No adding DEX mods or improved initiative bonuses. DEX is used to break ties.
We use d10s around here. Straight rolls.
Of course, you can use whatever dice you want. Got bucket-loads of multicolored d20s? Use those. Pick a unique die, roll it, and put it on your character sheet. The referee calls down from highest to lowest.
The only exceptions are for weapon length and creature size. If this happens, the larger or longer reach goes first, regardless of the initiative roll.
And we are done.
The Castles & Crusades (C&C) initiative system eliminates the "gaming" of initiative roll with special rules, ability modifiers, or bonuses. The combat rounds are unpredictable since you roll every game and shuffle the order. Combat is chaotic and dangerous, as it should be. You can't "front load" a turn with fast builds and action-denial attacks, and your party needs to be able to adjust and adapt as combat ebbs and flows. You could go a the end of one round and the beginning of another, so you could potentially double-attack in a short period - or an enemy could. Momentum is fluid and can change at any time.
Having played years of Pathfinder 1e, I love this system. Whenever my Pathfinder characters got into melee, I would have these pieces of scrap paper lying around with lists of numbers and turn orders. I began to hate combat since initiative tracking was a huge chore. Savage Worlds does a better job with cards as initiative order, but still, you have to pull every turn and shuffle every so often. C&C is just a handful of dice, and that is it, so it is simple and fast.
And there were some feats in 3.5/Pathfinder 1e that were so good you were required to take them. One of them in our games was improved initiative (casters more than melee, but still a good choice to the latter). When the "required feat" happens the entire feat system breaks down, and it isn't meaningful "options" anymore - the feat system should ideally be folded into class abilities and done away with.
And we ended up hating improved initiative too.
It Gets to the Fun
I love how C&C "gets to the fun" in many ways. Lots of complexity is removed. Where B/X games are tied to some strange historical artifacts of less-than-ideal game design, C&C removes all the grit and cruft from the B/X-style experience and gives you a pure, highly lubricated, smooth-moving system. And what the designers removed isn't missed; the Siege Engine does more with less.
While I love Savage Pathfinder, this game is consuming more of my playtime. There is no converting anything to Savage Worlds dice or stats. I am playing with the original AC, hit point, and damage values. I can play B/X and AD&D modules as-is.
I also love Pathfinder 1e, but C&C "powers down" characters to their original AD&D levels, removes all the extra Paizo powers of each class, and makes the game feel like the original again. I also like D&D 3.5 because the characters are more straightforward than Pathfinder 1e, but C&C goes back to AD&D and sits upon that original throne of Gygaxian balance and power level.
You are not super-powered like you get in Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5 as you level. Your damage stays at AD&D levels and does not "scale up" because of multi-attacks and other damage scaling mechanics they introduced for game-feeling and to break compatibility.
While learning the game, I had a few issues with C&C, and I felt they may have removed too much. With some time and reflection, I realized why they did, and everything worked incredibly well.
This is quickly becoming my favorite AD&D-style game.
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