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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 6604716" data-attributes="member: 3586">As with most things in early D&amp;D, what was in the rulebooks wasn't always what people used. It didn't help that Gary Gygax was absolutely dreadful at writing a coherent initiative system. There have been many attempts to work out how initiative worked in AD&amp;D. There are some really good attempts! However, they all require assumptions that aren't actually in the rules.D&amp;D (1974) initially didn't have an initiative system of its own, instead deriving it from Chainmail. The version presented in Eldritch Wizardry is actually missing a table, so requires a lot of interpolation. And then there is the glorious incoherence of AD&amp;D's initiative system. Meanwhile, Holmes gave his house rule for initiative in the first version of Basic D&amp;D, then Moldvay gave a different version in the 1981 set, which was copied for the Red Box in 1983. Moldvay's has the advantage of actually being clear - as was the AD&amp;D 2E version of 1989, all three of them!I've written about the original initiative systems here: <a href="http://merricb.com/2014/06/18/the-development-of-add-initiative/" target="_blank">http://merricb.com/2014/06/18/the-development-of-add-initiative/</a> (and then more articles on <a href="http://merricb.com/2014/06/23/initiative-in-basic-dd/" target="_blank">Basic</a>, <a href="http://merricb.com/2014/03/28/add-initiative/" target="_blank">AD&amp;D</a> and <a href="http://merricb.com/2014/07/01/initiative-in-add-2nd-edition/" target="_blank">AD&amp;D 2E</a> initiative)In any case, AD&amp;D 1E initiative as written definitely requires spell-casters declare their spells before initiative is rolled. &quot;1. Spell casters must note what spell they intend to cast at the beginning of each round prior to any knowledge of which side has initiative.&quot; - DMG page 65. The timing when non-spellcasters choose actions is a little less clear, and varied from table to table...Cheers!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 6604716, member: 3586"] As with most things in early D&D, what was in the rulebooks wasn't always what people used. It didn't help that Gary Gygax was absolutely dreadful at writing a coherent initiative system. There have been many attempts to work out how initiative worked in AD&D. There are some really good attempts! However, they all require assumptions that aren't actually in the rules. D&D (1974) initially didn't have an initiative system of its own, instead deriving it from Chainmail. The version presented in Eldritch Wizardry is actually missing a table, so requires a lot of interpolation. And then there is the glorious incoherence of AD&D's initiative system. Meanwhile, Holmes gave his house rule for initiative in the first version of Basic D&D, then Moldvay gave a different version in the 1981 set, which was copied for the Red Box in 1983. Moldvay's has the advantage of actually being clear - as was the AD&D 2E version of 1989, all three of them! I've written about the original initiative systems here: [url]http://merricb.com/2014/06/18/the-development-of-add-initiative/[/url] (and then more articles on [url=http://merricb.com/2014/06/23/initiative-in-basic-dd/]Basic[/url], [url=http://merricb.com/2014/03/28/add-initiative/]AD&D[/url] and [url=http://merricb.com/2014/07/01/initiative-in-add-2nd-edition/]AD&D 2E[/url] initiative) In any case, AD&D 1E initiative [i]as written[/i] definitely requires spell-casters declare their spells before initiative is rolled. "1. Spell casters must note what spell they intend to cast at the beginning of each round prior to any knowledge of which side has initiative." - DMG page 65. The timing when non-spellcasters choose actions is a little less clear, and varied from table to table... Cheers! [/QUOTE]

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