Terminology - adjDX

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by Kirk

A list of what does and doesn't affect *when* one acts vs. *how often* would be a rather simple thing to include in the new edition, or even perhaps a *concept* that could be applied uniformly without having to resort to a list.

Yes, it seemed relatively clear to us how to do it. Everything that affects DX for all purposes affects the action sequence. (e.g. Armor, spells, injuries). And everything which is a difficulty modifier for a chosen type/target of an action, does not.

I think the last bit is the crux of it, because that's the main thing that multiplies the possible points where someone could act - every range bracket is a different DX adjustment, so someone who could throw a weapon (even if it means using Thrown Weapons to ready any carried thrown weapon and use it this turn), or someone who can cast a Thrown spell, would have a different point in the action sequence that they could do something for every potential target. And every body in reach lying on the ground that you're not sure is dead yet is someone you might attack at +4 DX...

However we did make an exception, which was that the Thrown Weapons and Missile Weapons Talents DID let figures fire/throw sooner than they would otherwise attack. In hindsight, I kind of think maybe that was a mistake, both because of the complexity, and because those talents are already super-awesome enough (and making them not affect Rate of Fire would probably also be a good balance move, even though we did have them affect RoF).

Originally Posted by Kirk

... Does Gimli standing on Balin's tomb cause an orc to spend a bit more time judging his attack before striking, or is it just harder to get a more substantial hit? :)

The way we played, no it's just harder to for the orc to hit. However if there's a dead orc on top of the tomb and Gimli's standing on the dead orc, that's -2 DX for broken ground for Gimli which does slow Gimli down.

[Kirk]

But don't you have the problem, since negative DX can occur because of striker or recipient, of having a sorting problem?

Depending on what a character wants to do, it may change his place in line, and this up and down in sort order makes for a complicated mess. The two types of DX alterations makes for a GM headache and slows play.

We tried to make players aware of what did what beforehand with examples so they would know what their active DX would be *before* their turn came to try and keep things moving.

But situations during the turn still make this difficult. Just as a rhetorical general idea, someone falls down, now I can hit him at +4 DX. Do I go before the wizard that is at -2 DX for thrown spell distance, or is the downed character just easier to hit, so that the wizard can cast his clumsiness spell to reduce my DX? Add half a dozen more characters in the fight and it can be quite complicated.