Crothian
First Post
Whoever gets the highest number of successes goes first. Then each character is X ticks back from that depending on how fewer successes they got.
Tick-based initiative systems -what are your experiences?
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Whoever gets the highest number of successes goes first. Then each character is X ticks back from that depending on how fewer successes they got.
glass
(he, him)
Ah, so obvious when you put it like that! Another potentially stupid question, if I may:
What a new character joins a combat that has already started?
glass.
Crothian
First Post
You just don't do that
The character joining in the battle rolls just like everyone else did. Basically 8 ticks equals a round or something like that so that character gets placed in depending on their roll. It hasn't come up in our game yet so it is not a rule I'm 100% on.
pawsplay
Hero
On the AD&D thing... there was this thing called weapon speed. Mind you, characters were still limited to the usual number of actions, but different weapons were slower than others, different spells were faster or slower, and so forth.
Drawbacks: initiative becomes more involved to keep track of. "Wait, I was supposed to go," becomes a groaner. If the system restricts the round to a certain number of ticks or counts down, it may be possible to game the system to get more actions than your share. At that level of detail, suspension of disbelief problems can crop up (ok, the greatsword is arguably slower than the shortsword, but if the two opponents are fighting each other in melee, the greatsword fighter should go first).
Drawbacks: initiative becomes more involved to keep track of. "Wait, I was supposed to go," becomes a groaner. If the system restricts the round to a certain number of ticks or counts down, it may be possible to game the system to get more actions than your share. At that level of detail, suspension of disbelief problems can crop up (ok, the greatsword is arguably slower than the shortsword, but if the two opponents are fighting each other in melee, the greatsword fighter should go first).
(regarding Scion/Exalted 2e)
That rule is a bit odd. At the beginning of combat, the guy who rolls the most successes wins, and goes on tick 0. Everybody else goes a number of ticks later, based on how many fewer successes they rolled than the winner. The most you can win by is 6, however, which is itself a somewhat wonky rule- if three combatants roll 20, 10, and 0 successes to join battle, the first guy will go on 0, the other two go on 6. I would have made the rule that they go on 0, 6, and 12, maybe.
You note down the number of successes the winner rolled, this is the "reaction count".
Later, if someone wants to jump in, they roll "Join Battle" (their initiative pool), and compare that to the reaction count.
Say the reaction count was 5. If, on tick 20, I decide to join battle, and roll 3 successes, I go on 20 + (5-3) = tick 22. So it's somewhat slower to join battle if the initial initiative winner was fast, even if he's no longer in the battle (got killed, left, whatever). I would probably have said that you're rolling against a 6 whenever you join battle late.
That's a minor quirk, really.
The major problem in the system is that it's possible, in the rules, to get your attacks down to speed 1 reliably. Due to the way actions and resource management happens in the games, being able to take 5 or 6 times as many actions as your opponent is not just a big advantage, it's an overwhelming advantage, AND you take up the bulk of the time at the table with your plethora of actions, leaving the other players twiddling their thumbs.
It's comparable to D&D 3.0 haste- effectiveness in the system is measured in actions taken, and it's such an advantage that it kind of wrecks the timing system as everyone races for speed. A common house rule as a result is that attacks can't drop below 2 ticks.
glass
(he, him)
Not a tick-based system by the definition I was using, as the 'speed' doesn't make any difference to the number of actions you get.
A purely tick-based system has no need of rounds at all, AFAICT. I've heard Feng Shui is a tick-based system that also has rounds, but that could be using a different definition of "tick-based".
Anyone in the know care to clarify how initiative works in Feng Shui?
As I understand it, you generally start counting down ticks after your first item, so a greatsword being slower is not a problem for the first attack.
Excellent summary. Thanks.
glass.
