Does initiative really work?

[timokonski]

I am at the point where all of my chars are lvl 20+ with initiative around 40 or 50 (2 bishops around 25 or so). It always seems thought that in the majority of the combats, the monsters always get the first few whacks in. I understand that my bishops will go later in the round than my higher initiatives characters, but they NEVER EVER get a turn before the monsters do. Sometimes my fighters will go before the encounter, but by that time the enemy has already casted 10 spells and I find myself having to heal right away.

Has anyone else come across this also? It seems hard for me to believe that the encounters have higher inititive than my party...

[vesselle]

initiative is crucial to getting your hits in before the baddies.

my teammates have 62-69 in both Speed & Senses (base level before adding in stat building equipment) and always get the drop on the baddies. i plan on taking that up to 70, base stat, then stopping (except for rogue, sam and ranger who will keep soaring till they get SnakeSpeed and Reflexion!)

i beleive its also important to start the combat yourself. if they initiate it, they get the first round. in my game usually 2 monsters will go first when that occurs.

if you find anything that adds to speed or senses, buy it! equip it!!

i always add points to Spd/Sns at character creation to the ones that are low. and at every level up Speed +1, Senses +1, unless its a rogue, samurai or ranger, where Dex, Speed, Senses are the most important stats to raise. ::still drooling over snakespeed and reflexion::

i avoid the races that are low in that area also. my first 2 groups had members with extremely low spd/sns and i NEVER got them up to a level where they could be first in line.

so, i ended up having to weigh them down with heavy armor and just let them absorb the damage, instead.

V***V

[ 01-25-2002: Message edited by: vesselle ]

[DraconisRex]

Yes. Yes. Yes. But you've got to get that speed and dexterity up. Also, I believe that the more powerful a spell is, the lower your initive. Kind of like some of those Uber Weapons. Big, damage-dealing swords like Claymores go after smaller, lighter swords like Rapiers.

That might very well be why your Bishop's are going slow. They're not that fast and/or casting big spells or using slow weapons.

[KC_2]

Something just seems fubar with the game.. I have been trying to figure out the initiative thing myself, but it seems like the slowest creature other than your party has an 85 speed... Not only that, monsters and NPCs get to squeeze in 2 full turns per round. Something has to be wrong when I am fighting Rattkin and they get up to 12 turns per round (6 before I go, an additional 6 after!) while I only get 4 with my warrior, at an 75 SPD/93 DEX WHILE HASTED!

The only guy in my party who goes like the creatures do is my Samurai, and that is only if he does Lightning Strike.

Another thing I noticed on top of all of that is how, if I walk even ONE STEP I can have people in my party lose thier entire round of turns, even if they have multiple attacks, yet enemies can do a full run to start the round, and still get a full set of attacks in before to the round ends..!

[Ridgid]

This is what I found, even with say a 40 initiative at level 20 the monsters are going to have a higher initiative. If you been lastest to attack from the start of the game theres a good chance your still going to be last at the end. Unless your using ninja's, monks. bards. and rogues your not likely to get the 1st attacks in. as you get better so do the monsters. Depending on map area of course. The best way by far is to start the combat before they "see you and start it"

With my current party 1/2 or all monsters will get to go 1st, myles will get 1st attack for me, if he isn't faster then the monsters, 2nd my bard/gadgeteer who i'll use the haste spell Drums. more then likely the rest of my party will get to go, my Preist is always last and i'll either use "bless" or superman on myles. monsters finnish turn i get to start 2nd round and finnish before they start.

*note* Myles is armed with 2 doouble strike daggers getting 4 attacks per round with haste he'll get 8-12 with superman and haste i gotten 18 attacks in 1 round [img]smile.gif[/img] his strenght is low but 8-12Damage adds up with 8-18 swings.