The Initiative Roll

The Player’s Option combat system resolves actions in five action phases: very fast, fast, average, slow, and very slow. A character’s action phase is determined by his base initiative, modified by his weapon speed and the combat action he selects for the round. Striking at an opponent standing next to you doesn’t take much time at all, but running halfway across the battlefield in a long charge will take a little more time.

At the beginning of each round of combat, both sides roll a d10. The side with the lowest roll wins initiative. In each action phase, the side that has won initiative attacks and moves first. In any given action phase for one side of a fight, attacks and spells occur before movement takes place. (In other words, if you and your companion both take an action in the average phase, your buddy gets to fire an arrow or cast a spell down that hallway before you actually begin running down it.) If there are fast creatures on both sides of the fight, the fast creature that won initiative strikes before the fast creature that lost initiative. Fast creatures strike before average creatures, even if the average creature’s side won initiative.

Some initiative rolls provide unusual results:

· A roll of 1 accelerates the action phase of that side by one, so a slow character gets to go in the average phase;

· A roll of 10 slows the action phase of that side by one step;

· A tie results in a critical event. Reroll the initiative dice until one side or the other wins, and then consult the Critical Event Table below.

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