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Actually as tuckyboy has pointed out - a low initiative is VERY usefull in this respect, otherwise what happens is that you simply loose the first turn most of the time in most battles because your turn has lapsed before the monster has gotten close to your party. If you have a ranged party (or magic casting party) then you typically want to strike first. Of course if your melee'er also utilizes ranged weapons then you could simply take a few shots the first turn and hack away the next (assuming the monster charges - and most do). But of course if you utilize the swap weapons method then you won't get in the far greater damage potential of a first melee attack. Additionally, you may not even get the chance of utilizing this method if your melee'er uses a cursed weapon. (In this line of thinking I always recruit my melee'ers last in my party and I don't boost the speed attribute until vitality, strength, and dexterity are first maxed.)
One more thing should be added on here, extended weapons versus "regular" weapons. Extended weapons have several advantages to front-line melee'ers. If the monster stops short in its charge to you then you have a greater chance that you will get in your first strike (and its often that the first strike will be all you'll need if berserking). Additionally if the monster has extended weapons capability (say a curae crab) AND the party member that it charges to has an extended reach weapon (usually your front-line melee'er) then it will often stop at just the reach of your front line melee'er. This is particularly advantageous to preclude that monster from extending into your party and popping a character that has much fewer hit points and a far worse AC.
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