AD&D 1E Three Things that can't be Fixed in 1e AD&D

[Lanefan]

That's just the normal way things work. This is referring to a situation where the caster declares intent to cast spells while not in melee, and the monster (say a bugbear) within say 9" of the M-U but not yet in base-to-base contact declares intent to close with and strike the M-U.

Individual initiative solves this - if the Bugbear's init is higher than the initiative of when the caster's spell resolves, the caster is interrupted. If it's lower, the spell resolves before the Bugbear can get there.

I think 6 seconds work really well. One second like GURPS uses maybe also works but it is really fast and combat can get really crunchy when you lose all abstraction. But if you look at Sumo, Fencing, or HEMA six seconds is a lot of combat. My preference is for a typical combat to last 3-5 rounds, and well 30 seconds of combat is a lot of action.

Fair. My main problem with very short rounds is that it doesn't give enough in-game time for anything to happen elsewhere while the battle takes place. Very short rounds also play hell with movement outside of combat - the guards a few rooms down just don't have time to get their gear and get there, for example, in time to make any difference before the battle's over.

Provided things are moving halfway quickly at the table, I'm not that concerned whether a combat takes 2 rounds or 5 rounds or 20 rounds.

If I was revising everything in 1e AD&D I might to a 10 second round of 10 segments using d10 initiative similar to 2e but perhaps with individual initiative like 3e because "whole side goes first" proved problematic for me back in the day. Again, my complaint on 1e AD&D combat is often the initiative roll feels nearer to the end of combat than the beginning, and if the party wins often the fight is very much one sided.

Individual initiative is a non-negotiable for me now. Wouldn't do it any other way.

Yeah, that was my thought on adding casting times into 3e as well. I just never took the leap of having casting beginning on one segment but ending on another. Casters were already taken down several pegs by my house rules (no combat casting to avoid AoO for example) and it never felt really necessary.

If you whacked combat casting, this makes sense.

 

[Lanefan]

Well, the point with 1E's initiative system for casting in combat is to make it a risky gamble, and normally one that's not worth it unless you're using a magical device, which is quicker than a powerful spell. And to enable tactical choices re: using quicker spells over slower ones. It's not just to make it impossible.

Devices can't be interrupted.

Not just that situation; look at the quote from p66-67 again.

The spell is not automatically foiled just because there's a melee attacker there. It's foiled if that attacker goes before them and hits them (with them getting no Dex bonus to defense).

Which goes against the idea of melee being a whole round of attacks and parries with your to-hit roll merely representing the best attack. Here, if there's a melee attacker there and you've made yourself defenseless because you're casting a spell, to me it's automatic that the attacker is going to do enough to disrupt casting even if the caster doesn't take any actual hit-point damage, without regard to initiative order.

But with longer casting time spells (most of the higher level ones for M-Us and most spells for Clerics) and short to medium weapons, the attacker will almost always get that opportunity to attack before the M-U gets the spell off, even if the attacker lost initiative. This makes slower spells ones you want to make sure you're protected before you try to cast in a fight, and incentivizes you to rely on wands and quick ones (magic missiles, power words, etc.) with the shortest casting times if you do need to cast when you're in danger of being attacked.

Sure, no argument there. I just found it easier and simpler to say that attempts to cast while in melee will always fail.

As I recall 3.0 also had Full Round casting time spells, which started on the caster's initiative count and then finished casting on his next initiative, in the following round.

I believe you're right on this, but I'm going on memory from 20-25 years ago.