Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Best Initiative System?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Oni" data-source="post: 5948241" data-attributes="member: 380"><p>What do you think is the best initiative system for Dungeons & Dragons? </p><p></p><p>The classic AD&D and older style where everyone declares and then you figure out how it all shakes out, or the cyclical initiative that's was used in 3e, 4e, and now in the 5e playtest material? Or perhaps something else entirely? </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>I was playing the playtest material last week it got me thinking about the initiative system and how it might influence player behavior. And then again in the my weekly Pathfinder game I was noticing the players tendency to dogpile anything that looked like a threat, and that often I would have monsters that had the potential to be fairly scary or threatening either getting only one or no attacks at all, because the players, as a group, could do so much damage in a round when the focused fire, nothing that wouldn't just flat out kill them would last very long. Now I know that you can focus fire using the older style intiative, but I feel like the certainty that comes with knowing exactly when everyone is going to act promotes this type of behaviors, because it's easier to predict the outcome of a given situation. It's the difference between everyone being able to react to whatever comes before them immediately, versus having to react to the previous rounds actions. </p><p></p><p>Anyway, I sometimes wonder, even though it's slightly more complicated, if the style of initiative from 2e and earlier wasn't better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oni, post: 5948241, member: 380"] What do you think is the best initiative system for Dungeons & Dragons? The classic AD&D and older style where everyone declares and then you figure out how it all shakes out, or the cyclical initiative that's was used in 3e, 4e, and now in the 5e playtest material? Or perhaps something else entirely? ------------------------------------------------------------------- I was playing the playtest material last week it got me thinking about the initiative system and how it might influence player behavior. And then again in the my weekly Pathfinder game I was noticing the players tendency to dogpile anything that looked like a threat, and that often I would have monsters that had the potential to be fairly scary or threatening either getting only one or no attacks at all, because the players, as a group, could do so much damage in a round when the focused fire, nothing that wouldn't just flat out kill them would last very long. Now I know that you can focus fire using the older style intiative, but I feel like the certainty that comes with knowing exactly when everyone is going to act promotes this type of behaviors, because it's easier to predict the outcome of a given situation. It's the difference between everyone being able to react to whatever comes before them immediately, versus having to react to the previous rounds actions. Anyway, I sometimes wonder, even though it's slightly more complicated, if the style of initiative from 2e and earlier wasn't better. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Best Initiative System?
Top