D&D 1E AD&D1e Initiative woes - how to interpret Acrobat-Thief's Evasion?

Quickleaf said:

Oh! Charging occurs outside of the initiative sequence? I hadn't realized that.

Yeah, for simplicity's sake - well as much as that applies for 1e initiative - I am not using that fighter multiple attack initiative complication. I get why that's there, but this is a one/two-shot for friends who want to try out 1e (and I want to experience running UK4 When a Star Falls for them), and so the more streamlined I can get it - while maintaining the core essence - it probably best.

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My advice?

Make your own simplified initiative system.

I recommend something similar to the following-

1. Initiative every round. One roll for each side. After declarations.
2. Get rid of most of the bonuses, complications, etc.
3. Keep spellcasting times if you want to keep the idea that spellcasting in combat is hard.

That's it.

Or, in typical Gygaxian fashion, if a subsystem or mode of play is too obnoxious for you, here's a magical way to ignore it completely:

Snarf Zagyg said:

My advice?

Make your own simplified initiative system.

I recommend something similar to the following-

1. Initiative every round. One roll for each side. After declarations.
2. Get rid of most of the bonuses, complications, etc.
3. Keep spellcasting times if you want to keep the idea that spellcasting in combat is hard.

That's it.

Click to expand...

Yup. I ran B/X on Sunday with a similar method. I'm using side-based initiative on d6, with action declaration and the Morale/Movement/Missile/Magic/Melee sequence resolved a bit ad-hoc. In keeping with the example of play on B28, I'm allowing missiles and magic to pre-empt movement and melee if the sides are not at melee range and need to close, even if the shooter/caster's side lost initiative. Once you're actually engaged, though, initiative trumps and spells can get disrupted by melee attacks.

Quickleaf said:

Oh! Charging occurs outside of the initiative sequence? I hadn't realized that.

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I don't think it does. The DMG table specifically assigns it to step 4E, so IF you are charging and you won initiative then that's when it takes place. If you're charging and LOST initiative, then all of the initiative winning side's actions are pretty much taking place prior to your charge. When you DO charge and the opponent is meleeing you in return, then which of your attacks is RESOLVED before the other is strictly a matter of whose weapon is longer - but that melee exchange between those two opponents still happens within a specific place in the initiative sequence.

1E initiative isn't always assigning a particular tick of the clock to determine what happens first. That is, sometimes it DOES, sometimes it's only a FACTOR in the calculation and not the sole decider. It's better to think of it in terms of what actions are RESOLVED first - even if they don't happen first.