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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 9506161" data-attributes="member: 50987">If you're like me, you think that the Dexterity stat is overused in 5E D&D.  You've already heard/read the discussions: blah blah most important stat, blee bloo attacks damage armor class, blah blah.  You're not interested in flogging that dead horse; you're interested in doing something about it.So you've decided to start small, something that will have a comparatively low impact in the game: Initiative.  You've decided that instead of using Dexterity to modify Initiative rolls, you are going to use...well, something else.  Anything else, so long as it isn't the most overused stat in the game.  You feel like this is would be a big enough change to make a noticeable impact, but small enough to keep the Rogue and Bard from ruining their pants over it, and keep you from having to update hundreds of monster/NPC stat blocks.  But this isn't your first house-rule, and you know that you are facing an uphill battle: you'll be asking your players to go against a well-established, decades-old gaming convention.  You need to find a way to explain it to your players that makes sense.Here are some ideas to help with that discussion.Intelligence: using Intelligence for Initiative is a popular choice.  From the narrative of the game, Initiative becomes more about quick-thinking, being able to "size up" an opponent or a dangerous situation quickly.  And as far as the game mechanics are concerned, you are giving Artificers, Wizards, and other high-Intelligence casters a slightly higher chance to fire off their spells before the martials close in and ruin the blast radius.  Rogues and fighters have a slightly higher incentive to choose Arcane Trickster or Eldritch Knight (respectively), but I've never heard of anyone changing their character path because of initiative, of all things.Summary:  Intelligence-based Initiative means "quick thinking."Wisdom: similar to Intelligence, this one is easier to explain across the narrative.  In the narrative, Initiative becomes a measure of awareness and alertness, being able to accurately sense something is wrong and anticipate dangerous situations before they occur.  Concerning the game mechanics, clerics and druids have a slightly higher chance of being able to cast their buff spells on the martials before they run out of range, and the monk and ranger probably won't even notice.  Bards and rogues will push back a little, because they are least-likely to optimize Wisdom.Summary:  Wisdom-based Initiative means "heightened awareness."Strength: if you decide to use Strength for initiative, you will be the hero of the Fighting Man...but you're going to have a hard time explaining it in the narrative of the game.  How does being really strong and athletic help you react quickly to a threat?  The best I've got is that your massive size and bulging muscles makes your opponents rethink their choices for a split-second, and that gives you a slight edge over them--a tiny bit of time to react before they can.  So from a narrative perspective, Strength-based initiative means that your physical strength makes your opponents hesitate for just a few seconds? maybe?  I admit, it's a stretch.  But as far as the game mechanics are concerned, just about every martial-combat focused character is going to benefit (especially Fighters and Paladins, who probably don't need the extra edge.)Summary:  Strength-based initiative is hard to explain in the narrative.  "Scary muscles," maybe?Charisma:  This is already a thing in Pathfinder, with the Noble Scion (Scion of War).  The d20PFSRD doesn't really offer an explanation in the narrative, it just flatly says "You use your Charisma modifier to adjust Initiative checks instead of your Dexterity modifier."  I struggle to imagine what that might look like: one's heightened sense of self-awareness and force of personality giving them a higher reaction time?  Seems implausible.  Intimidating presence?  Bit of a stretch.  On the bright side, there is already a precedent for this, something you can point to in a published RPG and hold up as an example to your players.  As far as the game mechanics go, this is a slight boon for warlocks and sorcerers, who have a slightly higher chance to fire their spells off before the martial characters rush in and crowd the battlefield, and bards will barely notice.Summary:  Charisma-based initiative has been done before, but that's about all I can say about it.Constitution:  this one is even harder to narrate than Strength is.  It makes good sense from the perspective of the game mechanics: it's the one stat that nearly every single character in the game has a bonus in, but it is unlikely to be anyone's highest stat--so you'll see a more even and balanced initiative order.  Some monsters have truly ridiculous Constitution scores, so you'll be giving them a slight edge in the turn order, too.  But from the storytelling perspective, I'm struggling to explain how your immune system makes you react more quickly to threats.  I suggest you just handwave it with something like "look, I'm just trying to find a stat that everyone is good at, okay?" and hope for the best.Summary:  Constitution-based initiative is a hard sell.  If you choose it, god speed.  I'd love to hear how you narrate it (or if you even bothered.)Along these lines, [USER=20323]@Quickleaf[/USER] wrote:This is an interesting idea!  And I think Quickleaf found the missing narrative for Constitution-based initiative, too.  Low-constitution characters (in theory; I've never actually seen such a thing) would have fewer hit points, and therefore would have a stronger survival instinct and greater "urgency to act."Summary: Constitution-based initiative (or by another measure, hitpoint-based Initiative) means "urgency to act."Proficiency Bonus (hat tip: [USER=52905]@darjr[/USER] [USER=6801209]@mellored[/USER] ): forget ability modifiers!  All initiative rolls use the character's (or creature's) Proficiency Bonus instead.  After all, being able to react to danger is how you managed to survive as long as you have as an adventurer, and you're only getting better as time goes on.  From the narrative point of view, being able to react quickly to danger is part-and-parcel to the life of a hero, and represents a conglomerate of skills, tricks, and luck that you've picked up in your travels.  And from the game mechanics point of view, it means that the more powerful and trained you are, the better your reaction time--it would be applied evenly across the board.Summary:  Proficiency-based initiative means "trained to anticipate danger".Whatever's Highest (hat tip: [USER=82524]@Vaalingrade[/USER] ): very similar to the above, you let the player choose which stat they want to use...or just assume everyone is using the highest.  The narrative is the same as if you were using Proficiency Bonus ("being able to react to danger is just part of adventuring life, and represents several things all at once"), it just ignores the part about the original post where you think Dexterity is over-used.  Anyway, since most characters will be adding the same number (and it's usually a +5), the turn order will flatten out nicely.  Monsters will have a considerable edge,  especially at higher levels, though.Summary:  use whatever stat is highest,  because quick reaction time is aggregate anyway.Unmodified Initiative (hat tip: [USER=90374]@payn[/USER] and others): there is always the option to just...not.  As in, don't add any modifiers at all.  Initiative is an unmodified d20 roll, much like a death saving throw.  The narrative then becomes pure luck and chance--your character happened to be standing in the right place at the right time, or they just stumbled into the room and caught their foes unawares.  It's a very retro way of thinking, and I'm here for it (remember when Initiative was a flat, unmodified 1d6?)  Mechanically, this has little to no impact on the game.Summary: initiative is purely a matter of luck.</blockquote>

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