|
Damn you, Shanester! ;-) You just
had to mention one of my major problems with d20. Initiative! The refocus
(the word you were looking for) action is a crock. Improved Initiative feat is nearly (I said nearly) worthless. Listen carefully and I will explain. First of
all, you have to understand that “rounds” are simply a construct in the game
system for handling durations.
That’s all. Therefore,
there is no “going first in a round;” there is only going first in a total combat
session. If you remove “rounds”
from your vocabulary, you realize that combat is purely cyclical. Thus, Improved Initiative, at best,
affects one action of the character. And refocusing
becomes mind-boggling in its ineffectiveness. Say you refocus (a full round action), then “next round”
your initiative will be as if you rolled 20, and you will go before anyone with
a lower initiative. Hello? If you had taken you action last round,
it would have been before those people acted as well! In fact, you just gave a free action to anyone with a lower
initiative than you and anyone whose initiative would be higher than 20 plus
your modifiers. Here’s an
example: Shane (+4 to Init), Goff(+2
to Init), Dr. Nick (0 to Init), and Clint (-1 to Init) enter combat. The rolls for initiative are Shane (19
for a 23), Goff (14 for a 16), Dr. Nick (9 for a 9), and Clint (3 for a 2). “Round” 1 Action 1: Shane moves and attacks Dr. Nick Action 2: Goff takes a full move and draws a
weapon, laughing maniacally the entire time. Action 3: Dr. Nick refocuses. (No, Dr. Nick! No!) His initiative will change to 20 next “round.” Action 4: Clint moves to a flanking position and
attacks Dr. Nick. (“That’s for ‘Mitchell’
you sonuva…”) “Round” 2 Action 5: Shane smells bloods and makes a full
attack on Dr. Nick as well. Action 6: Dr. Nick badly wounded, makes a full
retreat to get away from Shane and Clint.
But he forgets about… Action 7: Goff, who casts “Summon Night Train,”
which lands on Dr. Nick and kills him instantly. Action 8: Clint, knowing “Summon Night Train” is
in the “Epoch of Munchkins Level Handbook,” immediately throws his weapon down
and promises to serve Shane and Goff in exchange for a (mostly) painless death. “Round” 3 Action 9: Shane joins Goff in laughing maniacally
and combat ends. As you can
see, by refocusing, poor Dr. Nick only lost an action… and ultimately his life. [P.S. I only choose Dr. Nick because he’s a great guy with a
wonderful sense of humor. No real
Dr. Nicks were harmed in the making of this example. J] Anyway, I
have no desire to start any kind of attack against d20 as a whole. I’m playing in a d20 game myself. But I do think this is a weakness in
the system. I’d love to see initiative
feats, actions, or house rules that actually work with the initiative system if
anybody has them. Clint Black "You smell that? Do you smell that?
...Ghost Rock, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the
smell of ghost rock in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed,
for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em,
not one stinkin' Yank body. The smell, you know that sulphurous smell, the
whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end..." |