VsD/Initiative

At the start of the encounter, you may be forced to make a special Perception Skill Roll, called the Assessment Roll.

You will also have to make an Assessment Roll at the start of any round where you have just been blinded by a bright light, knocked down, or otherwise dazzled.

Assessment Roll
Make a Perception Skill Roll. The difficulty is usually Standard.


 * Success: You can act freely.
 * Partial Success: You struggle to act quickly. Spend a half-action. You can then act freely.
 * Failure: You cannot act this round, except to keep doing what you were doing last round, or parrying with half your CMB.

The Assessment Roll only impacts actions this round. The next round you can act freely regardless of the result.

Initiative
Determine your Initiative Bonus. The default is your (SWI + SWI) divided by 5. You normally roll only once and then keep the result throughout the entire scene.

For instance: if you have +15 Swiftness that could mean you roll 1d10 + 6 for initiative.

There are several situations where another combination of Stats may be relevant for determining your Initiative Bonus.


 * Adventuring (WIS + SWI): When the great outdoors plays a significant role, or whenever the clue lies in the natural order of things, a wise character in tune with harmony will understand the circumstances first.
 * Combat (BRN + SWI): this applies to clear-cut unambiguous situations. When you see the bandit running against you on the path, there is nothing uncertain. This allows warriors to act decisively when it is clear that everybody chooses violence.
 * Roguery (WIT + SWI): when faced with intricate traps, where you need both quick reflexes and fast thinking, you can use Wits in addition to Swiftness.
 * Lore (WIT + WIS): when angry or duplicitous townspeople go from shouting to killing, you can act without any Swiftness at all. Intuiting what people do is hard, but Wisdom lets you do it faster.

Example: A warrior with +25 Brawn and +0 Swiftness generally has a +0 initiative bonus. But when the orcs are charging, he can roll initiative with a +5 bonus.

When it is your initiative: you perform your entire round's worth of actions.

Simultaneous actions: if two or more characters and NPCs get the exact same Initiative result, they act at the same time. (This can result in two characters attacking each other, and killing each other. Each action is executed before the effects are taken into account).

Initiative Modifiers
First we have a couple of static modifiers (you can likely just add them to your Initiative Bonus).


 * Vigilant Background: +5 Initiative
 * Shield: -2 Initiative
 * Encumbered: -2 Initiative
 * Heavily Encumbered: -5 Initiative

The following modifiers can change from round to round:
 * Polearm (when not engaged): +5 Initiative
 * Casting a prepared spell: +5 Initiative*
 * Firing a loaded and aimed missile weapon: +5 Initiative*
 * Throwing a readied thrown weapon: +5 Initiative*
 * *) Requires you to have spent one full round (at least)


 * Dashing Attack: +1d10 Initiative**


 * **) Dashing Attack: take a -30 penalty to CMB. In return you get to add +1d10 to your initiative this round.

Optional Weapon Length modifiers.
 * Hand: -5 Initiative
 * Short: -2 Initiative
 * Long: +2 Initiative
 * Longest: +5 Initiative

Most "longest" weapons count as such only when not already engaged in melee with your chosen target. Otherwise there is no Initiative modifier.