Command Undead in Combat?

[Rocky16]

So my party runs into an undead, the undead gets the surprise attack and charges one of the players and misses.

Then the fighter goes first (highest initiative) and swings at it with his mace and hits!

Sorcerer's turn is next (second-highest initiative) and decides he wants to cast Command Undead (sorcerer lvl 2 spell).

Is this possible? The spell says 'Any act by you or your apparent allies that threatens the commanded undead (regardless of its Intelligence) breaks the spell.'

The way I understand it, a round is 6 seconds and all actions of all the participants happen within those 6 seconds, there is some overlapping. Does the attacking of the fighter count as threatening the undead and thus breaking the spell?

If it does break the spell or prevent the sorcerer from using Command Undead, can the players stop attack for one round and use Command Undead then?

hehe...had a little discussion about this at the gaming table the other night and no one seems to know for sure, we're probably just being too picky over it lol

[Magicdealer]

While the 6 seconds is supposed to encompass all the actions that are going on simultaneously, what you really see with the initiative system are which actions the characters have irrevocably committed to.

I would say it goes like this...

Undead charges in.

Fighter commits to attacking, and deals damage. At this point, you should consider the attack resolved. As in, it's resolved before the sorcerer's action takes effect.

Sorcerer goes and hits the undead creature with the spell. The spell *assuming it works* takes effect. Since the attack resolved prior to the spell resolving, no action which breaks the text has happened since the spell took effect.

Now, if the monk then tumbles in and punches the undead in the face, that sorcerer is out of luck :p

[Rocky16]

I would completely agree if the spell said 'damage done by the sorcerer or his allies breaks the spell...', but it says 'threatens'. When the fighter has hit the undead and is still standing in front of him, mace drawn and ready, doesn't it count as 'threatening' ?