VsD/Initiative

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

Note that failing Assessment is not as severe as being Surprised.

Assessment Roll Examples: you just need to gather your bearings, but you're still aware of the dangers around you. For example, you just fell from your horse, or someone just cast Darkness, or oh crap the skeletons you can already see are getting up off the ground.

Surprise Examples: the predator lying in wait managing to get the jump on you, the bandits successfully ambushing you, an unseen assailant suddenly stabs you in the back.

You will also sometimes have to make an Assessment Roll during a combat - 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 efficiently. 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. You still roll for Initiative.

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

Surprise
Ambushes and surprise attacks are resolved with a Conflicting Action: the group setting up the ambush makes a Stealth Roll, while their victims use their Perception Skill. Characters losing this Conflict are Surprised, regardless of which side they were on.

If you are Surprised; The bonus from Surprise does stack with On Rear, but only if you truly emerge from behind the foe, never entering its field of vision.
 * you cannot Attack and can only take Half or Free actions
 * you cannot Parry at all, or apply Shield bonuses to Defense
 * Attacks against you gain +20.
 * Attacks from Hand Weapons (defined by page 74 as "daggers, armored fists, and improvised weapons") gain a special +10 critical roll bonus
 * you do not make an Assessment Roll, but you still roll for Initiative

Surprise, like failing Assessment, usually lasts only one round. You can often act normally after the first round.

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

 * Vigilant Background: +5 Initiative


 * Shield: -2 Initiative

Your current Encumbrance is determined by how you have traveled during the last hour. Not merely what you are carrying this particular round of combat.
 * Encumbered: 2/3 Initiative
 * Heavily Encumbered: 1/2 Initiative


 * Weary Condition: 1/2 Initiative


 * Example: Perry has Swiftness +15, is carrying a shield and is Encumbered and Weary. He rolls 1d10+(3+3)-2 for initiative and gets 12. This value is then reduced by two thirds (to 8) and then by half (to 4). Perry's final initiative is 4.

Fluid modifiers
The following modifiers can change from round to round:
 * Polearm (when not engaged in melee with chosen target): +5 Initiative
 * This bonus assumes Weapon Length modifiers are not used. See below if you do use Weapon Length modifiers


 * Casting a prepared* spell: +10 Initiative
 * Firing a loaded and aimed* missile weapon: +10 Initiative
 * Throwing a readied* thrown weapon: +10 Initiative
 * *) Requires you to have spent at least one full round preparing/aiming/readying


 * 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
 * Not Longest*: +0 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.

Duration of Choices and Effects
Under this system, choices you make (i.e. how much CMB to devote to parrying) and effects (i.e. getting stunned) generally last until the beginning of your next turn (after having suffered the effect).

Example A (choice): When it is your turn, you decide to parry the Redcap in a blue hat, allocating 20 points of CMB for this purpose. This persists until the beginning of your next turn, when (obviously) you're free to make a new decision.

Any monster (including Mr Bluecap) attacking you in the meanwhile does so according to this decision. You can't change it until it is your turn again.

Example B (effect): After you act (Round #1), you suffer damage, getting Stunned. You remain stunned throughout the rest of the round, and through the start of the next turn, AND during your own turn (Round #2, making you unable to attack), and throughout the initiative order all the way until it your turn AGAIN (Round #3).

Look at this and you'll see you were stunned during exactly one (1) of your turns, making you miss out on making one (1) attack.

Just like in the original system, the timing can make this considerably better or worse. If you get stunned RIGHT AFTER your turn (by the very next combatant) it is worse than if you get STUNNED RIGHT BEFORE your turn (you're right after your "stunner).

This is unavoidable, and you shouldn't consider it a bug. It just is :)