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The lore master book says that "an enemy dies at the end of the round in which it' hp reaches zero".

Does that mean that if the players have initiative and Trotter shoots an arrow at an Orc, making its hp reach zero, the Orc still will be able to act before dying at the end of the current round?

I would assume it works like in d&d (which I consider more intuitive) but the book seems to say otherwise.

EDIT: When I said "die", I was actually meaning falling unconscious. Sorry for that.

It says they die? I don't remember reading that. All I remember reading is that they're unconscious? (maybe) when they reach zero endurance. What I personally do, however, is assume the enemy is dead once they are either wounded or at zero endurance. The main reason I do it this way is because I always though it unlikely that a party would simply render ever orc they meet unconscious, which was how I interpreted the RAW

I'm sorry. I actually meant unconscious. But that is not the problem. My problem is why does that happen, according to the book, only at the end of the turn in which the creature hp reach zero. Shouldn't it happen as soon as the hp goes to zero?

it usually happens moments after meeting my son's dwarf slayer.

I know that wasn't very helpful. but I had to say it.

we have always just adjudicated it like DND and other RPGs. they drop to the ground upon taking enough damage to knock it to zero or suffer one wound (with the exception of critters with giant trait)

I have also applied close combat Damage immediately, along with the results of that damage. I do this mainly because the rules state that the only time simultaneous attacks take place is during ranged volleys prior to close combat (see page 41 of the Loremaster's Book, now called the Loremaster's Guide).

Yeah, I believe this is the proper way it should be handled (more like d&d). But it kind of makes me wonder why was it written that way.

I have enemies drop unconscious at 0 hp (whenever that occurs) and drop dead if they take a wound (whenever that occurs...and if they don't require 2 wounds to drop)...unless I have some need for the wounded enemy to provide information or taunt their foes (e.g., in The Two Towers movie, the dying warg rider that fought Viggo...uh, Aragorn both taunted Gimli and Legolas and told them that Aragorn had gone off the cliff) before they die.

This one we actually play as written:

"Unless a special ability prevents it, a creature is knocked out of combat at the end of a round if it is reduced to zero Endurance, or is killed outright when it is wounded once."

So Zero Endurance, the enemy might still (depending on Initiative etc.) have one more Action in them before they croak. I don't see a problem with this since we play Endurance Loss as not meaning any type of "killing blow" or such, that is what Wounds are for. And Wounds DO take them out on the spot.

In my mind this is just one more thing that makes Wounds more important / better than simple Endurance Loss.
Even if the players go first (which by the way the do most of the time) unless they score Wounds the Enemy is guaranteed a single attack back.

I think it is a brilliant rule and one that I would not want to change.

/wolf

I just feel is anti-climatic. Lets say the fellowship is attacking a group of rocs and therefore holds initiative. The player reduces an orc's resistance to zero. Then, maybe one real world minute later, the dm narrates "the orc attack you and fall to teh ground".

I can see this work for some bosses like Lurtz. But not for every single enemy.

Reading the combat example (LMG p50) it seems that adversaries are usually taken out of combat as soon as they reach zero endurance. I believe the note in the adversaries section that an adversary is out of the fight at the end of the round when it reaches zero endurance is meant to emphasize this, not neccessarilly to mean that adversaries are due a "last ups". Certainly the attercop reduced to 7 endurance and then struck for 9 more is not able to strike back, even though the attercops have not acted yet in the round.