What is this "initiative"?

[morph]

Sorry about my rather poor vocabulary, but what exactly does initiative mean?

The description on my dictionary said that initiative (in a person) is the ability to do things independently, but that doesn't really explain its purpose in Pit of War.
Maybe I should have payed more attention in English class...
:(

[Apoca1ypse]

In the simplest terms for this game, it means that you have a better chance at acting before your opponent.

[Alba Kebab]

Yep, it's who goes first.

[Garlic88]

So not about how many times you attack?

[Apoca1ypse]

correct.

agility and weapon speed decide how many attacks you get

initiative is governed by the weapon speed and agility as well, but racial traits are also a factor.

[Dainoji]

correct.

agility and weapon speed decide how many attacks you get

initiative is governed by the weapon speed and agility as well, but racial traits are also a factor.

A more correct statement would be your activity level and your fighting style coupled with the above determine your number of attacks.

[Narol]

It's worth noting that Low initiative can indirectly influence your number of attacks in the round, by preventing you to do all the attacks you would "normally" have done...

You can watch that effect in particular when facing opponents who have a high level in Warcry, as the Warcry skill puts a penalty on the opponent's initiative... Armor movement at the contrary improve your initiative by reducing the initiative penalty you get from your armor.

[Garlic88]

Narol, i don't quite understand what you mean... Do you mean that in practice if you always attack 2nd, you may get disarmed, put on the floor, stunned etc with the enemiy's first hit, therefore losing out on attacks this way?

[Narol]

You're not exactly losing them (except when stun), but if your initiative penalty is too big, your attacks are postponed so much that they don't happen in the current round but only in the next... In practice, the result is the same...

Warcry of the opponent, wearing heavy armor, being encumbered, being prone or being blind are typically things that will give you an initiative penalty and so will consequently more or less slow down your attacks.

For example, your glad may normally attack twice in round 1 against most opponents, but only once if that opponent has a high level in warcry...

[Garlic88]

Ah ok so initiative is important. Similarly can a high inititive give you more attacks? Like it brings forward attacks from round 2?

[Dainoji]

I'm not sure I agree that a fast initiative brings round 2 attacks into round 1, however it will let you to get in your attacks before the other glad which as Narol points out will help you by not getting a crit dealt against you before you have a chance to deal your own crits or skill effects. If your initiative is very low, I think you still get your attacks in that round they'll just happen at the end unless you get stunned or hamstrung which in that case you lose attacks.

[Narol]

Dainoji is right on the fact that fast initiative CANNOT give you more attacks (but high agility can !) in a round that you should normally have... They will just happen earlier in the round, giving you more chances to hit the opponent before he can even try to strike back...

However, I confirm that low initiative can make you lose attacks by postponing them to next round, Cynaidh and myself have made tests to verify that interesting point... Those tests also brought us to the conclusion that Warcry is really a key skill even for defensive warriors due to the lost attacks it often cause to the opponent... We also came to the conclusion that Warcry doesn't only affect the first round but all rounds, so it's like a permanent mini-hamstring in a way...

[Dainoji]

Interesting. I've always assumed initiative was calculated each round since that is how it's done in a lot of pen and paper games like D&D and Nate seems to have incorporated a lot of old school ideas into this game. Looks like I might have been right. :)

[AngryVermin]

Do you experienced guys think that I can have a good build without armor movement?

I am thinking of skipping it for other skills.

Thanks!

[Cynaidh]

Lahral runs without it, so i can be done for sure, I personally think its too good to skip, with 10 Armour Movement and 10 Warcry, you will out jump rages using rampage in round 1 and get the first hit almost every time.

[Narol]

It all depends of your fighting strategy, defensive glads and counter-attacking theatrics can do very well without it...

The best proof, I have currently 4 glads in the Top 15 of Primus and only 1 of them has Armor Movement.

In my opinion, only rages really need it asolutely as they need to hit fast especially against other rages....