D&D General Alternate Initiative Concept: "Y'all figure it out"

Ah, got it.
For my own curiosity:

Origin Feat

You gain the following benefits.

Initiative Proficiency. When you roll Initiative, you can add your Proficiency Bonus to the roll.

Initiative Swap. Immediately after you roll Initiative, you can swap your Initiative with the Initiative of one willing ally in the same combat. You can’t make this swap if you or the ally has the Incapacitated condition.
 

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Appreciate the input! You say "last time I played in person," I'm guessing that means you also play/run more often online? If so, I'm guessing you use standard online then?

I've seen a few options now: clustered, popcorn, a number of other ideas. Stuff like popcorn means that initiative features don't get used...

The toughest thing here is playtesting: I'd probably need to pitch "danger room" testing to players, they wouldn't be happy if trying out funky initiative systems resulted in them having setbacks in our actual games 😅
Yeh, it definitely takes a spirit of adventure and desire to try new rules ideas.

Online when I’ve been doing 5e I’ve just been doing the clustered initiative - But I have tried to avoid getting locked into Foundry/Roll20/FG built in initiative counters. I know a lot of GMs get locked into those. I’m just an unrepentant homebrewer and house ruler, so those things always feel so limiting to me.
 

We do group initiative most the time. Highest pc initiative bonus rolls vs highest NPC determines whether PC or NPC group goes first. Within PC group players can take turns in whatever order is desired.

Works great for strategizing. Turns go fairly fast because players have much less uncertainty about their teammates plans and that additional info helps them plan what they want to do.

In the case of side/group initiative, or other initiative systems off the standard, one question always arises: What about effects that last 1 round? What about effects that end at the start, or at the end of a creatures turn?

Let's take group initiative:

The party goes first; round 1, one of the characters makes an enemy stunned until the start of that character's next turn. The enemy is stunned on their turn in round 1... but in round 2, when does that creature's stun wear off? Say the stunning character went first in r1. If the character goes third in r2, does the creature stay stunned til then? or does the stun wear off once the first character goes in r2?
 

In the case of side/group initiative, or other initiative systems off the standard, one question always arises: What about effects that last 1 round? What about effects that end at the start, or at the end of a creatures turn?

Let's take group initiative:

The party goes first; round 1, one of the characters makes an enemy stunned until the start of that character's next turn. The enemy is stunned on their turn in round 1... but in round 2, when does that creature's stun wear off? Say the stunning character went first in r1. If the character goes third in r2, does the creature stay stunned til then? or does the stun wear off once the first character goes in r2?

We do it based on the PCs turn but you could have effects start or stop at start if groups turn. Yea it can extend some effects a little longer. Which is different but hasn’t been problematic.
 

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