Weapon speed in AD&D 1e confuses some people. In particular, it requires a small bit of math to use. Specifically, weapons speed is used in two cases: when initiative is tied or when casting spells within melee.

Tied Initiative

When initiative is tied, the rules cited below are used.

In the table below, I did the math. All that needs to be done is to cross-reference the attacker’s weapon speed with the defender’s weapon speed to determine the number of attacks allowed. There are a few observations, any weapons of speed 9 or greater will never get more than a single attack. Neither will any weapon get more than three attacks. Again, this would table would only be used when initiatives are tied.

Casting Spells into Combat

The other scenario weapon speed is used is when casting spells into combat. The rule is sited below.

One key concept is that this approach is only used when the attacker with a weapon has lost initiative against the spell caster – even losing initiative, an attacker with a weapon has a chance of attacking before the spell caster finishes casting their spell. If a spell caster loses initiative, the person with the weapon always attacks first. If the initiative is tied, the test is just a simple comparison of weapon speed versus casting time – the lower number wins. But, in the attacker with a weapon loses initiative, then there the method described in the rule is used. It’s somewhat complicated by the use of an absolute value. So, I’ve calculated the permutations below.

The procedure is to use the table associated with the losing initiative number, cross-reference the casting time with the weapon speed to determine whether the spell is completed before or after a weapon attack. In the tables, “W” means the weapon gets to attack first, an “S” means the spell completes before the attack, and “sim” is a truly simultaneous completion of the spell and the weapon attack. In the event of a “sim” outcome, the spell will complete, and its effects put in place, but the weapon still has a chance to-hit (though without spoiling the spell). You will probably need to open the table in a new tab and zoom in.