[Tome] BAB to Initiative, cool idea or not?

[8d8]

Did you read the first post? The very first sentence is that I was watching a lot of a TV Show, and then thought of a thing.

Well I got that much of it, yeah. What I don't get is why that's something you want in an RPG. When I play I usually prefer fights to be somewhat realistic, against enemies I have a reason to fight and who can challenge my character. The "I go first and cut a swath through the faceless goons" idea is neat to watch, but empty and hollow as a game challenge. Either there's little reason to spend table time fighting a thing, or it should be able to have a chance at good placement in initiative. If that's not the case, why?

[tussock]

In classic RPGs, fighting mooks was a thing where you didn't have unlimited healing and easy spell refresh, and they also gave you pathetic XP. So it was a handy minor failure result for the GM to threaten you with if you're fucking around or something. A quick distraction that eats a few resources and then you can get on with the main show with your new damage totals and one less spell.

3e tried to keep that alive, but failed, so now it's a bit of a lost art.