1. Part One: What Drove Me Away
2. Part Two: Philosophy
3. Part Three: Treasure Experience and Encumbrance
4. Part Four: Combat, but Mostly Initiative

The 5E player will be relieved to know that combat in AD&D does involve rolling a d20 to hit and rolling damage. Saving throws while determined differently to 5E also follow the same roll above mechanic. Initiative in AD&D on the other hand is a subject so complex that others have written research papers about it.

Don’t run away now. The short version of how initiative works is that both the players and the monsters roll a d6 against each other. The side that rolls high goes first. Ties are possible and there are exceptions for multiple attacks but those will be managed by the DM.

AD&D initiative attempts to simulate the chaos of combat where 5E initiative concerns itself only with assigning players a turn. In AD&D player actions will happen at variable times during a round rather than waiting a full 20 minutes while other players take their turns.

What follows is my interpretation of AD&D initiative. It’s not meant to be a tutorial for DMs though it may help DMs to understand AD&D initiative. It is targeted toward players in order to give them an idea of how combat will work. My primary source for understanding initiative are the AD&D DMG¹ and PHB². ADDICT and The Blue Bard blog (Combat part 1, 2, 3) were heavily referenced where I needed clarification.

Time and Movement

Much could be said about time but here we’ll only concern ourselves with time during combat. In AD&Da round is 1 minute long and is divided into 10 segments.³ Thus a segment is 6 seconds long and there are 10 segments per round. Player actions will take place on these segments as we’ll see later. Movement which we touched on in Treasure Experience and Encumbrance takes place over the course of a round as well. We’ll see more on this later but keep in mind that if your character has a movement of 9″/90′ that it takes a full round (10 segmnets) to move that far. The character therefore moves 9′ per segment.

Initiative in Detail

Let’s start with a simple case. A first level fighter and an orc are all ready locked in melee combat. At the beginning of the round, before initiative is rolled the DM decides the orc will attack with his axe. The DM then asks the player what the character will do. The player replies the character will attack with their sword and then both sides roll initiative. The player rolls a 6 and the DM rolls a 4 for the orc. The player rolled high and therefore goes first allowing him to roll an attack and possibly damage before the orc can act.

What’s happening invisibly at this point is that the roll of both DM and player actually assigns the segment on which the other party gets to act⁴. Fighter will act on segment 4 because the the DM rolled a 4. The orc will act on segment 6 since the player rolled a 6. At this point the segment on which a side acts makes no difference but as we’ll see in the more complex examples segments can become important.

Combat is resolved as.

1. Announce Intentions
   1. DM decides monster actions
   2. Players announce their actions
2. Roll Initiative
3. Resolve

It’s unlikely Fighter would be travelling alone so let’s suppose next that the Fighter is travelling with his good friend Magic-User and they encounter two orcs at a distance of 20 feet. After a brief exchange both parties decide their differences can’t be reconciled without violence and combat is announced. First the DM decides what the orcs are going to do; close for melee. The DM then asks the players what they will do. Fighter decides to close for melee while Magic-User decides to cast Magic Missile. This time the orcs roll a 4 for initiative and the players roll a 3. The orcs go first.

In this case the orcs start their movement on segment 3, the Fighter starts his on segment 4 and the Magic-User starts casting Magic Missile on segment 4. Magic Missile will be done casting at the beginning of segment 5 since it has a casting time of 1 segment.

On segment 3 the orcs move 9′. On segment 4 the orcs and Fighter move 6′ and melee is joined which we’ll resolve on the following segment since movement took place on this segment. Meanwhile Magic-User starts casting Magic Missile which has a casting time of 1 segment. On Segment 5 the casting of Magic Missile completes and severly wounds one orc. The orcs get to make a melee attack each since they won initiative and then Fighter makes his melee attack.

You’ll notice here that even though the orcs won initiative and get to make their melee attacks before Fighter they still attack after the Magic-User. Spells, magical devices (rods, staves, wands and etc.) and missiles go first in the segment followed by melee⁵.

With the addition of Magic-User and some distance to the fray the round became somewhat more complex. Regardless of the complexity combat is exected the same way as before.

1. Announce Intentions
   1. DM decides monster actions
   2. Players announce their actions
2. Roll Initiative
3. Resolve

There are two things to note here about spells and casting time. Many spells have a casting time longer than one segment. While casting the caster is vulnerable. If the caster takes damage the spell is ruined and the spell slot is lost^{4, 6}. However, any time during casting the caster can opt to stop⁷ thus saving the spell and spell slot for later.

One last note about announcing intentions. If weapons are being used then announcing intentions is as simple as saying, “I swing my sword,” or “I shoot my bow.” In the case of casting spells or activating magic items the specific spell being cast or power being activated must be announced since they have variable casting/activations times that need to be accounted for.

Rate of Fire and Multiple Attacks

In AD&D missile weapons have a rate of fire⁸ which may allow the wielder to fire multiple arrows per round. Rate of fire varies depending on the weapon so here we’ll concern ourselves with bows only. Their rate of fire is 2.

In our next example Magic-User and Fighter are joined by their good friend Ranger. This time when they’re out and about they encounter three orcs again at a distance of 20′ and again combat is joined due to irreconcilable differences.

The DM decides again the orcs will close and attack. Fighter announces he’ll close and attack, Magic-User will cast Magic Missile and Ranger will shoot his bow. Initiative is rolled. The orcs and the players both roll 5, a tie. Here we must refer to the “Reaction/Attacking Adjustment”¹⁶ from the Player’s Handbook which applies to surprise (below) and missile attacks. Since Ranger has a 16 Dexterity and therefore a +1 reaction adjustment Ranger will be able to take his first shot on segment 4.

On segment four Ranger fires his first arrow. On segment 5 the orcs and Fighter both move 9 putting them in melee for the following segment. Magic-missile will complete casting at the start of segment 6 but in this case will fire off at the same time as melee due to the tied initiative roll. This puts Fighter in dire straights since all three orcs will have a chance to attack and damage him as melee and spells will be resolved simultaneously. Ranger takes his second shot due to his longbow’s rate of fire.

Action is therefore resolved as Ranger shoots arrow one, movement, melee and spells are resolved simultaneously and then Ranger takes his second shot.

Higher level fighters and certain monsters have what is called a “multiple attack routine”⁹. A bear¹⁰ for instance has a claw/claw/bite routine. A 13th level Fighter has two attacks per round¹¹. These attack routines accrue advantages to the individual with the greater number. A player or monster with more attack routines than their enemy may attack first and last (2/round) or first third and last (3/round) or whatever is appropriate for their attack routine. This advantage often allows that side to attack outside of strict initiative order. When foes have the same number of attack routines—two 13th level fighters for example—the party that wins initiative goes 1st and 3rd while the loser will attack 2nd and 4th. A 13th level fighter vs the bear would see the attacks go claw, sword, claw, sword, bite since the bear has the advantage in the number of attacks in its routine.

Let’s suppose for our next example that Fighter, Ranger and Magic-User are joined by their friend Thief. In this example they are Fighter 13, Ranger 12, Magic-User 14 and Thief 15. Fighter has 2 attacks per round. Ranger has 3/2 or 3 attacks every two rounds. Thief has one 1 attack per round. This group sets out on an adventuring day and encounters 25 orcs at a distance of 100′. The orcs seeing they have a numeric advantage decide to attack.

As before the DM decides the orcs will move to attack and then asks the players to declare their actions. Fighter will move to attack and so will Thief. Magic-User elects to cast Fireball. Ranger elects to shoot his long bow. Initiative is rolled and the orcs win with a 6 to the players 1. As before Ranger’s Dexterity bonus allows him to take his first shot on segment 5. The Orcs spend the first 5 segments moving. On segment 6 Magic-User begins to cast fireball which takes three segments to cast so it will fire off on segment 9. Meanwhile Thief and Fighter start to move. The round will play out as follows

1. Orcs move 9′
2. Orcs move 9′ (18′)
3. Orcs move 9′ (27′)
4. Orcs move 9′ (36′)
5. Ranger fires first shot due to dex bonus, Orcs move 9′ (45′).
6. Orcs move 9′, Fighter and Thief Move 9 (54’/9′), Magic-User starts casting
7. Orcs move 9′, Fighter and Thief Move 9 (63’/18′), Magic-User continues casting
8. Orcs move 9′, Fighter and Thief Move 9 (72’/27′), Magic-User continues casting
9. Spells complete first and melee is joined
   1. Magic-User completes fireball decimating the back ranks of the orcs
   2. Fighter takes his first attack regardless of losing initiative because of his multiple attacks
   3. The remaining Orcs attack for having won initiative
   4. Thief and Fighter attack
   5. Ranger take his second shot.

Careful reading of the above will show that Ranger has 3/2 attacks which means he receives 2 attacks on odd numbered rounds and 1 attack on even numbered rounds. Ranger was only able to fire his bow twice because missile weapons function differently than melee weapons. Missile weapons obey rate of fire. Melee weapons obey attacks per round¹². Thief only has one attack per round so his attack occurs after the orcs since the players lost initiative. Magic-User is able to cast as before.

You may also notice that we resolved Thief’s attack and Fighter and Ranger’s second attacks all in segment 9. We could of course push all of that to segment 10 but resolving the action in order is more important than strict adherence to segments.

While combat has again become more complex we’re still following the basic process.

1. Announce Intentions
   1. DM decides monster actions
   2. Players announce their actions
2. Roll Initiative
3. Resolve

Special Actions

The orcs in the above example would not saunter across the battle field toward their foes. They would instead charge¹³ them hoping to close the distance and take advantage of their numerical superiority. When a side or an individual charges their movement rate is doubled¹⁴. Our orcs could therefore move 90′ in the first 5 segments giving Fighter and Thief barely a step before their position was swamped with orcs. In this case the orcs swarm their foes preventing Ranger from taking a second shot since he’s now in melee and putting Magic-User at a high risk of ruining his fireball.

1. Orcs move 18′
2. Orcs move 18′ (36′)
3. Orcs move 18′ (54′)
4. Orcs move 18′ (72′)
5. Ranger takes his first shot, Orcs move 18′ (90′).
6. Orcs move 7′, Fighter and Thief Move 3 (97’/3′), Fighter takes his first attack. Magic-User decides not to cast in order to preserve his spell and instead asks if he can whack an orc with his staff. Ranger stows his bow 1 segment.
7. Orcs attack since they won initiative. Ranger draws his sword (1 segment). Thief, Fighter and Magic-User attack.
8. DM allows Ranger a single attack since he fired once earlier in the round.

Unlike before Fighter took his attack on the same segment in which he moved. This is done since 3′ is very little movement.

Charging is not merely an advantage to speed, the charging party is also at +2 with melee attacks at the end of the charge. In the event of a charge the receiving side may set weapons to receive the charge—if Fighter for example had a pike at hand. Also when the charge ends the side with longer weapons attacks first regardless of advantages granted by initative or attack routines.

Also Stowing/Drawing a weapon takes a single segment allowing Ranger to stow his bow, draw his sword and still make an attack somewhat later in the round.

Another common action during a combat round is drinking a potion¹⁵. Drinking a potion takes a single segment. Retrieving a potion from where it’s stowed may take 1 or more segments. All potions take effect in 1d4+1 segments.

For this example we’ll join our friends Fighter 13, Ranger 12, Magic-User 14 and Thief 15 again encountering a group of 25 orcs at 100′. The orcs decide to charge again. Fighter will charge to attack, Ranger will shoot his bow and Magic-User will cast Fireball. Thief however will drink a Potion of Invisibilty before closing at a more modest pace. In this example the orcs win initiative again rolling a 3 to the player’s 1. Combat now plays out like this.

1. Orcs move 18′
2. Ranger Fires his first shot, Orcs move 18′ (36′)
3. Orcs move 18′, Fighter moves 18′ (54’/18′), Thief gets his potion from his belt holster. Magic User begins casting.
4. Orcs move 18′, Fighter moves 18′ (72’/36′), Thief quaffs potion and rolls a 3 on a d4, Thief will turn invisible in 4 segments. Magic-User continues to cast.
5. 5 orcs stop and fight the rest continue their charge.
   1. Fighter takes his first attack
   2. The Orcs attack
   3. Magic-User continues to cast.
   4. 20 Orcs continue charging 18′, (90′)
   5. Thief Could move but he trusts Magic-User to handle the charging orcs.
6. Fireball goes off decimating those 20 orcs just before they fall upon Magic-User, Ranger and Thief. Thief moves 12′.
7. Thief turns Invisible and moves 12 (24). Fighter makes his second attack.
8. Thief moves 12 (36) putting him in the ongoing melee between Fighter and the remaining orcs.
9. Ranger shoots his second shot. Thief backstabs an orc.

Even though what’s happening in a round has become much more complex than earlier the same basic process hasn’t changed.

1. Announce Intentions
   1. DM decides monster actions
   2. Players announce their actions
2. Roll Initiative
3. Resolve

Surprise

Surprise comes in three flavors. The monsters attempt to surprise the players. The players attempt to surprise the monsters. Both sides attempt surprise or simply stumble into one another. Most creatures player or monster are surprised on a 1 or 2 on a d6.¹⁶

When one party attempts to ambush another the possibly surprised party rolls a d6 and is surprised on a roll of 1 or 2. If the possibly surprised party rolls a one they’re surprised for 1 segment and if they roll a 2 they’re surprised for 2 segments. If any other number is rolled surprise does not happen and initiative proceeds as normal.

In the event both parties are surprised both roll. Surprise may not happen if both parties roll above a 2 or if they tie. If both are surprised by a 1 and a 2 being rolled we simply subtract one from the other. The party rolling a 2 in this case would be surprised for 1 segment. We subtract because there are a few outliers that surprise or are surprised on some other roll.

What’s more important is what the surpising party can do on a surprise segment. Melee and missile attackers can make a full attack sequence on each surprise segment¹⁷. Spell casters can begin casting. If the spell has a short enough casting time it may be cast during the surprise segments. Otherwise the caster simply begins casting during surprise gaining a head start on his spell’s completion. Surprise doesn’t always occur in melee range of course so these segments may also be used for moving as during regular combat segments.

Surprise adds an additional step to the previous system.

1. Determine surprise.
   1. Execute
2. Announce Intentions
   1. DM decides monster actions
   2. Players announce their actions
3. Roll Initiative
4. Resolve

There are exceptions. Individuals with “Reaction/Attacking Adjustment”¹⁸ may be surprised for more or fewer segments. These individuals will not be able to act during surprise segments but neither can they be targeted by melee and missile attacks occurring during surprise. Those with a reaction adjustment penalty can not be surprised due only to their penalty but may find themselves more vulnerable when surprise happens.

Party’s traveling with allies who are surprised less often gain that benefit. Conversely allies that surprise foes more often do not provide that benefit to their party. Therefore a party traveling with a Ranger who is surprised only on a 1 in 6 rather than the standard 2 in 6 are surprised on a 1 in 6. That same party can’t surprise their enemies on a 3 in 6 despite the fact that the Ranger can when acting alone or in a similarly advantaged group.

For this example we’ll join our friends Fighter 13, Ranger 12, Magic-User 14 and Thief 15 one last time. In this example the party has been tracking a group of 25 marauding orcs for a few days. They’ve determined their direction and because of Ranger’s cunning the party gets ahead of the orcs to lay an ambush. This time the orcs roll to see if they’re surprised. The orcs roll a 2 giving the party two surprise segments. On the first surprise segment both Ranger and Thief decide to shoot their bows. Magic-User starts to cast Fire Ball. Fighter charges. On surprise segment 2 Ranger and Thief decide to shoot their bows again. Fighter and Magic-User continue their charge and casting. Surprise is therefore resolved as.

1. Surprise Segment 1
   1. Thief and Ranger fire two arrows each since they get their full attack routine
   2. Magic-User begins casting Fire Ball
   3. Fighter Charges 18′
2. Surprise Segment 2
   1. Thief and Ranger fire two arrows each since they get their full attack routine
   2. Magic-User continues casting Fire Ball
   3. Fighter Charges another 18′, 36′ in total

The orcs were unable to act for the first two segments and in all likelihood some were felled be arrows. But surprise is over and normal combat is joined. The orcs have in their company 5 archers who decide to fire on the soft target first; Magic-User. The remaining orcs charge. Initiative is rolled. The orcs roll a 2 to the player’s 3. The players go first on segment 2.

1. Magic-User continues casting Fire Ball
2. Magic-User’s Fire Ball completes decimating the orcs. Ranger and Thief fire their first shot. Fighter keeps charging, 54′ in total.
3. Any remaining orc archers take shot 1 at Magic-User. Other orcs charge for 18′ and Fighter continues for a total of 72′
   1. Magic-User asks the DM if he can start another spell. The DM allows it since the first spell began during surprise.
4. Other orcs charge for 5′ and Fighter charges 5′ bringing them into Melee.
   1. Magic-User starts another Fireball.
   2. Fighter Takes his First attack
   3. Orcs Take their attack
   4. Fighter takes his second attack
5. Casting
6. Casting
7. Magic-User’s second Fireball goes off simultaneously with Ranger and Thief’s second arrows.
8. Remaining orc archers may fire their second shot.

As you can probably tell two Fire Balls is massive overkill since even with a save the Orcs are likely decimated by the first. What’s more important to note is Thief and Ranger got to take their full attack routine in both surprise segments giving them both six shots by the end of round 1. Magic-User could’t complete his spell during the surprise rounds so he continued casting into the start of round 1. Spell casting continues into segment one of the regular combat round regardless of initiative rolls.

If the party had entered suprise in melee with the orcs then Fighter would also have had the opportunity to swing twice with his sword on each of the surprise segments.

Conclusion

I’ve striven here to cover the more common cases of combat. There are of course less common cases that can be dealt with in game such as throwing flaming oil or holy water or attempting to drop a boulder on your enemies. Also I’ve purposefully excluded “Armor Class Adjustment” and “Speed Factors” for weapons¹⁹. This was done in one part because I feel the additional complexity is not worthwhile and in another because Gary did not use them²⁰.

My hope here is that players will find AD&D combat dynamic and exciting. I, like Blue Bard²¹, would encourage players to think about what they can achieve in a minute rather than thinking about combat as what can be done on my turn; the 5E way.

While the focus herein has been entirely on combat it would be just as common in AD&D for the players and orcs to have a brief parley and go their separate ways. Avoiding one another would also be a common tactic. As we’ve seen a large enough group of orcs can still be a threat (though minor) to the players. Even if the orcs aren’t quite a threat engaging them has still managed to burn a 3rd level spell slot and would cause at least some minor amount of damage which is an expenditure of resources the players may not desire.

The players always have the option to resolve conflict outside of rolling initiative.

Foot Notes

1. Gary Gygax, DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979).
2. Gary Gygax, PLAYERS HANDBOOK (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1978).
3. Gary Gygax, TIME: PLAYERS HANDBOOK (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1978), 39.
4. Gary Gygax, SPELL CASTING DURING MELEE: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 65. See point 2.
5. Gary Gygax, SPELL ENCOUNTERS, COMBAT, AND INITIATIVE: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 61.
6. Gary Gygax, EXAMPLE OF MELEE: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 71.
7. I can’t find the source. Is this of my own invention? If so that’s how this will work at my table.
8. Gary Gygax, WEAPON TYPES, GENERAL DATA, AND “TO HIT” ADJUSTMENTS: PLAYERS HANDBOOK (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1978), 38.
9. Gary Gygax, Initiative For Creatures With Multiple Attack Routines: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 62.
10. Gary Gygax, Bear: MONSTER MANUAL (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1977), 9.
11. Gary Gygax, FIGHTERS’, PALADINS’, & RANGERS’ ATTACKS PER MELEE ROUND TABLE: PLAYERS HANDBOOK (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1978), 25.
12. See foot note to 11.
13. Gary Gygax, Charge: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 66.
14. Technically there are rules for charging indoors, outdoors, when encumbered and by bipeds and quadruped but we’re going to simply double movement.
15. Gary Gygax, Actions During Combat And Similar Time-Important Situations: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 71.
16. Gary Gygax, Surprise: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 61.
17. “Even if distance prevents striking with weapons, the discharge of arrows, bolts or hond-hurled weapons is permissible at three times the normal rate providing the weapon/missiles are ready,” Gary Gygax, Surprise: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1979), 62. This is a rule we won’t use since it’s far too abusive toward a low level party if the monsters have surprise.
18. Gary Gygax, Notes Regarding Dexterity Table I: PLAYERS HANDBOOK (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1978), 11.
19. Gary Gygax, WEAPON TYPES, GENERAL DATA, AND “TO HIT” ADJUSTMENTS: PLAYERS HANDBOOK (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1978), 38.
20. Luke Gygax | Ethereal Gary Con XIII | Wandering DMs S03 E10. Or see this time-stamp
21. “I encourage my players to consider the round as a full minute and consider reasonably what they might accomplish in that time.” Combat Part I: We Don’t Need Segments…Unless They’re Awesome.