Who has the initiative?

[cataclib]

Hello everyone, this is the first time i'm posting in the forum.

Tomorrow i will be playing my first session of TOR with my players.

I read the rules, one important thing that i didn't understand concerned initiative.
For instance, when the battle begins, let's say that one of the players in in FORWARD stance, and one of the monsters is in FORWARD stance as well. In this case, who gets the first swing?

And after the first round, assuming that both of them didn't change position, who gets the next swing first?

thanks in advance

Happy to be on board with you!

[Andrew]

Who has initiative when is explained in the table on pg 170 of the revised edition of TOR. Normally it'll be the company who have the initiative.

Note that if the company has initiative, they'll all fight before the enemy does (and vice versa, of course).

[zedturtle]

Yeah, has Andrew said, initiative is a per side they had not an individual thing. That said, when I first started I messed this up to it and it didn't seem to really break anything and it does make the fights a little more dynamic, as adversaries get a chance to get ahead a little more often.

[bluejay]

Cataclib, hi and welcome here.

I notice you mentioned a monster going into forward stance. This is not how it works. The PCs and monsters are paired up (chosen based on numbers of each side). Then the players choose stances for their PCs. The monsters do not get a stance.

[Majestic]

Yes welcome, cataclib. The issue of stances was something that was confusing to me at first, too. I was thinking that the adversaries/monsters each have a stance as well as the heroes.

It's probably easier to think of it like this: usually the heroes have the initiative (unless they're attacking and the enemy has a defensible position). Just have your players all pick a stance, and then the bad guys all get the same stance as your PCs (so any monsters matched up with them usually have the same stance that they do). You run through all the actions for the PCs first (if they have the initiative), then go through the same order again with the bad guys attacking them.

Voidstate's battle map is extremely helpful for keeping track of the combat (we've used beads and minis to show where the PCs are).

[Stormcrow]

The PCs and monsters are paired up (chosen based on numbers of each side). Then the players choose stances for their PCs.

Actually, stances are chosen first, then engagements are assigned.

[bluejay]

The PCs and monsters are paired up (chosen based on numbers of each side). Then the players choose stances for their PCs.

Actually, stances are chosen first, then engagements are assigned.

Darn, knew I should have double-checked before posting.

[cataclib]

thanks for your quick reply, i think i got it know.

But i have another question, in the book it says that when the situation is uncertain as for who has the initiative, the Loremaster can make an opposed roll between the highest battle ratings in the opposing sides in order to sort things out (page 170 of revised edition),and that the Loremaster should note that the Battle
rating of a creature is represented by its Vocation score —
see the Adversaries section on page 230).

I read on page 230 but i couldn't find any mention of vocation score? Am i blind? In the monster entry i see an attribute score, and then other info, but no mention of "vocation" score.

Please help, this evening i am playing my first session and i need this piece of info. Thank you.

[zedturtle]

Adversaries don't have individual skill scores, but they do have skill category scores that represent all the skills in that category. So for each creature, there is a Vocation score as part of their write up in the book.

[cataclib]

thank you very much. Now i found it.

Nevertheless, I would find it more realistic to make opposite battle rolls each round, taking into account battle skill and vocation for monsters, instead of determing initiative once and for all in the first round.

But the book says that " Each combat round is resolved following the order of action set by the stances chosen by the players"...so if the companions win initiative in the first round, they are going to act first all the following rounds until the end of the fight.