Initiative for Beginners STAGE 1: I GO, YOU GO
This is the simplest possible version of the initiative system and is basically
INTRODUCTION
The following is an attempt to re-word the initiative system to include all the
rules in the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE but in a "staged" order so that the DM
may select how complex a game s/he wants to run. The main divergence
from the book rules is in how fixed-term actions such as spell casting are
related to characters who have multiple actions, since this does not seem
to have been addressed in the printed rules.
The first edition AD&D initiative system attempts to answer questions of the
form “does A happem before B?”, rather than the later editions which at-
tempted to answer the question “when does A happen?”. The differences
between the type of answers get to these two questions are subtle but im-
portant; the first edition DM has much more leeway in describing the action
of the combat round compared to later editions.
Actions, Options, and Phases
Each figure has a number of actions that they can take during the combat
round. At low levels, this will be 1. High level fighters, monks and characters
who have been hasted may have 2 or more actions, while some monsters
may, at the DM’s option, have as many as 7 or more.
The combat round is divided into one or more phases wherein each com-
batant is either active or inactive. In those phases where a figure is active
they may perform the following options, one at a time:
A Flee
B Attempt to parley/surrender etc.
C Wait for opponent/mark opponent/change weapon (simply discard-
ing a weapon is a “free action”).
D Perform any ranged attack form of any kind: missile weapon, magical
device, turning undead, spell casting etc.
E Charge or close to melee.
F Prepare weapons: Set weapons against possible charge/reload missile
weapon with rate under 1/rnd.
G Perform melee attack.
H Perform unarmed combat attack.
A phase has no duration associated with it: in a two phase round phase 1
might represent the activity of the first segment or the first nine segments or
even a fraction of a segment. The only purpose of the phases is to order
events. Actions in phase 1 take place some time before those of phase 2,
which come before phase 3 etc.
Before initiative is rolled, all characters must declare what their chosen ac-
tion will be in their first active phase, even if that phase will not be the first
one of the round. Subsequent options are declared upon completion of
whatever the current action is.
Once a player has declared an intent the DM should evaluate the results
of following actions as if the character was already attempting to perform
that act or preparing to, even if they have yet to be active.
e.g., A player declares before initiative that his character is reloading the
crossbow that he fired on the previous round. If the character is struck
before their own active phase then that action has been distupted and
the effects should be adjudicated by the DM.
e.g., A player starts the round by saying that their character is closing
to melee with an orc. Until the character’s active phase, it is possible
for another creature to intercept and attempt to prevent them from
engaging the orc.
Continuing actions
Casting spells, movement, lifting drawbridges, looking for a potion bottle in
a backpack etc. are continuous actions which a character must declare
at the start of a round. Such actions may be abandoned (or completed)
during a combat phase, but they may not be started other than at the very
beginning of the round.
A continuing action is counted as being performed in every phase, even
ones where the figure is "inactive". Such actions may only be intentionally
abandoned in a phase where the figure is active.
A figure may not choose a new option in the phase when a continuing
action is completed, but may do so in a phase when wishing to abandon
an action, provided they are active.
e.g., a character who is casting a long spell may abandon it and flee
when they are active but if the spell is completed they must wait until
the next time they are active to move.
1
the one on DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE p61. There is only one phase in each
round and everything is resolved in initiative order (high roll first). Characters
with multiple options take them consecutively when it is their turn. Characters
using bows or other missile weapons with rates higher than 1/rnd make all
their attack rolls together.
If initiative dice are tied, then all damage from both sides, even from multiple
attacks, is applied before removing casualties from combat.
While this stage works for low level play, it becomes increasingly unsatisfacto-
ry for higher level play as characters and their opponents become entitled
to multiple actions.
STAGE 2: SIMPLE WEAPON SPEEDS
This modifies Stage 1 to include some basic consideration for weapon
speeds.
When initiative is tied, the weapon with the lower speed now goes first.
Natural weapons are faster than hand-held weapons. Missile weapons go
before melee weapons unless the range is 1" or less, in which case melee
goes first and missile use by the defender is generally impossible.
Characters using missile weapons may add their dexterity reaction bonus to
the initiative die (as well as their to-hit roll) for determining their own priority
only. Note that any armour-type other than non-bulky negates such a bonus.
STAGE 3: SIMPLE CASTING TIMES
This uses all the rules as Stage 2 and combat is still a single phase. However,
continuing actions with a set length less than a complete round are treated
separately. This has a particular effect on spell-casting which has up to now
been treated as just a sub-option of “D—ranged attacks”.
In stages 1–3 a continuing action, such as casting a spell, has been com-
pleted, and its effects adjudicated by the DM, when the character doing
the action’s turn has come around in the combat round. This means that
if the actor’s side lost initiative, then the action would automatically be in-
turrupted by any successful attack on the person performing the action.
Conversely, any continuing action by the side with initiative automatically
completes before the opposing side has any chance to inturrupt, no matter
how long that action takes.
Stage 3 introduces the possibility that slow actions can be interrupted or that
fast ones may not be regardless of who won the initiative roll. The character’s
turn in the combat round is now just a chance to abandon the action and
do something else rather than representing the moment when the action is
completed.
Firstly, two such continuing actions complete in order of their duration, with
the initiative dice breaking ties. Thus a short spell always goes before a longer
spell.
In order to determine if a continuing action is completed before some other
combat action, such as striking blows or turning undead, the acting figure’s
initiative die is consulted. If this is greater than the time required (in seg-
ments), then the action is completed first. If it is equal then the side with the
higher initiative die goes first, and if it is lower then the continuing action did
not complete before the other combat option.
Remember that instead of a casting time, these rules could equally apply
to a character spending 4 segments hunting through a trunk for a scroll or
a character running to the aid of another party member.
Also remember that continuing actions may only be abandoned when the
character is active and that even a hasted character may not begin a new
continuing action (such as spell casting) until the start of the next round.
Finally, actions that take an entire round, or multiples thereof, are completed
and resolved at the end of the final phase of the combat round after all
other actions. If more than one such action is to be completed at the end
of a round they are resolved in initiative order.
e.g., If a character with a move rate of 9" is 40’ away from a magic user
who is about to be attacked, it will take them 5 segments to get there
before the blow comes, so they will need to roll a 6 for initiative in order
to make it in time to block the attack; a character with a move rate of
12” would need a 4 or more.
STAGE 4: MULTIPLE ATTACKS/MULTIPLE PHASES
Up to now, even characters with darts or high level characters with multiple
attacks have taken all their attack rolls together by choosing either option D
(missiles) or option G (melee weapons). This makes the gaining of initiative a
very strong advantage for such characters and increases the luck element
of combat to a degree which many do not like. Stage 4 spreads such
multiple actions across multiple phases. There is no fixed length to a phase
and every phase in a round may (or may not) represent different amounts
of actual time.
Each phase is executed exactly as the single phase of stages 1–3 were with
two changes:
1) Each time a character with a weapon chooses options D or G they fire
but a single missile or resolve one melee attack routine respectively. Note
that we are still treating attack routines as single actions, however, so a 13th
level fighter with sword and dagger will attack with both on two separate
phases.
2) For the purposes of resolving continuing actions Vs attacks, attacks in
phases before the actor is active are deemed to have come before com-
pletion of the action and those in later phases afterwards. Actions in the
same phase are resolved by normal initiative as described in stage 3.
e.g., A magic user is casting teleport (2seg) during a round with 3 phases
and is attacked on phase one. Since the attacker is active before the
caster, the attack comes before the spell is completed. If a second
attack comes on the next phase then that attack will strike before the
spell is completed if the caster’s initiative was 1, simultaneously on a 2,
and afterwards on a 3+. Attacks in the final phase are automatically too
late—the caster will have gone.
The Number of Phases
To determine the number of phases, look at the number of attacks each
combatant can make. Some will be able to make an odd number of attacks
(eg, clerics can make one), and some may be able to make an even
number (eg, a 13th level fighter can make 2).
The total number of phases in a round will be equal to the highest even
number found plus the highest odd number found. Either may be zero, of
course.
The following chart may help to clarify how different numbers of active
phases interweave.
1
1 2
1 2 3 ic missile (1 segment) at the cleric. There will be five phases, with the
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 before the spell completion. The magic missile spell is multiplied by 3
Action Sequencing
e.g., five orcs (1 attack each) face a 3rd level ranger with a longbow
(2 attacks) and a thief with darts (3 attacks). There will be five phases. If
the thief was not there, then there would be three phases.
The number of phases is determined by the DM after initial options have
been chosen (ie, before initiative is rolled) and in light of the current con-
ditions. So, in the above example, if the ranger’s player declared that he
was drawing his sword and charging the orcs the ranger would be counted
as having one action (the charge) and there would then be three phases
assuming that the thief had chosen to throw the darts.
Once the number of phases is known, the active phases are distributed
evenly, with figures with the highest number of actions being active first and
those with only one action falling in the middle of the round.
e.g., Taking the example of the orcs (O), the ranger (R), and the thief
(T), the five phases would have the following pattern: T-R-(T/O)-R-T. In
phases 1, 2, 4, and 5 only one figure is active, either the thief or the
ranger and initiative is not relevant. In phase 3 both the thief and the
orcs are active and the order of action resolution is determined by the
initiative dice as normal.
Missile Weapons
Firing a missile weapon is an action. However, using a missile weapon which
has fire rate greater than 1/rnd does not grant the user an extra full phase
of actions. A character may only use the full range of options a number of
2
times equal to their own inherent ability. A thief, for example, may only make
one full choice per round even if armed with darts. If that thief was hasted,
then s/he would be able to make two full choices. The remaining choices
are limited to non-combat ones: A,B,C, or D.
Should the user of such a missile weapon not choose to fire the weapon
on their first phase they may do so on a later phase so long as they have
not engaged in any other form of combat or spell casting on their previous
phases.
Stage 4a: Multiple Monster Attacks
If the DM wishes, I would personally suggest making all monsters’ multiple
attacks into separate phases in the same way as a high level fighter. At-
tack routines would have to be entirely directed a single target unless the
MM specifically states that multiple targets may be addressed. This generally
reduces the danger of monsters (because they may be killed before execut-
ing all their attacks) except for those with poisonous or other similar special
attacks, which it makes more dangerous (because they may succeed in
poisoning their opponents before the opponent can react).
STAGE 5: ADVANCED CASTING TIMES
Stage 5 attempts to reflect the idea that some spells are faster than others
to the point where even multiple attacks may come too late to interrupt
particularly fast spells.
[Note: this is a totally new rule not found in the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE,
see the notes later for the rationale. In the case of a single-phase round the
rule does not change the outcome which the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE
would have dictated.]
A spell may now complete in any phase, not just the one during which
the caster is active. On any phase, multiply the spell’s casting time by the
number of phases remaining until the caster is due to be active, including
that active phase or divide it by a similar amount if later (if the answer is
more than 1, round all fractions up, otherwise keep them). Then proceed as
normal.
Thus, on each phase the DM must, as usual, look at the current situation and
identify those figures for whom a decision is needed about order of actions.
Remembering that spells actually complete in order of casting time is the
key issue. Here is an extended example of a single phase; there is a worked
example of a full combat using these rules later.
e.g., A Cleric is casting hold person (5 segments) on a 13th level fight-
er (2 attacks) who is about to melee her while a thief armed with darts
(3 attacks) attempts to strike an opposing magic user who casting mag-
spell casters being active on phase 3. Initiative is rolled and the thief’s
party rolls a 4 while the fighter’s side rolls a 2.
On phase 1, the thief is active and the magic-user is attempting to
complete his spell. So the question is whether the dart attack comes
to give a modified casting time of 3, which is greater than its caster’s
initiative so the thief’s dart is thrown, hitting the magic user and spoiling
his spell. Since magic missile is shorter than hold person, there is no other
implications for the sequencing of events.
On phase 2, the fighter is active and what is needed to be determined
is whether this attack comes before the hold person. There are two
phases to go before the cleric’s so the casting time is counted as 10,
much more than the cleric’s initiative die. So the attack comes before
spell completion, but in this case it misses (remember that casters are
not rooted to the spot, they may not use any dexterity bonus but are
otherwise capable of defence).
On phase 3, the thief, the cleric, and the magic-user are all active. The
cleric’s spell casting is not involved in any of the sequence determina-
tion in this phase (since it targets neither the thief nor the magic-user) so
it is ignored. The thief’s second dart comes before anything the magic
user does, since the latter lost initiative. The dart misses. The magic user
may, having had his spell spoilt, opt only for A, B, or C options—the loss
of a spell does not grant the choice of some other offensive option in its
place unless the character was hasted and had a second full option to
use.
On phase 4, the fighter is active but the cleric’s spell is now complete
as the modified casting time is now 3 (5 divided by 2, rounded up as the
result is more than 1), which is less than the initiative score of 4. Since the
cleric’s initiative roll was higher than the fighter’s, the fighter must roll his
saving throw before his attack. He fails and the attack never comes.
On phase 5, the thief throws a final dart, which hits and does some
damage to the magic user.
STAGE 6: ADVANCED CASTING TIMES
Stage 6 introduces the idea that a fast spell may be able to beat a slow
weapon even if the initiative dice indicate otherwise and that, similarly, a
fast weapon may beat a slow spell even if the caster’s initiative roll was
good.
In order to determine if a specific attack comes before spell completion,
find the difference between the weapon’s speed and the losing initiative
roll (if initiative is tied then just use the weapon speed). If this number is less
than the spell’s (possibly modified) casting time then the attack comes first;
if equal then it is simultaneous.
Treat natural weapons as a speed of 1, and for missile weapons continue to
use the Stage 2 rule.
[There is a lot of controversy about this rule, from p62 of the DUNGEON
MASTERS GUIDE, you may wish to use the initiative roll of the person using
the weapon rather than the losing roll. Doing so favours slower weapons but
seems more logical]
This should be checked for every attack that might be affected by a spell in
any given phase to determine the exact sequence of attacks and spells.
e.g., Going back to phase 4 of the previous example: the hold person’s
modified casting time was 3, the cleric’s initiative 4 and the fighter’s 2.
If the fighter was using a longsword his modified segment would have
been 3 (the difference between a weapon speed of 5 and the losing
initiative die of 2), which is the same as the modified casting time. Thus,
although the fighter would still have been affected by the spell, he
would have been able to attack the cleric as well. If using a hand-axe,
he would have been able to attack before the spell was complete.
STAGE 7: ADVANCED WEAPON VS WEAPON
When initiative is tied and two melee weapons are due to strike (against
each other) on the same phase, the faster weapon may receive bonus
attacks in addition to attacking first. Natural weapons such as claws, bites,
horns etc. do not receive bonus attacks, nor do melee weapons gain such
attacks against them. It is suggested that monks employing open-hand
combat should receive the bonus attacks.
Taking the difference between the two weapon speeds, if the result is 5+ (or
at least double the faster weapon), then the faster weapon not only strikes
first but may strike again against the user of the slower weapon before the
latter rolls their attack die. If the difference is 10 or more then the faster
weapon also receives a third attack after the slower weapon has resolved
its single attack.
A FULL COMBAT
This is a re-run of the combat on page 71 of the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE,
between Aggro the Axe (4th level fighter), Abner the 5th level magic user,
Arkayn the 4th level cleric, and Arlanni the 2nd level thief on one side (side A)
and Gutboy Barrelhouse the 7th level dwarf fighter (boosted here by one
level to demonstrate multiple attacks), Balto the 1st level monk, Blastum the
4th level magic-user, and Barjin the 4th/5th level half-elven fighter magic
user as side B.
This time around, neither party is surprised, encounter distance is 1” as in the
DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE, and combat proceeds to round one:
Round 1
Pre-initiative, Abner declares magic missile at Gutboy, Arkayn issues a com-
mand to “surrender” also at Gutboy, and Blastum attempts to use shocking
grasp on Arlanni—all 1 segment spells—while Barjin declares that he will en-
gage in combat rather than cast spells. Gutboy and Barjin both pick Arkayn
as their melee target; Balto takes Aggro as his target.
Side A rolls 3, and side B rolls 4. Since this is an odd-numbered round, Gutboy
will get two attacks, so there will be three phases.
Phase 1 has only a single active character, Gutboy with his war-hammer
(speed 4), but he is the target of two spells. Arkayn’s and Abner’s modified
casting times are both 2 and Gutboy’s segment indicator is 1 (difference
between lower initiative die and his weapon speed), so Gutboy’s attack at
Arkayn lands without any need to consider the spells.
Against Arkayn’s scale and shield (AC 5), Gutboy needs a 16. He rolls 12,
and adds 7 for his level and 1 for strength, a total of 20—a hit. Arkayn takes
5 damage and his command spell is lost.
Phase 2 This phase is shared by everyone except Gutboy, although Arkayn is
unable to do anything substantive as his action was the pre-declared spell
which was disrupted. With no further active phases this round, Arkayn need
3
not declare anything although, if he had one, his dexterity bonus would now
count towards his defence since he is no longer engaged in spell-casting.
Since side B won initiative, the DM considers them first. Barjin attacks Arkayn
and needs a 17 with a longsword. He rolls 13 and adds his 4 levels of fighter
to total 17; he rolls 6 damage against Arkayn.
Balto attacks Aggro (plate and shield) with his staff, requiring a 24 to hit. He
rolls a 19, adds 1 for his level but the total is still short.
Blastum is attempting to touch Arlanni with his shocking grasp. Arlanni’s short-
sword has a modified speed of 0, while Blastum’s attack (treat as fist/open
hand) has a modified speed of 2 (the difference between a speed of 1 and
a losing initiative of 3—this is an example of a fast weapon’s speed being
counteracted by its short reach). Arlanni needs a 9 to hit but rolls a 4 which
is unmodified for a thief of level 1–4; a miss. Blastum needs 11 to hit leather
armour, plus 2 for Arlanni’s dexterity. He rolls a 13 (likewise unmodified for a
level 1–5 magic-user) and does 10 points of damage, killing Arlanni.
That’s side B. On side A, Arlanni is dead and Arkayn is recovering from spell
use. That leaves Aggro in combat with Balto, and Abner who is casting
magic missile at Gutboy. Since Gutboy is not active this phase and no one
is attacking Abner, it is not necessary to resolve the spell so we ignore it,
leaving just Aggro’s attack on Balto.
Aggro needs a base 10 with his hand axe and rolls a 7. To this he adds 4 for
his fighter levels, 1 for the magic of his axe for a total of 12—a hit which does
2 damage. A lucky Balto lives another round.
Phase 3 sees the resolution of Gutboy’s second attack on Arkayn. With Ab-
ner’s magic missile down to a modified casting time of .5 it beats even Gut-
boy’s modified weapon speed of 1 and Gutboy takes 6 points of damage.
Gutboy rolls a 1 and misses Arkayn.
Thus ends round 1.
Round 2
Pre-initiative Gutboy has only one action this round, so there will be just one
phase.
Aggro remains in combat with Balto, Abner declares he’s casting web (2
segments), Arkayn swings his mace from wherever it is one stores a mace
and remains engaged with Gutboy and Barjan, and Arlanni continues to
bleed on the floor.
Gutboy is in combat with Arkayn, Balto with Aggro but throws aside his staff
and switches to open-hand combat, Barjan continues to attack Arkayn,
and Blastum declares that he is going to haste (3 segments) Gutboy (which
will take him to three actions per round).
Initiative is rolled: side A gets 1, and so does side B.
Phase 1 (and only)
Since both dice were 1, all the attacks will come before either spell.
Gutboy is faster than Arkayn’s footman’s mace, but not enough to get any
bonus attacks, so it merely goes first. A roll of 7 is modified by strength and
level to 15 and narrowly misses the cleric. Barjan’s longsword is likewise faster
than the mace and his attack roll of 8 (modified to 12) is likewise a miss.
Arkayn replies with an attack on Gutboy (randomly chosen, since Arkayn
has two opponents in range). Against Gutboy’s splint and shield, Arkayn
would normally require an 18 but the shield is +2, so he needs 20. With a roll
of 7 (modified by +3 for a level 4–6 cleric) he misses.
Aggro’s hammer has a speed of 4 but Balto’s open-hand is 1. With a differ-
ence of more than twice the speed of the faster weapon, Aggro actually
gives away a bonus attack, although the monk requires a natural 20 to hit.
A 12 misses, but the second roll is a 20 and Balto does 2 damage. Sadly,
there is no chance of the low-level monk stunning an opponent in plate
and shield and Aggro’s return roll of 13 and the subsequent damage brings
Balto’s career to a sticky end.
With all the melee combat done, Abner’s web spell takes place and in the
resulting mess, Blastum’s spell is ruined and the combat ends as a semi-
trapped Gutboy realises that with his allies caught in the webs he has little
chance. He, Blastum, and Barjan surrender after two minutes fraught con-
tending in the underworld.
NOTES

Two(+) Weapons

A character using more than one weapon generally uses the slowest of the
two when deciding issues of initiative, although the longer will still determine
priority in charges (this is likely to be the slower weapon anyway).

Movement

A figure has three options for movement:

1) continuing movement declared at the start of the round ("I’ll run across the
room and try to open the door"). Continuing movement is treated in much
the same way as spell casting for purposes of interruption/interception. If a
character has an active phase after such movement is completed, then
they may choose any normal option; if movement is completed after their
active phase then they are deemed to be more or less stationary (i.e., within
1”) for the remainder of the round.

2) close to melee/charge. Both of these are the same thing from the point
of view of these rules: options which are taken when the character is active
and which aim to reduce the distance between them and some target to
the point where melee combat can take place. A character may move up
to MV/x where x is the number of full options they are normally allowed per
round.

3) simple movement outside of combat. Treated in the same way as #2.

JUSTIFICATIONS AND EXCUSES

Continuing Actions Vs Casting Spells

Why “continuing actions” all the time and not “spell casting”? I feel that
many DMs and players overlook the possibility that characters may do things
in a combat round that are not combat. This can lead to very static play
and dull descriptions of what is happening. So I decided to stress that things
might be going on by writing “continuing action” in many places where
traditionally the rules would speak of spell casting. The DUNGEON MASTERS
GUIDE actually has quite a lot to say about such actions, although like most
of the initaitive system it is spread out over multiple pages and places.

Multiplying Casting Times

One question never answered in the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE is “If I attack
and miss a magic user with my first attack, can my second attack interrupt
their spell?”

The logical answer to this seems to me to be that the first attack should
have a greater chance to do so than the second. Since not all attacks will
have a weapon speed, any solution to this issue that manipulated weapon
speed in order to get an answer was of limited usefulness. The only universal
solutions are to adjust the initiative dice or the action’s duration. In order to
make the system work with the advanced weapon speeds, the latter was
selected.

The specific choice of how to multiply up (or divide down) the casting time
was based on the rule of thumb that it should be “twice as hard” for a
spell to be cast before a fighter with two attacks gets in at least one blow.
Meanwhile, the system should leave the case of a magic user against a 1st
level fighter exactly as it is in the book.

v. 1.4—7 August 2009

Change log

1.4 Added note on dexterity reaction bonus.

1.3 Added note on two-weapons.

1.2 Expanded discussion of phases in the introduction.

1.1 Moved full combat example to before the notes section.