Questions while reading rules more accurately...

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Gollum

Of course.

Which is why I (house) rule: about one second. It remains one second ... plus or minus some tenths and hundredths. It just remains vague to avoid endless discussions about the real ability of an average man without training to run 5 yards from standing still in just one second, as noted by Varyon above, to draw a sword from his scabbard while a trained warrior will just have the time to attack him once with his knife, and so on.

Or, you could just change the turn length into one that actually permits doing those things. For example, moving 5 yards from a standing start in one second is not only beyond the capabilities of an average person, it's impossible for a human to achieve (world record sprint times, starting from a runner's crouch on blocks, are about 3 yards in the first second).