1st Edition AD&D Initiative: Clarification

Another confusing issue in AD&D is the initiative roll, especially when some members of the party are not involved in melee with the monsters. The examples in the books are either flat out wrong according to the rules provided or so situation specific as to be practically useless.

At the core, initiative is pretty straightforward. A d6 is rolled for both sides of the combat (players and monsters), sometimes by the DM and sometimes by the players and the DM (depending on preference). I prefer to allow the party to roll their own initiative, but I keep track of it in the margins of my combat notes. If the combat is simply straight melee, then I don't worry about anything other than high roll goes first. It's the other actions that bog the game down.

When timing is important, actions during the melee round need to be broken down into segments. If a creature is only moving, then each segment they move 1/10 of their movement rate (so a 12" movement rate moves 12 feet each segment). A segment is 6 seconds long and there are 10 segments in a combat round (1 minute). The d6 works best since it can tell you when in that segment or round that you go.

Spells must be announced BEFORE the initiative is rolled. This is because casting begins on segment 0 of the round and proceeds for as many segments as the casting time. If a spell requires one segment to cast, it requires the entire segment to cast. This is important. Spells works outside the normal initiative roll; however, if two spellcasters are casting spells at the same time with the same casting time, the one with the winning initiative roll casts first (possibly disrupting the other's spell at the last possible second). Any successful attack or damage to a casting character or monster BEFORE the spell is complete disrupts the spell.

Many magic items have activation times. Potions need 1 segment to drink and 2-5 segments to take effect. Spell scrolls are cast as spells using the casting time (protection scrolls have a reading time listed). Some rings, wands, staves, and rods have multiple activation times depending on the power used. Some miscellaneous magic items have activation times as well. These are all treated as beginning on segment 0 and occurring at the end of the segment indicated.

Now, how do you determine when a person goes in the round? Easy, look at your opponent's die roll. If the party won initiative, they go on the segment of the monster's initiative roll. The monster's losing initiative goes on the party's higher initiative roll. Say the party won initiative with a 4 and the monster's got a 2, the party would generally attack on segment 2 and the monsters on segment 4. So in essence, the party is rolling to see when the monster's go and the DM rolls to see when the party goes!

Tied initiatives resort to using weapon speed factors for attacks. The die roll itself is still used for undefined abilities like turning undead and missile fire. We use the 2nd edition version of multiple attacks since it makes more sense: the first attack comes in initiative order, and subsequent attacks occur at the end of the round in initiative order. (The actual method of multiple attack routines per the DMG indiactes that when you have 2 attacks in the round, the attacker goes FIRST and LAST.) Hasted creatures always attack first, and slowed creatures (including zombies) always attack last. Tied attacks that fall on the same segment are simultaneous. Spells cast with the same casting time on a tied initiative both occur simultaneously.

Let's look at a few combat examples using characters from my home campaign....

PARTY
Chow-Lin, 10th level human magic-user with several spells remaining
Eraergon ("Eric"), 10th level half-elven druid with scimitar +1 and several spells remaining
Falim, 7th level human ranger with dancing falchion and jambiya
Myriam, 8th level human cleric with mace +1 and several spells remaining
Hamlin, 6th level halfling fighter henchman with short sword of speed +1 and bullet sling

MONSTERS
2 ogres wielding huge battle axes
1 hill giant wielding club
2 dire wolves

On round one, Chow-Lin declares to cast magic missile (casting time 1 segment) at the giant. Eric casts heat metal (casting time 4 segments?) on one of the ogres. Falim declares a charge at the other ogre, Hamlin is slinging at a dire wolf, and Myriam is casting spiritual hammer (casting time 5 segments?) at the other wolf. The ogres are charging to attack, as are the dire wolves, and the giant is picking up boulders for throwing. Initiative is rolled and the results are Party 3, Monsters 4. Since Falim and the Ogres are charging, these attacks occur at the end of movement. Falim moves at 12' per segment and the ogres are moving at 9' per segment. If the encounter occurred only 40' away then they will clash at segment 2 since charging ignores initiative and the longer weapon strikes first (in this case the ogres). One of the ogres intercepts Falim. The dire wolf attacking Hamlin also arrives on segment 2 due to 18' movement per segment. The other dire wolf is charging Eric. The other ogre charges on to Myriam. Since the ogres and wolves were charging they get to attack at the end of their move. Here is the breakdown, segment by segment.

ROUND ONE
1: Chow-Lin's magic missile spell hits the giant for 15 points of damage.
2: The ogres attack Falim (hitting for 10 points) and Myriam (missing). The dire wolves attack Hamlin (hitting for 6 points) and Eric (hitting for 4 points). As a result, Hamlin must now switch weapons and Eric loses his heat metal spell. Since Falim charged also he gets to go at the end of this segment (after the ogre) and swings for a hit causing 12 points of damage.
3: The giant hurls one boulder at Chow-Lin, hitting for 9 points of damage.
4: Hamlin switches weapons from sling to short sword. Eric can do nothing since he lost his spell.
5: Myriam spell comes off (since she was not interrupted) and her spiritual hammer now is cast upon the ogre attacking her. She misses this round.
6-10: Nothing else happens.

This round we have melee with Falim vs. Ogre 1, Myriam vs. Ogre 2, Hamlin vs. Wolf 1, Eric vs. Wolf 2, and missile/spell combat between the giant and Chow-Lin. Chow-Lin declares a slow spell (3 segment casting time) on the ogres and wolves (but the giant is just out of range) and Eric and Myriam are drawing weapons so they will automatically lose initiative. Hamlin has a hasted 1st attack and a normal sword attack, so he will go first. Initiative is rolled - Party gets a 5, Monsters get a 2.

ROUND TWO
FIRST: Hamlin attacks his wolf for 7 points of damage.
1:
2: Myriam's spiritual hammer attacks her ogre and hits for 4 damage. Falim strikes at his ogre hitting for 15 points of damage, killing it. Hamlin's normal strike hits for 5 points of damage.
3: Chow-Lin casts slow on the wolves and ogres, making them attack every other round and last from now on.
4:
5: The giant tosses a boulder at Chow-Lin who is separated from the melee but fails to hit. The boulder rolls harmlessly away behind the melee.
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
LAST: Eric strikes with his scimitar at an ogre and hits for 4 points of damage. Myriam draws out her weapon but misses. The slowed ogre and wolves attack now: all miss their targets.

The 3rd round Falim has no target and must cross to the giant. He cannot charge again this turn. Hamlin is attacking Wolf 1, Eric is attacking the Wolf 2, Myriam is attacking Ogre 2, and Chow-Lin has decided to cast magic missile at the giant again. Combat continues at this point with the ogre and wolves attacking last and everyone else going on initiative.


As it states in the DMG, most attacks will come on segments 1-6. High level spells will usually go last, and low level spells will come early in the round. Spellcasting in combat is very tricky and it's good to have a backup plan when creatures come at you fast. The above example is rather complex but can be seen to work within the guidelines of the rules.

So initiative is not so scary after all and can be resolved fairly easily if the participants simply take their time. The rules as written make things overly complicated and should be reduced to this version in order to make the game run more smoothly. It may be ADVANCED D&D but that doesn't mean you should need a computer to figure out how to run combat!