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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Michael Morris" data-source="post: 6013245" data-attributes="member: 87">Initiative and Speed...One of the more evil things 3e did to the balance of power between martial and magical classes was the removal of casting times.  Prior to 3e initiative was more complicated - it changed from round to round and spells had a delay from when they started to when they completed which could be interrupted. This created a risk / reward situation for spell casters and prevented them from being able to use spells in combat.Then there's the evolving complexity of actions.  Full-round actions, Standard Actions, Move-Equivalent actions, Immediate actions, Swift actions.  It boggles the mind.  Can this be simplified further while remaining flexible? Can casting times be restored?Speed.The current approach to speed is to list the distance, in squares a character can move on one move equivalent action.  For humans this is 6, dwarves, halflings and gnomes its a 4.  Armor penalizes speed.What I'm considering for phoenix is to take a step back and look at 10 as the default distance of a move action.  I'm trying to get to a point to where you can move or act but not both.  But that's elicited some groans from my players so I backtracked a bit before hitting on this thought: Even in 3e you can "adjust" 5' and still make any other action, even a move action.Now, what if you can "adjust" more the 5'?  There are current feats for this and they are quite powerful.  This and a couple of other thoughts brought me to this plan:On your turn you have one action.  How far you can move depends on the action's speed.  You have a move of 10 (race/class mods not withstanding) and the action will cost from 0 to 10 to perform.  Heavier weapons are slower.  Higher level spells take up more time.  You can move 9 squares and still cast a 1st level spell, but only 4 squares and cast a 6th level spell.Speed can also be placed on as a limiter for feats.  Power Attack, for example, can slow the weapon down.You only get one attack roll on your turn.  If you use two weapon fighting you accept a penalty equal to the die of the offhand weapon to the attack roll - if you hit you roll the damage of both weapons, but strength damage bonuses are only applied once (your strength is split between the two weapons). The two weapon fighting feat would half the attack penalty (from 4 for a dagger to 2).  Ambidexterity would halve it again (minimum 1).Higher level martial characters don't get more attacks, they deal more damage on the attacks they make.Finally, since I feel it is important for spell casters to have a casting vulnerability window as in 2e, all spells take a round to cast.  The effect is resolved the round after the spell begins.  This is a major nerf though, one that will require buffs in other areas which I have in mind once I get back to the subject of magic.Thoughts on this?</blockquote>

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