Unknown Armies:Initiative

At the beginning of the combat, the GM determines who goes first, second, third, and so forth. This process is known as initiative. when it's your turn to take action, say what you're doing. Going sooner is better than going later, because slower characters have to react to what faster characters are doing.

Combat is divided into rounds. In a single round you could use an attack skill, dodge, cast a spell, or start performing some other simple action. Rounds are an abstraction intended for easier gameplay, not a definite measure of time. Assume a round is about three seconds, but don't get hung up on accurate timekeeping.

Rolling Initiative

To determine your place in the initiative for this combat, roll against your Speed stat. You always want to roll high. Treat matches, crits, and fumbles as normal rolls—they don't give you any special bonuses or penalties.

• If you succeed in your Speed check, you act before everyone who failed their roll. You also act before everyone with a successful roll that was lower than yours was.
• If you fail in your Speed check, you act after everyone who succeeded in their roll. You also act before everyone with a failed roll that was lower than yours.

Default Initiative

Instead of rolling, you can decide to use your Initiative skill as your roll result. If you have Initiative 34%, your initiative number is 34. Taking default initiative is considered the same as a successful roll.

• With default initiative, you act before everyone who failed their roll. You also act before everyone with a successful roll that was lower than your initiative skill.

Ambush Initiative

If you begin combat by ambushing someone, you get that first attack immediately. For the rest of the combat, you act on your Speed stat number and that is considered the same as a successful roll. If your Speed is 62 and you make a successful ambush, your initiative number is 62.

• With ambush initiative, you get the very first action. For the rest of the combat, you act before everyone who failed their roll. You also act before everyone with a successful roll that was lower than your Speed stat is.

Ambush initiative is only valid for total surprise. If you're face to face and staring beadily at one another, the guy who punches first or goes for his gun first doesn't have total surprise. You only get the ambush advantage if the GM agrees that you completely bushwhacked your target.

Improving Initiative

Once the initiative ranking is set, it stays the same throughout the entire combat. If you want to improve your ranking during the combat, you can spend one round without taking any other action. At the start of the next round, you can either roll against your Speed stat, or use your Initiative skill just like the start of combat.

Tied Initiative

If you are tied for initiative ranking with another character, roll a die to break the tie. The loser's initiative ranking drops by one point so he or she is just below your ranking.