[Rq-rules] Thanks!

[Wayne Shaw]

At 12:57 PM 10/17/2007, you wrote:


>As the inventor of Strike Ranks, my suggestion is to ignore them 
>entirely. Second best would be to revert to RQ2 style strike ranks, 
>where they are only used to determine initiative between two 
>fighters once they have engaged. I invented them originally to try 
>to lend some authenticity to D&D combat. Once you actually think 
>about them long enough, you realize there are so many special cases 
>(what happens to long weapons when the fighters close? Does the 
>weight of the weapon influence how fast it moves? etc.) that it 
>becomes far more trouble than it is worth.
>
>The RQ3 attempt to incorporate movement (NOT my idea, though I 
>didn't particularly fight it) took Strike Ranks away from any real 
>use except to encumber combat, as Wayne points out.
>
>Throw them out and either use straight DEX or some DEX+die roll for 
>initiative, or use RQ2's system.

Even with the special casing, I found that the older version provided 
enough of a feel of distinction to be worth the trouble; it was at 
the least no worse than other fixed or random initiative 
systems.  But the movement thing really was a pain in the behind.