual
came out. So, what initiative system was assumed to be in play for MM?
It’s very hard to tell. I believe that Gygax never even considered using the EW system - he simply
wasn’t that mad - and that it died a quick death just like the hit location system of Blackmoor (which,
to be fair to Kask, was actually worse).

Orcus is listed as having a tail which strikes as if 18 Dex, but this could either look back to the
“adjusted dexterity” system in EW, or it could look ahead to the AD&D system where high dexterity
grants bonuses to both surprise and ranged attacks (which the long tail might be seen as).

There are several references to “complete surprise” in the MM and also in PHB and DMG. That’s an
interesting clue as it suggests that even when Gygax had definitively abandoned EW’s system (which
he had by PHB where he had gone back to a foundation in Chainmail with its weapon factors and
first strike rules, even though he had not yet formulated the final system), he had decided to retain
that division.

In the Monster Manual and PHB we encounter monsters and characters gaining surprise on 1-4 on
d6.

Piercers have a 95% chance of surprise.

 DMG

With DMG we finally got the official word that surprise was the number on the die, even if it was a 4,
and no explanation of what “complete surprise” actually was, despite the fact that whatever it was it
gave you a bonus in various situations (or a penalty, if on the receiving end).

As far as I can see, Gygax’s next step was to forget all about this and go back to pre-EW days, at least
as far as initiative and surprise was concerned.

There was never a single official explanation or expansion of the initiative and surprise rules in
Gygax-period Dragon magazine. Nothing. The world of AD&D DMs and players was baffled by the
presentation of the rules yet this was never addressed in over 100 issues of the in-house organ.

The simple reason was that Gary was as ignorant of the DMG initiative rules as he was of the falling
damage rules. He continued to play to the rules in his head, leaving the formal rules for people who
wanted to play in tournaments. It’s entirely possible that Gary didn’t even write the DMG rules, just
as “Gygax & Blume” had not written the system in EW. No one else has admitted responsibility,
however.

The DMG combat rules were certainly not well proof-read in any case, with dead-end cross-
references and a table explaining surprise which had a hideous error in it (to say nothing of the
screeds of combat examples in PHB and DMG which simply didn’t match up to the rules given).

As Gary went on creating monsters, he retained the distinction between surprise and complete
surprise in his head but nothing much else. So, even in the MMII we find several new monsters still
referring to complete surprise alongside monsters that cause crazy numbers.

Like Kask before him, Gary simply didn’t think about the consequences of making that link between
the number on the die and the number of segments of free attacks and largely acted as if it didn’t
exist. Because, I suggest, that link did not exist for him.

So, what to do about all this? Go back to the top of this document to see.
AD&D Initiative - The Main Event
AD&D initiative is legendary for its incomprehensibility. This is a reputation well-earned but
fortunately it is not, unlike some other problem areas, because the rules are simply missing. They are
all there; just not necessarily in the right order. So, here they are in a different order. As with the
other posts in this introductory notes series, I'm assuming that you have read the relevant sections of
the DMG in particular, so I'm not repeating literally every rule here.

Initiative Phase 1: Who's On First?

The most fundamental principle of the initiative system is that those who have lots of initiative
commence their actions before those that have less, so the most basic question is to decide which of
any two (or more) figures has the most initiative. Initiative is given in this order, from good to bad:
1. Multiple attacks - ether from level, haste, missile weapon use, or monster ability (see below).
2. Dice roll of 1d6 with high being good and reaction modifier applied for missile weapons.
3. Zombies and characters under the effects of a slow spell.
"Multiple attacks" only counts if the character commits to using those multiple attacks this round -
simply having the ability to fire a bow twice is not sufficient to give the character initiative if they
decide to flee, however being under the effects of a haste spell does qualify automatically. Obviously,
more multiple attacks is better than fewer and so three attacks beats two, and four beats three etc.

If several combatants vie in the same bracket then use the d6 roll to break ties and if that's equal
then the two figures do in fact act simultaneously. Although groups share a single initiative die each
member of the group may have its own modifiers.

So, an exceptional party which contained: Albert (hasted), Bertie (Bow with +1 reaction mod), Clem
(normal cleric), and Zombie Dave (a zombie) who rolled a 4 for initiative would have this order of
action:
1. Bertie (ties with Albert for number of attacks but has +1 to initiative from Dex)
2. Albert (multiple attacks)
3. Clem (rolls a 4)
4. Bertie's second attack (ties with Albert but has +1 to initiative).
5. Albert's second attack
6. Zombie Dave (is a zombie)
If they faced a party of normal orcs, say, who also rolled a 4 for their initiative then Bertie and Al
would commence acting first, then Clem and the orcs together, then Berite, Al, and then Zombie
Dave bringin up the rear (or whatever else he's been eating).

Once the order of initiative is determined each of the figures declares which of options A-H (DMG
p61) they are using. In the above example Bertie's player would do this, followed by Al, Clem and the
DM for the orcs, and finally Zombie Dave's player. Notice that Bertie has the advantage of acting first
but everyone else knows what he's doing when they pick their option; he doesn't know what anyone
is doing for sure.

Once everyone has declared their actions they must be resolved. Conceptually, everyone commences
their actions at the start of the round with relatively minor delays (ie, less than 6 seconds) between
those with initiative and those without less. The archers nock their arrows; the spell casters ready
their components, the fighters pick their targets, the thieves run away, and the houris loosen their
clothing. In particular, movement and spell casting begin here so all parties involved get a full 10
segments of movement and casting time each and every round.
Initiative Phase 2: Finishing What You Have Started
If everything took the same time then that would be more or less all there is to it - each action would
be resolved and then the next round would begin. But some things take more time than others. The
two most important ones being movement and spell-casting, although things such as winding up or
down a drawbridge, finding a potion in a bag, or even falling also come under this heading and a
specific time (usually in segments) is assigned to them. Everything else - archery, striking blows,
most magical device effects - has a time requirement of zero (representing "unknown"). Which
brings us to the golden rule of AD&D initiative

Actions which have initiative always complete before actions of the same duration or longer which
do not have initiative.

Notice that if both actions require the same time, including zero, then the above rule covers the
situation and the initiative die will break or confirm the tie.

The question that remains is what happens if the slower action has initiative? To decide that, you
need to find the segment on which the faster one completes. If both have a specific time requirement
then that answers the question straight away: If you need 3 segments to reach me then any two-
segment action by me (such as teleport) will complete before you arrive.

That leaves situations in which only one action has a non-zero time requirement. I'll call the non-
zero time action "untimed" (eg, a dragon's breath or a crossbow bolt or a sword in the gut) and the
other sort "timed" from here on. There are two possibilities:

1. If the untimed event does not have a speed factor then Method I below is used.
2. If the untimed event has a speed factor (ie, it's a melee weapon attack) then Method II below
is used.
Method I (no speed factor): The higher of the two initiative dice is consulted (without
modification) and that indicates the segment on which the untimed action completes.

Example:
A fighter runs across a hall through the line of fire of an NPC with a heavy crossbow ready to fire.
The distance to cross is 30' and the fighter has a move rate of 9" (9' per segment; doubled to 18' for
charging movement) so he will take just 2 segments to cross. Here's how various initiative dice rolls
work out:

Fighter rolls 3 and the crossbowman a 4: crossbow wins and gets a to-hit roll (this is just the Golden
Rule from above).
Fighter rolls 3 and the crossbowman a 2: fighter wins and is across the gap before the attack roll.
Fighter rolls 2 and the crossbowman a 1: fighter wins and is across the gap before the attack roll.
Fighter rolls 3 and the crossbowman a 3: attack comes too late again.
Fighter rolls 2 and the crossbowman a 2: crossbow gets a to-hit roll but the fighter complete his
actions regardless of the result. So, if taken to 0 or less hp they will be prone but out of the line of
fire.
Fighter rolls 2 and the crossbowman a 3 but this crossbowman has a -2 to initiative for poor
dexterity (or some other reason): the higher die in this case is still the crossbowman's 3 and so the
fighter is safe.
All these cases can be replaced by a spell caster attempting to cast a spell with the same results. Note
that any action which takes more than 6 segments can not possibly complete before an untimed
action.

Method II (with speed factor): If initiative is otherwise tied, then the untimed action completes
on the segment equal to the speed factor. Otherwise, the timed action comes on the segment
determined by the difference between the speed factor and the losing initiative die.

Example:
If a dervish makes an attack with a scimitar (speed factor 4) and loses initiative with a 3 the attack
will come on segment 1; similarly if he loses with a roll of 5 the attack will also come on segment 1.

When the losing initiative die is equal to the speed of the weapon, the segment indicator is zero,
meaning that even a 1-segment action (or spell) will be interrupted by the attack.

Remember that you only use Method I or II if the shorter action has not gained initiative and that
means that one of the actions must have a specific non-zero time requirement, otherwise the action
with initiative is the one that completes first.

Notes
Notice that the system does not assume that what is being dealt with are attacks by one figure on
another. There are many times when the players will want to know if, for example, a hold
person spell takes effect before a monster attacks a member of the party who is not the spell caster.
The example above of the fighter crossing a gap is likewise not one where the characters are in direct
combat with each other.

Another thing worth pointing out is that the actions listed on page 61 of DMG are commenced in
order. Thus, if a party's cleric turns undead which its fighters are in melee with then those fighters
will get a an attack at +4 against the undead as they turn to flee. It is only those actions which have a
time requirement which are set aside and resolved in potentially a different sequence from the raw
initiative order.

Multiple Attacks
When a creature has multiple attack routines half of those attacks will have automatic initiative
against other actions and half will automatically lose. If the creature has an odd number of attacks,
then one will be evaluated in the middle in the same way as any other single attack (including using
initiative dice to resolve its order).

Gygax seems to have decided that running so many monsters with multiple attacks in the way that is
outlined above would be too much complexity,. so he introduced the idea of the attack routine.
Basically, when a lion does its claw/claw/bite attack it does so as a single unit against a single target
albeit with three separate to-hit rolls. A thief using a sword and a dagger likewise attacks with them
together, making two attack rolls against a single opponent. Meanwhile a high level fighter, on the
other hand, with two attacks per round gets the benefit of automatic initiative for the first one and
can attack two different targets.

In the monster manual, you will find occasional references to monster which are capable of splitting
their attacks between targets (trolls, demons, devil, octopuses and a few others). It is never explicitly
stated but I think the intent was that these monsters do fight in the same way as the high-level
fighter or bowman, gaining the advantage of first strike against those with but a single attack.

Closing to Melee/Charging
A careful look at the options A-H in the DMG reveals an interesting fact: if you are not within melee
range at the start of a round you can not make a melee attack this round without charging.
Your onlyoptions for getting into melee range are to close (make a normal move) or to charge (make
a double move with combat at the end), and the latter is only available once per 10 rounds. This has
important safety implications for spell casters who are not in the front line at the start of an
encounter.
A Clash of Arms
No initiative summary would be complete without a look at the wacky world of initiative ties as they
relate to melee weapons. Let's have a table too, why not?

These rules only applies when both combatants' weapons have speed factors and they have tied for
initiative.
1. The weapon with the lower speed factor (ie, the faster) attacks first.
2. If the difference between the weapons' speed factors is twice the speed factor of the faster (or
5+), the faster weapon gets a bonus strike which is also resolved before the slower weapon.
3. If the difference in speeds is 10 or more (only possible when facing pikes!) then the faster
weapon gets a third attack simultaneously with the slower one.
Nobody can claim that is an elegant system, so here's a table instead:

SF +1 +2
1 3 11
2 6 12
3 8 13
4 9 14
5 10 15
6 11 16
7 12 17
8 13 16

We'll stop there since 13 is the highest speed factor in the game. The first column is the speed of
"your" weapon and the "+1" column indicates the opposing speed factor needed to get an extra
attack, and "+2" that needed for two extra attacks.

Extra Reading
In particular, the section entitled "Actions during Combat and Similar Time-Important Situations"
on DMG p71 is a useful thing to keep in mind, as is the fact that the rules are a base and you can riff
off them and develop your own standards for what happens when in combat. The only real
requirement is consistency. Initiative is an important topic in an adventure game as it frames the
part of the game where characters are most likely to die - combat. Realism is not as important as
being fair in this regard, in my opinion anyway, and AD&D combat is brutal enough without also
making it hard for players to predict what is a good idea and what is not.