Goodman Games

SITUATION: So you have an Elf archer who gets the drop on an Orc who is about to poke his head out from behind a wall. The Elf gets the higher initiative roll, but has nothing to shoot at until the Orc acts later in the round.

Normally, our group would house rule it, allowing the Elf to "delay action" within the Initiative Order and wait for the Orc as long as they commit in advance to an anticipated trigger ("when the orc comes around the corner") and what they will do ("I will fire an arrow into it's head.")

But there doesn't appear to be any formal mention of Delayed Actions in the official DCCRPG rules. Did I miss something? I searched both the PDF and the forums. Perhaps I'm dense.

What's weird is that there isn't any mention of the characters being able to "delay action" within the Initiative section on pages 77-78, but later on page 99 under Spell Duels it does mention delayed action rules for spell casters jockeying for position in order to counter spell.

Now, I realize that a big part of the appeal of old school is in not having every eventuality and rule system nailed down. I like that. But this particular element seems to be a common enough occurrence that it would help if there was some official word or qualification.

Any advice on what YOU would do, or where you found the answers to this would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have a Delay Actions sub round at the end of the round, with all those who have delayed their action resolving in order of Initiative.

Neat idea. Seems like an elegant solution.

It's worked fine so far in my games. Although I haven't thought of a solution to a character who delays an action waiting to jump out on someone as they pass, or as that someone pokes their head through the door.

I think having a higher initiative means you have the drop on all lower initiatives; it shouldn't force you to act 'right now' because, as I see it, all actions in the round are overlapping, but segmented for our convenience as players of a game (you don't cast or swing and then stand there motionless for several seconds until you do the next thing on your next round -- it's a constant flow of action).

If you don't act 'at the top', I don't see why you can't 'interrupt' them later, especially if that's what you've stated as your action -- when the orc pokes his head out, you are ready.

If there is a question of "does the orc get to start his action, before the shot at him goes off?" I would turn to some application of Luck, either comparing Luck scores, or who rolled under their Luck score by more...

GnomeBoy wrote:I think having a higher initiative means you have the drop on all lower initiatives; it shouldn't force you to act 'right now' because, as I see it, all actions in the round are overlapping, but segmented for our convenience as players of a game (you don't cast or swing and then stand there motionless for several seconds until you do the next thing on your next round -- it's a constant flow of action).

If you don't act 'at the top', I don't see why you can't 'interrupt' them later, especially if that's what you've stated as your action -- when the orc pokes his head out, you are ready.

This is pretty much how I've run my OD&D campaign for years, and DCC should be no different. Gaining the advantage in initiative shouldn't mean that you have to act first, but that you have the ability to choose the right instant to act. This could be first or last, as the player chooses.

Here is the solution to this that I have come up with in my game:

Readied Actions: characters may state an if/then action instead of using their action die in their initiative order.

Parry: In lieu of using armor class and dex bonus a character may make an attack roll to to set the DC# for an enemy attack roll. Character must state this before the attack roll is made this will count as the use of a primary action die in the round.

Delay: A character may delay until after any other characters action behind them in the initiative order. They may not go before that character with a delay, but may do so if using a Readied Action instead.

Withdrawal: A character may withdraw from combat with their move action if another character is adjacent and in combat with the same foe. Otherwise they are attacked with a free attack using the primary action die of their opponent

THe only one I am not sure about is the Parry. No one has really used it, and I dont think I like it as it is right now.

I don't like that readied actions ALWAYS work in 3.5ed. If you are interrupting someone else's action, Runequest made you make a Dex check against the opposing creature.

Say an orc archer is running between cover. Elf has bow and readys an action to shoot him when he leaves cover. When the orc runs to another cover location, exposing himself to fire for a a brief time, the elf must make an opposed DEX (or LUCK?) check against the orc in order to get that shot in before the orc is once again behind that cover.

I think I'd use some mechanic similar to this.

The readied action doesn't always work, it gives you the possibility of it working in the form of an attack roll.

Rostranor wrote:The readied action doesn't always work, it gives you the possibility of it working in the form of an attack roll.

I agree with this. asking for another an opposed dex check on top of the attack is pretty steep IMO. Assuming similar DEX bonuses, it essentially halves the chances of success. Perhaps this would be appropriate if the orc dives from one cover to the next, e.g. the distance where the orc is exposed is very small and the time to fire, very short. But otherwise, I think the attack roll is enough for a player to succeed.

On a minor note, personally, if I thought the distance where the orc is exposed is very short, I would handle this with a penalty to the attack roll, e.g. -1d (I like to use the dice chain in DCC), instead of a DEX check. It reduces the number of player actions necessary to accomplish a single action. Generally, I prefer reducing the number of rolls to a minimum, preferably a single roll (which I manage 99% of the time). For example, I'll never ask for both a move silently and sneak in shadows roll to a thief: I'll ask for the one that seems most important. Likewise, if an entire party is trying to sneak somewhere, I won't ask for one roll per PC. For one thing, asking for two or more rolls takes longer; and secondly, it's a bummer when the player (or players) rolls very well on his first, but very badly on the second. Asking for numerous rolls IMO is asking for the player(s) to fail. The more you add rolls, the more likely one will be missed and the action, fail. I like to identify one key roll, or one key PC whose player will roll for everyone.