I go when now?

So as I continue posting up classes (Cleric's next!) I have to remember to keep posting up other system components as well.

Oops. Wrong Initiative.

And here's a big change...

Initiative is going back to d10. Also it has a mechanic tied into it to give people multiple attacks based on speed.

Here's how it works.

Characters roll Initiative on a d10. That number is modified by their Dex (either a bonus or penalty) and then by their weapons Speed rating (again either a bonus or penalty). This gets you your Initiative Total and puts you in that numbered segment of the turn.

For example, if I am a Thief with a +1 Dex modifier (11-13) and I am using a Dagger (+1 speed rating) and I roll a 5, my total is 7. Easy right? So the DM finds the highest initiative and that person (or monster) goes and then it's just a matter of counting down from there through each segment. In case of a tie, whoever has the highest Dex goes first.

Now there are a couple additional rules to consider.

1) A character with multiple attacks from their class always goes first in the Initiative order. If there is more than one character with multiple attacks, whoever rolled the highest Initiative takes their attack first. Those characters can ONLY use that action to take their attack. After all characters with bonus attacks have used them in the round Initiative proceeds as normal and the character can take their standard actions at their initiative segment.

2. A character whose Initiative total is greater than 10 can make a bonus attack! This bonus attack is taken at the segment equal to their Initiative total - 10. To go back to our example, if on round 2 our Thief had rolled an 9 to get an 11 Initiative total they'd take their actions at segment 11 and then get a bonus attack at segment 1. Again...simple, right? Right.

Keep in mind that most weapons have a penalty to speed so it is not easy for most characters to get multiple attacks in a round. Even the Thief in the example only gets an extra attack on a roll of 9 and 10. A 20% change. Not that good. When it happens though it's exciting, right?! Right.

Also keep in mind that monsters with natural attacks do not get these bonus attacks on Initiative...at least not at this stage of design. I might reconsider it but I'm not sure. We'll see.

Initiative will also be important for spellcasters to pay attention to because spell casting is going to be CASTING. No longer is it fire & forget.

For instance, say our Wizard gets an Initiative of 5 total. At segment 5, the Wizard takes his turn and decides to use his Standard action to start casting Fireball. Fireball has a casting time of 7. Now the Wizard starts counting down his casting time (a die is helpful for this!). Through each segment remaining in the round the spell is performed. We were at segment 5 so we would count down...4, 3, 2, 1, 0. People in those segments would take their actions as normal, of course. During this time the Wizard continues casting. As we reach the end of the round we see that the Wizard has 2 segments left (casting time of 7 - starting on segment 5).

So now we are on round 2. The Wizard rolls Initiative again and gets a 3. Our Thief friend got an 11 and is going first. So the Thief goes at 11 and we count down to 10 and anyone with an Initiative of 10 would go. After they did, the Wizard's spell would complete and he would cast Fireball (11-10 is two segments and we only had 2 segments of casting left). So the Fireball goes off at segment 10. Once we get around to segment 3 our Wizard can start casting another spell if he so wishes...or he can do whatever else he wants. Now, if the Wizards initiative had been higher he would have had to wait until his spell finished before he could act...in effect delaying his own action. As soon as the spell went off he would have then been able to take his action since he was delaying his own Initiative.

Makes sense right?

Keep in mind that this also means that casting can be interrupted. After all, if the Wizard got stabbed by that Thief he'd have a hard time finishing that spell, now wouldn't he?! Well, hopefully the Wizard has a Fighter friend that can get in the way and use the Cut-Off maneuver to keep the Thief at bay.