D&D 5E Alternate Initiative Rules

[CubicsRube]

We tried the Three Tier initiative system. Essentially all martial classes were Fast, all primary casters were Slow, and everyone else was Medium.

So you would say "Fast is up!" then all the Fighters, Barbarians, Paladins, etc would simultaneously resolve their turns. "Medium is up!" which was mostly NPCs and monsters the DM didn't think counted as Fast or Slow. "Slow is up!" Which is the Bards, Clerics, Wizards, etc resolving their turns last.

I really like this one. Similar to Shadow of the Demon Lords system but broken up by class. It's a nice way of bringing back tiered initiative that is quite simple to implement.

 

[Ath'kethin]

We key Initiative off of INT instead of DEX and use the speed modifiers form the DMG. It works pretty well and reduces the trend of INT being used as a dump stat.

 

[akr71]

I miss that like a phonecall when .. doing something important.
It totally adds to realism for me (not) when some bloke tries to tell me that the guy with a dagger gets the first and quicker attack at a guy with a halberd because it is the "slower" weapon.
That is so applicable also in reality (It's not!)

Let us asume i am in a fight for life and death, and for some circumstance i have the absolute same basic speed and reaction time like my opponent. We stand 10 ft apart in combat ready stance for the start. I have the choice between a halberd and a dagger and my opponent has to take the other weapon.

You can bet i want the halberd, because it is faster (my lever is my prolonged arm plus the halberd shaft whereas the dagger only has the armlength, if i move my arm at the same speed as the daggerwielder i will traverse a much longer distance with the sharp end of the weapon thats distance/time= velocity!) and ensures i get the first attack (because of reach).

Your sarcasm and snark aside, the very first thing I said after saying I missed weapon speed is that I don't want to penalize heavy weapons. The game already heavily favours Dex builds.

And realism? I play this fantasy game with magic and monsters for fun. Realism never even entered the building.

 

[Anoth]

I use group initiative. Surprise just means your team wins initiative. I also do group stealth checks to determine surprise. So many times initiative will be a group stealth check versus a group perception check.

 

[Nebulous]

I really like this one. Similar to Shadow of the Demon Lords system but broken up by class. It's a nice way of bringing back tiered initiative that is quite simple to implement.

Yeah, I might try adding the Medium tier in the middle too. I'm going to add group initiative per side, and try to figure out a way to modify rolls slightly. For instance, if someone is particularly fast, their side would get Advantage maybe? But that might be too good, maybe that would work best just for the first round of combat and not every round.

 

[DND_Reborn]

FWIW I've never a fan of group initiative. I am not a fan of only rolling once for the battle, but understand the benefit to speeding up game play. IMO group initiative doesn't speed up anything enough to warrant using the super-simply mechanic.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah that should work for most situations.

This isn't something that is in any rulebook (and maybe it can't be), but increasingly I've come to see initiative as something that should be tailored to fit the specific situation. Obviously, not a popular view – few players like the rules shifting under their feet. But when exceptional situations arise, I've found better success borrowing/designing initiative systems that are well-matched to that situation rather than forcing the situation to fit the generic initiative rules.

Can you explain what you mean in more detail? Are you saying that you use DIFFERENT initiative systems in the same game, depending on the battle scenario? Doesn't that get complicated? I have new players still learning the rules, so I don't want to overwhelm them. Easier is better.

 

[Nebulous]

FWIW I've never a fan of group initiative. I am not a fan of only rolling once for the battle, but understand the benefit to speeding up game play. IMO group initiative doesn't speed up anything enough to warrant using the super-simply mechanic.

I thought group initiative was rolled every round, to keep it from being the same sequence over and over. I'm thinking of doing that and trying to find a way to modify that roll with a group Intelligence modifier and get away from Dex completely.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I thought group initiative was rolled every round, to keep it from being the same sequence over and over. I'm thinking of doing that and trying to find a way to modify that roll with a group Intelligence modifier and get away from Dex completely.

Sure, you can do it every round or once at the beginning, either way.

If I ever did do group initiative, I would sum up the individual modifiers and use that for the group. Now, given even small bonuses this means larger groups are more likely to go first, but that lends itself to an overwhelming hoard idea which I think is nice.

 

[Nebulous]

Sure, you can do it every round or once at the beginning, either way.

If I ever did do group initiative, I would sum up the individual modifiers and use that for the group. Now, given even small bonuses this means larger groups are more likely to go first, but that lends itself to an overwhelming hoard idea which I think is nice.

Yeah, I was thinking of having an averaged Group Intelligence modifier. It would be the same every fight mostly so wouldn't never need recalculation. For PCs. Now fighting 10 orcs, I would probably say their initiative is -2 for the group, as they're pretty dumb i think.

Edit: alternatively, it could be +0 average Wis or +0 Perception