Does it manage ApR? Does it manage who strikes first? I can't work it out! Is lower better? Please, if someone could explain it to me I would be most pleased. :D

Thanks, pcgiant.

[ 04-22-2003, 08:50 AM: Message edited by: pcgiant ]

Lower is better.

It merely determines who strikes first in a round.

Or, to be more precise: It determines who strikes first per hit in a round.

In the pnp game, speed factor, in juxtoposition with initiative, which is modified by dexterity, determines the sequencing of attacks in a 9-pulse combat round. However, in years of playing the game, I never ran across a DM who bothered to implement speed factor in his game. I have never been able to see any particular use for it, myself, although theoretically if a character with the initiative killed his opponent with his attack, the opponent's (slower) attack should not go in.

What difference it makes in the computer version is completely opaque to me. I rather think it's not much.

-- Mal

Speed factor is pretty important, actually. I used it in my years of game mastering, ages ago in the first edition era.

The way it works is at the beginning of every melee round, all combatants roll a ten sided die, add their weapon's speed factor to the roll, and then add/subtract any dexterity modifications to the sum. The lowest numbers go first. And, as Mal said, it's often possible for characters with the lower initiative to kill or otherwise incapacitate a character with a higher initiative before he/she/it gets to attack, thus eliminating the attack altogether. It adds a firm element of realism to combat. Anyone who frequently watches boxing can tell you that it's not infrequent to see someone get knocked out in mid punch.

Heya, Mal, could you do me a huge favor? Go down to Lee's Hoagie House, buy me a jumbo cheesesteak with mushrooms and jalapenos, and mail it to me via Two-Minute Priority? That was my favorite resteraunt, but, unfortunately, I haven'y been there in about 12 years... :(