A part of adventurers enter an abandoned ruin.
The party consists of:
- Ambrose, a fighter with a longsword (WSF 5, length 3.5') and chainmail armor+shield (AC4)
- Alice, a fighter with a spear (WSF 6, length 6') and leather armor (AC 8)
- Alex, a cleric with a mace (WSF 7, length 2.5') and ring armor + shield (AC6)
- Amber, a thief with a short bow (ROF 2) padded armor (AC8)
The party is spread out in a rough line in a large room, face to face with 4 gnolls at 10'.
The gnolls all have AC 5 and movement of 9"/round.
The gnolls carry the following weapons:
- a polearm (WSF 9, length 6')
- a battleaxe (WSF 7, length 4')
- a long bow (ROF 2)
- a dagger (WSF 2, length 1.5')
Assume no surprise.
Declarations for the impending round are completed before any initiative dice are rolled.
Scenario 2a.
The determines that 3 gnolls will strike blows and discharge the missile weapon (fire the long bow).
The party engages in melee (strike blows), while the cleric will cast Command at one of the gnolls.
These involve 1 timed action (the spell casting) and untimed actions intermixed, so initiative is indicated.
The party rolls a 5, and the gnolls roll a 4.
Order of resolution:
Melee attacks by the party.
Missile discharge of the gnoll with the long bow (kill the spell caster!) (segment 5)
Melee attacks by the gnolls. (probably, segment 5... unless an attack lands against the spell caster!)
Since there is a timed action (spell casting), attacks against it follow one of 2 rules.
- Weapon Speed Factor - melee attacks using a weapon with the WSF losing initiative, their attack is simultaneous with the segment equal to the (WSF - the losing initiative die roll).
- Non-WSF attacks - natural weapons, missile weapons, etc resolve on the segment indicated by the higher initiative die roll.
The party won with a higher initiative die roll, so their untimed actions resolve before the gnolls untimed actions.
Since there is a melee attack against a spell caster, we need to know which completes first, the Command spell or the gnoll melee attack. We randomly determine which gnoll was attacking the cleric:
- a polearm (WSF 9'), 9-4=5, segment 5
- a battleaxe (WSF 7), 7-4=3, segment 3
- a dagger (WSF 2), 2-4=-2=2, segment 2
It turns out that none of the gnoll melee attacks will occur before the Command spell complete. (Also note that this implies that all of the party melee attacks will resolve on segment 1!)
Scenario 2b.
Same declarations as 2a, but the party rolls a 6, and the gnolls roll a 5.
Order of resolution:
Melee attacks by the party.
Missile discharge of the gnoll with the long bow (kill the spell caster!) (segment 6)
Melee attacks be the gnolls. (again, probably segment 6... except for any melee attack against the cleric)
The party won with a higher initiative die roll, so their untimed actions resolve before the gnolls untimed actions.
Since there is a melee attack against a spell caster, we need to know which completes first, the Command spell or the gnoll melee attack. We randomly determine which gnoll was attacking the cleric:
- a polearm (WSF 9'), 9-5=5, segment 4
- a battleaxe (WSF 7), 7-5=2, segment 2
- a dagger (WSF 2), 2-5=-3=3, segment 3
No melee attack will happen before the spell completes! Also note that any of the melee attacks by these gnolls against the cleric will resolve before the missile discharge, technically speaking.
Scenario 2c.
Same declarations as 2a, except the gnoll bowman targets the spell caster.
The party rolls a 2, and the gnolls roll a 1.
Order of resolution:
Melee attacks by the party.
Missile discharge of the gnoll with the long bow (kill the spell caster!) (segment 2)
Melee attacks by the gnolls. (again, probably segment 2... except for any melee attack against the cleric)
The party won with a higher initiative die roll, so their untimed actions resolve before the gnolls untimed actions.
Since there is a melee attack against a spell caster, we need to know which completes first, the Command spell or the gnoll melee attack. We randomly determine which gnoll was attacking the cleric:
- a polearm (WSF 9'), 9-1=8, segment 8
- a battleaxe (WSF 7), 7-1=6, segment 6
- a dagger (WSF 2), 2-1=-1, segment 1
Here we see the dagger attack has no chance of resolving before a 1 segment spell, which makes 1 segment casting times important for combat!
Even more interesting is that if the gnoll attacking with the dagger selects the cleric (which would be random in melee!), then that attack is simultaneous with the spell casting. We would still resolve the spell first, however, since the spell casting is listed as step "D", which preceeds step "G" ("Strike blows", etc).
Close but not close enough!
Scenario 2d.
Same declarations as 2a, except the gnoll bowman targets the spell caster.
The party rolls a 3, and the gnolls roll a 2.
Order of resolution:
Melee attacks by the party.
Missile discharge of the gnoll with the long bow (kill the spell caster!) (segment 3)
Melee attacks be the gnolls. (again, probably segment 3... except for any melee attack against the cleric)
As usual, there is a potential melee attack against a spell caster, we need to know which completes first, the Command spell or the gnoll melee attack. We randomly determine which gnoll was attacking the cleric:
- a polearm (WSF 9'), 9-2=6, segment 6
- a battleaxe (WSF 7), 7-2=5, segment 5
- a dagger (WSF 2), 2-2=-0, segment 0
Finally, we see the gnoll with the dagger, if the cleric ends up as his melee target, resolve on segment 0! It beats the spell completion, etc.
Scenario 2e.
Same declarations as 2a, except the gnoll bowman targets the spell caster.
The party rolls a 3, and the gnolls roll a 4 for initiative.
Order of resolution:
Missile discharge of the gnoll with the long bow (Step "D", page 61)
Melee attacks be the gnolls (Step "G", page 61)
Command spell completes (segment 1)
Melee attacks by the party (probably segment 4, but does it matter here? Nope. There aren't any other timed actions to compare it to, so we only care that it is resolved after everything else)!
The gnolls won with a higher initiative die roll, so their untimed actions resolve before any of the party's actions, timed or otherwise.
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