d10-based Initiative system

House-rule initiative operates on a d10 system.  Each +5 of QU bonus is a +1 on initiative, rounding any remainder toward zero (and each QU penalty -5 is a -1 on initiative).  Hasted beings operate at a +5 initiative bonus.  A spell casting action is further advantaged by +5 over physical attack or other actions.  Bonuses are cumulative.  Therefore, a hasted magician QU 90 who will cast a fireball gets to add 12 to his d10 initiative roll.  Note that encumbering armours have the indirect effect of lowering initiative bonuses by lowering the wearer's effective QU bonus.

Potent magic items may have initiative bonuses associated with them.  The player (and GM) must distinguish whether the initiative bonus only applies to direct use of the item (a magic sword will usually only improve initiative when striking with that weapon) or in the general case (a bonus to all rolls, perhaps from a particularly powerful talisman).

Situational modifications to initiative for a given round may be assessed by the GM or, say, from critical table results.  Common situational modifiers include, but are not limited to: character must cover a certain distance before reaching viable attack range, character is drawing a new weapon, character must spend a few initiative clicks "orienting" to a new scene.

Sequence of actions in a round unfolds from highest total initiative to lowest (total initiative being determined by d10 roll for the round plus applicable bonuses/modifications).  Under this system, ties can be resolved a number of different ways depending upon GM preference.  The Anderson Campaign resolved ties head-to-head with all who tied at that initiative click making an additional d10 roll and adding their respective bonuses.  Order of action within the initiative click proceeds from highest to lowest according to the roll-off tiebreaker.  Consecutive ties beget additional tiebreakers until an ordering is determined.  (A different alternative is for ties to be resolved by d10 without bonuses.  Yet another is to treat ties as exactly simultaneous, though in some situations the implications of that can be unsatisfactory.)

Characters with dual weapons (e.g. trained with primary and off-hand weapon) may make both attacks at the same initiative click if both attacks are applied to the same target.  Otherwise, one of the attacks must be delayed two clicks from the first attack.  Similarly, the character may choose to stagger the attacks (two clicks delay) in order to be able to assess the success of the first attack, and therefore leave the choice open as to the second target.  Hasted characters, of course, may make two sets of physical attacks.  The second set of attacks may begin five clicks from when the first set of attacks was completed.

Note that a character who wields a magic scimitar that has a +2 initiative power would necessarily be "forced" to stagger attacks if he were also attacking with his off-hand dagger, assuming he wants to take full advantage of the former's magic initiative bonus.  Which is to say, his scimitar attack will always lead his dagger attack by two clicks unless he purposely foregoes the scimitar's bonus in order to make the attacks simultaneous.

Particularly gifted or high-level characters may be able to employ instantaneous spell attacks in addition to physical attacks in the same round.  In the extreme case, it is possible for a hasted character to do two sets of physical attacks and two instantaneous spell attacks (cf. house rule that two casts per round are acceptable for a hasted character provided that at least one cast is instantaneous).  Please note that this extreme case is only possible when both spell attacks are instantaneous, for otherwise any non-instantaneous spell action would take significant time and thus be in lieu of a physical action (i.e., in lieu of a physical attack set).  Regardless of whether an attack is physical or spell-based, each attack must be delayed at least five initiative clicks from the previous attack.  While the ordering of such attack sequences is at the discretion of the character, it is usually to the character's advantage to lead with the spell since spellcasting is advantaged by +5 initiative clicks already (see first paragraph).

Creatures/characters are not permitted to change parry allocation partway through a round, even if hasted and/or staggering off-hand attacks.

Instantaneous defensive spells (e.g. Bladeturn, Deflections, Stun Relief) can be employed at will without regard to the caster's initiative.  This is based on the philosophy that one doesn't require initiative to reflexively react to an assault, much as a character's parry allocation still applies from the very first moment of the round even while his initiative may have been very low.  The casting of such an instantaneous defensive spell does, of course, count against one's total actions for the round.  This can lead to interesting snap decisions where a character is panicked into throwing a Bladeturn early, and later having to forego an attack or healing spell he originally intended to throw.  It should go without saying that the GM must establish a target's decision whether to cast Bladeturn, Deflections, Aim Untrue, Dodging, et. al. before the attack roll is made.


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