Free Actions question...When?

[hong]

Of coarse. It is caused by the time lag for the sound to go through the magical ether, sort of the equivalent of the time lag we experience with satellite communication.

Just another example of how the D&D world physics is slightly different than our world.

Actually, it could just be really bad dubbing.

 

[clark411]

heh

I refuse to fall on other people's turns. =)


Agreed on free actions, including speaking, during your turn only. Initiative defines the speed with which your character reacts mentally as well as physically. Though I could see an Init that uses Dex vs Int or Wis for mental reactions, I doubt many would have the patience to have two different inits going so klutz wizards with lightning fast mental reflexes could issue orders on 30 and cast on 4.

 

[Henrix]

A Free Action can be taken anytime you have the opportunity to take another, non-free, Action.

Stuff you can do at any time, even while you are not allowed to otherwise act, are called Not An Action.

Feather Fall, etc., are exceptions.

[Edit]
I presume that if you start speaking when it is your turn you continue to do so during the rest of the round, as all your actions are supposed to do.
But you may not start a new topic unless it is your turn, i.e. you may not switch from talking about the weather to scream 'He has a gun!' in the middle of someone else's turn.

 

[0-hr]

Actually, it is sometime important that you can only speak on your turn. If a group of adventurer's wants to kill a guard before he can shout an alarm, they have to beat the guard's initiative (or take him by surprise) and take him out before his turn comes around

If you could conduct meaningful speech out of turn, then the guard would just yell regardless.

 

[Christian]

Well, I don't allow anyone to speak when they're flat-footed, but after that, I don't worry about it ...

 

[Psyduck]

Thanks for the info.

The reason I had this brought up is everyone in our group always says something when something new happens. It's a good strat, but can be a bit noisy, and a whole conversation is taking place in the middle of a battle.

 

[candidus_cogitens]

Really, so all conversations and speeches take place in six seconds intervals?

The six-second round is an artificial contrivance to make gaming work in a simple way. Time does not ACTUALLY stop for your character when it is not his turn--of course. It's just that we need to keep track of actions by going in sequence rather than by trying to imagine everything happening simultaneously (as it would in reality).

That said, I think it is actually fairly realistic to not allow players to speak out of turn. It simulates the fact that in reality it takes a moment to hear what someone says to you and decide how to reply or react to it. Also, it simulates the fact that you can sometimes think of the crucial thing to say more quickly than other times, in the heat of the moment--this is reflected in the artificial convention of the initiative roll.