Generalized Combat Rules

Over the years as I had experienced more and more different combat systems one thing became abundantly clear; more often than not, it doesn't matter if an NPC hits the PC first then the PC hits the NPC or the other way around. Naturally, there are those times when it is very important to know who will go first, but in general, that is only a small fraction of the time. With this in mind I have adopted a combat system where initiative is only determined when and where the DM sees the order will make a substantial difference. This saves a great deal of time. In the past, I always made a point to determine initiative (sometimes for the whole group and sometimes for each individual), and then the round proceeded in an orderly fashion. As it turned out, over 90% of the time, this was a complete waste of time.

So I simplified my combat system and now, when an encounter occurs, there is a surprise roll for each side (unless there is an indication to think one side or the other will not be surprised for various reasons). This is done for each group; the DM rolls a 1D10 and a selected player (usually who ever is up front or closest to the action) rolls 1D10 for their group. Modifiers notwithstanding, a 3, 2, or 1 indicates surprise; the lower the roll, the more surprised they are. If both sides are surprised to the same degree we enter combat with "the statement of intent." If not, the least surprised side may have one complete round in which to act and then we enter combat with "the statement of intent." And if no surprise occurs on either side combat again proceeds with "the statement of intent."

The statement of intent is a quick go around the table where each player briefly describes what they will intend to do in the up coming round. Spell casters must take this opportunity to declare any intention to cast spells. I prefer going in a clockwise direction, and I generally like to have the more intelligent and wiser characters on my right so they have more time to think about their statements as well as a chance to reflect upon the statements made by any players on their right. After statements are given, unless the order is important (and remember, it isn't 90% of the time) I resolve the round in a pretty much standard way. If order is important, then I like to roll initiative for only the particular PCs and NPCs involved where it is important. For example, a spell caster tries to cast his spell and my monster tries to shoot him with an arrow. Then, if I win AND I hit the mage's dexterity less AC, his spell is screwed up; if I miss or if he wins initiative, then his spell usually goes off. (For even more realism the DM may take into account every little modifier to the action for the initiative rolls). Finally, after the round is resolved we proceed to the next statement of intent. This continues until combat is over.

The DM must be careful here, for sometimes the order may seem unimportant when, in fact, it is. For example, he may think it might not matter if PC A gets hit first since they are not in danger of losing a spell of falling unconscious that round. Later on in the day (or even later in the same combat), the fact they even took a little extra damage may become rather important. Some hard numbers will help clarify this situation.

PC A and NPC B are fighting. Usually it does not matter who goes first unless A or B is about to drop, so INITIATIVE may not be rolled. If B goes first and damages A, A carries that damage with them when, in fact, they might have avoided it entirely if B went second for some reason. This is obvious when B is about to fall below zero HPs, but not so obvious when B may opt to change opponents. Thus, the long and the short of it is this: when the DM sees the order will make a difference in whether or not someone is even going to be damaged (let alone lose their spell or fall unconscious or die) initiative WILL be important in that case and should be rolled. However, more often than not, initiative will not matter, and rolling it only where it will be important often saves time compared to rolling it every round for every PC and/or every NPC involved in combat.

However, in places like IRC gaming where a bot (a robot or scripted program) automatically rolls initiative and keeps track of the who goes when, it is still better to let it do this as it will both not consume extra time and even may help save it by keeping all the players focused on whose turn it is.

As a general rule of thumb, characters with multiple attacks will have their first attack but must wait for the return attack before they proceed with their subsequent attack. However, if they have more than two attacks they may get more than one before I get mine if they win initiative, but their last attack will generally come after the NPCs have had a chance. Other than this general outline of combat, I try to follow standard AD&D combat wherever I can.

It is assumed, during the course of normal combat, that characters falling below zero hit points are down but not dead. Each round after being knocked down or unconscious due to negative hit points, the character "bleeds" for 1 hit point. This continues each round unless or until a friendly character either heals their fallen comrade magically, or they "bind" their wounds. (Unless some other magic is involved like a periapt of wound closure). If aid is not forth coming in a timely fashion, death occurs when the character reaches one point PAST their negative constitution score. For example, a character (or an NPC) with a constitution of 15 will die whenever their hit points reach -16 (negative 16). It has also been determined that "binding" the wounds of a character will take an entire round, cost about 10 sp in fresh bandages and such, and leave one open to attack such that they will have no dexterity bonus to their AC if attacked. After a character's wounds are bound, they are in "stable" condition and will survive until more meaningful treatment can be administered or until they die of thirst, starvation, suffocation, or something decidedly less than friendly.

I also follow the rule where a 1 is always a miss and a 20 is always a hit. However, when one rolls a 1 or a 20 we immediately roll again. A subsequent similar result will indicate a critical. So two 1s or two 20s indicates a critical fumble or a critical hit respectively. These have special consequences.

My rounds are rather informal and not defined in time well. I didn't like 1-second rounds in Gurps and I don't like 1-minute AD&D rounds either, so my rounds are roughly 10 to 15 seconds each. This means, of course, that if your spell takes one round to cast (and that might normally be considered a whole minute), now you should consider it a fact this spell takes 10 to 15 seconds. Thus, magic is a bit faster than you might normally be inclined to imagine under the old system. And some other liberties have been taken as well. For example, if you think it should take you a minute to get to a potion and consume it, it is now assumed you have planned so well in advance that you can do this in 10 to 15 seconds. This is still one round, but it may seem different to someone trying to rigidly adhere to a standard time frame.

So, that's it in a nutshell. That's how I try to conduct combat whenever the need arises.