Effective Initiative
We use a modified system of EI rules for combat and surprise. I have always treated initiative as slightly more a ‘solid’ stat than the standard EI rules given in Apocrypha Now and WFRP2.
Attack Order
We use the natural (I) without rolling at the beginning of every combat, or rolling for any bonuses. Then we follow the basic idea of dividing (I) by number of attacks to determine the order. Modifier for winning and charging are treated as normal for the following round
Surprise
If characters are surprised, I don’t see them standing around completely useless for 10 seconds. The surprised characters make an (I) test, with any modifiers that could help in context (sixth sense, acute hearing, knowledge of the enemy etc). If they fail, they are surprised and start the fighting at (I) -D6x10 to a minimum of 0 (at which point they must miss this round, only parrying and dodging). Even if successful, they lose (I) -10. All surprised characters must of course take actions to draw their weapons, ready shields as normal. The following round then continues as normal.
These notes have been added to the
House Rules Compendium
From WFRP2, "To determine /Initiative/, 1d10 is rolled and the result is added to the character’s *Agility* Characteristic."
ReplyDeleteI'm slightly confused by the house rule, at least in the notations used. When you say, "We use the natural (I) without rolling..." do you mean Intelligence, or Int? I'm guessing you men Intelligence, but I'm confused why you would use this characteristic over Agility, the primary initiative element in the Rules as Written (RaW).
Also, not having Apocrypha Now, and not finding RaW for Effective Initiative, I feel that something is missing from your description of the house rule, such as an example of computing and using it. Otherwise, isn't the EI in the RaW just Agility + 1d10? So why the house rule? It seems abstract enough with too much math.
All curiosities from a tenured WFRP GM. Much thanks for these posts.
Correction above... "[The Initiative RaW] seems abstract enough *without* too much math."
ReplyDeleteHi there! sorry for late reply, its been a while since checking the site. Thanks for commenting. Im going back over my write up to see if I was confused :D
ReplyDeleteThe I stat im using is WFRP1 Iniative score - yep - the old one :) What i meant was that we simply use the (I) score to determine order of first moves, rather than a stat score + a modifier. Mostly to not have to add rolls by every character at the beginning of action.
The original rules simply have you go in order of (I) and have all your attacks in that turn. Some later docs (mebbe one of the apoc. dont have them next to me) introduced the EI method where you divide your (I) score by attacks, and cascade your attacks at [I-(I/A)]...
eg - elf with (I)60 and 3 attacks, makes actions at (I)60, then (I)40 and (I)20. Fighting a beastman with (I)30 and 1 attack would be:
elf, elf, beastie, elf
hope that makes sense.
*I gues all of this is a long way of saying we just dont add any mod rolls when combat starts..means my turn order sheets are way easier to manage each combat :D*
sorry if the I stat is confusing - the site is mostly about old fashioned geeks like me who are still using WFRP1 :D