D&D 5E Anyone Using the Optional Initiative from the DMG?

I thought the complicated initiative variant would slow down the fights. It seemed obvious that adding an extra step to every round would take longer. But having tried it out, it has actually made combat not just faster, but more engaging!

Before using this variant, every combat began with the arduous writing down of everybody's initiative on slips of paper and shuffling through them in order each turn. Some players (including me) would ignore what was happening during other people's turns so they could plan out their own turn. Others (also me) would just watch the fight play out until it got to their turn, then suddenly realize they didn't know what they wanted to do yet. It took a huge amount of effort to keep games going during what was in theory the most exciting part of the game.

Then I decided to give this initiative variant a try. I didn't do it to keep people from gaming the initiative order OR to add more realism with varying weapon speeds. No one in my games pays that much attention during combat! I did it because it sounded kind of cool. It wasn't. It was amazingly cool.

Now, combat begins immediately when someone says they attack a thing. Every player simultaneously decides what they'll do on their turn each round. Then I count down from 30 really fast, pausing whenever someone says the number they rolled came up to let them take their turn. They do what they planned earlier. Everybody else spends the turn paying attention to what that character does in case it changes how their own turn goes. I love it.
It slightly lengthens combat by one round of rolling dice each round, and speeds up combat by however much time was previously wasted by inattentive and/or unprepared players each round. In my group, that's a net benefit.

Oh, and there's no need to let enemies invalidate a mage's action simply by hitting them first. You can't interrupt a spell before they start to cast it, and they don't officially start to cast the spell until they take the Cast a Spell action on their turn. Realism shouldn't make a game less fun.

Haven't learned how to quote properly

Everyone rolls for initiative, and I'll say, "Ok everyone above X (x= monster's initiative) can go." Then I go, then I say, "OK, everyone else can go."

*Yoink*!! I'm stealing this and using it in my next session! What understated brilliance! thanks!

Edit:
Oops... Quoting [MENTION=15700]Sacrosanct[/MENTION]. Haven't learned my formatting on this site yet, sorry.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Fralex - That's exactly what I was hoping would happen for people who use this system. I also have very inattentive players (I'm just as guilty of that when I play instead of DM). I was hoping someone who used it would have gotten this result.

In AD&D, I used a single die roll for each side of the combat, with action speed factor modifying the roll for each player/opponent. It worked well, I may try to do it if individual rolls end up consuming more time than intended.

Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I'm going to go with side initiative, rolled every round, and using the following combat sequence, modified from Moldvay:

1. Morale
2. Movement (Includes Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Help, Hide, Search, and Use an Object Actions)
3. Missiles/Movement (Attacks with ranged weapons, plus any movement those characters have left over)
4. Magic/Movement/Saves (Cast a Spell, plus any movement those characters have left over, plus any saves that need to be made)
5. Melee/Movement (Attacks with melee weapons, plus any movement those characters have left over)

Reactions can occur whenever triggered.

What I want to do is get that same feel as in Classic D&D, where you didn't have each person do their full turn while the others waited, but the turns were more woven together.

What Fralex said is how we ran it in 2e. Simultaneous declaration is fun but it can require some player discipline. I like the idea I got from an rpg.net thread about using declaration cards with basic actions on them the players can play to indicate what they plan to do.

The countdown certainly does add some excitement to the mix.

There is one thing I miss from AD&D and simultaneous init, and that's the Charlie Foxtrots that result from players not coordinating their actions. I still remember an against the giants game where a party wizard flash froze the thief to death with a cone of cold, because they both attacked the same remhoraz without thinking how the turn order worked.

Guy with 2 segment short sword charges in first;
Wizard with 5 segment cone of cold cone blasts whole area she designated at casting of spell.
Thief fails save. Popsicle Thief.

The optional rule sounds a lot better than standard d20 initiative.

I like the speed factor idea in theory, as others have said, and I'm intrigued by [MENTION=6785902]Fralex[/MENTION]'s experience. However, I have six players in my group, and I'd be hesitant to try it. That being said, as a result of having such a large group, I too have the inattentiveness issue. I wonder if I should try it ...

Sacrosanct said:

Nope. In fact, I go the other direction. Everyone rolls for initiative, and I'll say, "Ok everyone above X (x= monster's initiative) can go." Then I go, then I say, "OK, everyone else can go."

It makes it much faster.

Click to expand...

Do you have monsters acting on multiple initiatives or do they all go on the same turn? My concern would be, especially in 5e, that the whole "side initiative" variant would result in some very short combats where one side defeats the other side before it even gets to act.

We recently played a 2e game utilising action declaration, rolling for initiative every round and speed factor - it worked brilliantly and made the combat pretty intense, HOWEVER there were only 3 PCs. I'm sure it will work just as well in 5e, but the amount of fun that will be generated will depend on the size of the party.