doctorhook
Legend
I recently got the group I DM to try speed factor initiative*. I've been in love with the idea of this variant for a while now, but I had thought it would be too impractical for actual play. I opted to give it a try following after reading a couple positive reviews, including from @Fralex as well as in this blog post by Angry DM.
*For those who don't know, speed factor initiative is a variant initiative system from pages 270-271 of the DMG. I think it aims to replicate 2E AD&D-style initiative; players roll initiative each round, after having announced their actions, and their initiative is modified by the actions they selected.
Overall, the first session went well. Players were iffy about it at first, but quickly wrapped their heads around the idea. In this session, we had two battles: a small fight against a group of five wolves, and a larger fight against six cultists and a priest, with some bystanders running around.
The first battle went as smoothly as an oil slick on a skating rink on an elf baby's bottom. We went around the table and had the players announce all their actions and bonus actions (but not their movement), and I announced the wolves' actions. Next we rolled initiative for all the PCs, modifying their totals based on their actions, as per the rules of the variant. I rolled initiative once for all the wolves; they all moved on the same turn, but their single roll was modified by the slowest action any of them chose (in this case casting a 9th-level spell while making an attack with a two-handed, heavy, reloading weapon...just kidding, they're wolves). The PCs rolled well and ended up dropping three of the five wolves in the first round before the wolves had a chance to attack. After the last turn of the round, we restarted the initiative process and conducted round two, in which the PCs defeated the remaining wolves.
The second battle was trickier, but worked fundamentally the same way: everyone announced actions, then we rolled initiative. There were two groups of enemies and one group of bystanders, so each group had its own initiative count in each round. The most complicated part of it was remembering exactly what I had announced that each cultist would do on its turn--since I had more creatures in combat, I had more declared actions to remember.
This initiative system adds some neat tactical complexity to the game, because you never know if your target will still be available and in range by the time you get to enact your declared action. There's not really a danger of damaging your allies, but there is a chance your turn will be wasted. On the other hand, this system does change the pace of combat; instead of being an orderly series of turns, every round has two distinct phases, declaration and action, which feel markedly different. This isn't a negative per se, but it is a significant change.
Overall, my experience with this variant was positive, and we're going to continue test-driving it and looking for refinements.
Advice requested: As mentioned above, as DM it becomes exponentially more difficult to remember all of the monsters' declared actions by the end of the round. Our "complicated battle" would have been eminently manageable under the regular system; it wasn't a particularly big battle. The problem variable seems to be the number of DM-controlled creatures in the fight. I could write their actions down, but that doesn't seem like a time-saver (although it may be worth a shot regardless). Does anyone have any other suggestions?
*For those who don't know, speed factor initiative is a variant initiative system from pages 270-271 of the DMG. I think it aims to replicate 2E AD&D-style initiative; players roll initiative each round, after having announced their actions, and their initiative is modified by the actions they selected.
Overall, the first session went well. Players were iffy about it at first, but quickly wrapped their heads around the idea. In this session, we had two battles: a small fight against a group of five wolves, and a larger fight against six cultists and a priest, with some bystanders running around.
The first battle went as smoothly as an oil slick on a skating rink on an elf baby's bottom. We went around the table and had the players announce all their actions and bonus actions (but not their movement), and I announced the wolves' actions. Next we rolled initiative for all the PCs, modifying their totals based on their actions, as per the rules of the variant. I rolled initiative once for all the wolves; they all moved on the same turn, but their single roll was modified by the slowest action any of them chose (in this case casting a 9th-level spell while making an attack with a two-handed, heavy, reloading weapon...just kidding, they're wolves). The PCs rolled well and ended up dropping three of the five wolves in the first round before the wolves had a chance to attack. After the last turn of the round, we restarted the initiative process and conducted round two, in which the PCs defeated the remaining wolves.
The second battle was trickier, but worked fundamentally the same way: everyone announced actions, then we rolled initiative. There were two groups of enemies and one group of bystanders, so each group had its own initiative count in each round. The most complicated part of it was remembering exactly what I had announced that each cultist would do on its turn--since I had more creatures in combat, I had more declared actions to remember.
This initiative system adds some neat tactical complexity to the game, because you never know if your target will still be available and in range by the time you get to enact your declared action. There's not really a danger of damaging your allies, but there is a chance your turn will be wasted. On the other hand, this system does change the pace of combat; instead of being an orderly series of turns, every round has two distinct phases, declaration and action, which feel markedly different. This isn't a negative per se, but it is a significant change.
Overall, my experience with this variant was positive, and we're going to continue test-driving it and looking for refinements.
Advice requested: As mentioned above, as DM it becomes exponentially more difficult to remember all of the monsters' declared actions by the end of the round. Our "complicated battle" would have been eminently manageable under the regular system; it wasn't a particularly big battle. The problem variable seems to be the number of DM-controlled creatures in the fight. I could write their actions down, but that doesn't seem like a time-saver (although it may be worth a shot regardless). Does anyone have any other suggestions?
