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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 9220131" data-attributes="member: 29398">Agreed; and your initiative tells us when in the round this action occurs.This points to some IMO regrettable over-simplification of 5e timing.The difference between &quot;drawing a dagger from its sheath&quot; and &quot;drawing a dagger from its sheath and throwing it&quot; is purely narrative, in that the former assumes you're not doing anything else with the dagger beyond just holding it at the ready, once you've got it in hand.Properly donning a shield should probably take at least 2 rounds unless it's the Captain America style which realistically should slip off his arm all the time.&nbsp; And so on.Here you have a point, and again the culprit is over-simplified 5e timing.Command, Counterspell, Featherfall, the various Power Word spells, and a very few other single-word spells should be instantaneous and, yes, almost uninterruptable because they are cast so quickly.&nbsp; Most spells should take somewhat longer to cast, with that &quot;somewhat longer&quot; being measurable in game time.&nbsp; The measurment unit - pips in the initiative sequence - is already in place, yet the designers refuse to use it.Why, you ask?&nbsp; They claim it adds complication, which is IMO bogus given how complicated everything else already is.&nbsp; My take is it's another cave-in to whining wizard players who want their spells to go off a) uninterrupted and b) right now.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 9220131, member: 29398"] Agreed; and your initiative tells us when in the round this action occurs. This points to some IMO regrettable over-simplification of 5e timing. The difference between "drawing a dagger from its sheath" and "drawing a dagger from its sheath and throwing it" is purely narrative, in that the former assumes you're not doing anything else with the dagger beyond just holding it at the ready, once you've got it in hand. Properly donning a shield should probably take at least 2 rounds unless it's the Captain America style which realistically should slip off his arm all the time. And so on. Here you have a point, and again the culprit is over-simplified 5e timing. Command, Counterspell, Featherfall, the various Power Word spells, and a very few other single-word spells should be instantaneous and, yes, almost uninterruptable because they are cast so quickly. Most spells should take somewhat longer to cast, with that "somewhat longer" being measurable in game time. The measurment unit - pips in the initiative sequence - is already in place, yet the designers refuse to use it. Why, you ask? They claim it adds complication, which is IMO bogus given how complicated everything else already is. My take is it's another cave-in to whining wizard players who want their spells to go off a) uninterrupted and b) right now. [/QUOTE]

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