Initiative

Action within each round takes place over 1 minute. Combatants draw weapons, attack, parry, cast spells, dodge, or take any other combat maneuver that may seem appropriate. To determine the order of combat an initiative roll is made using a d10. The side or character with the lowest roll acts first. There are two methods of determining initiative: individual initiative and group initiative.

Individual Initiative

Each PC, NPC, and Monster rolls initiative individually. Each character modifies their initiative by their action. Characters using a weapon modify their initiative by their weapon speed. Characters casting a spell modify their initiative by their casting time. Monsters attacking with natural weapons modify by their creature size. A list of modifiers to initiative can be found below. The order of combat proceeds from the lowest initiative result to the highest.

Individual initiative is only recommended for small scale battles of less than 15 characters. The DM can also opt to rule a single initiative for each monster type instead of roling for each individual goblin in a group of 10 goblins.

Group Initiative

Each side of the battle rolls 1d10 for their initiative. Low roll wins initiative and acts first. If more than two sides are involved, the remaining sides act in ascending order of initiative. Ties should be re-rolled.
Spellcasters that are casting a spell must declare that they are casting a spell before initiative is rolled.

Spellcasting and Initiative

Spells being cast modify the initiative by the spells casting time. If a character that is casting a spell is struck before their spell goes off, the spell is lost and fizzles out. Before rolling initiative for either group or individual initiative, spellcasters should declare that they are casting a spell.

Spells that require one round or more go off at the beginning of the round of the correct round on initiative zero. The character cannot move during the casting of a spell that requires one round or more. After the spell has gone off, they may make a half-move.