D&D 5E Anyone else feel individual initiative is more trouble than it's worth?

[Scorpio616]

Anyone else feel individual initiative is more trouble than it's worth? With the removal of the Delay action* and the overly punitive way Ready takes away your reaction, I've been feeling like rolling the right order in initiative is the hardest part of many fights and that just a single roll for the party then taking actions in an order we chose would allow for FAAAR better tactics.

*Even if House ruled back in, you still have to deal with the "I wanna act NOOOW"-types.

 

[Ceylin]

Here's an alternative I'm going to try in my next session

http://angrydm.com/2013/09/popcorn-...and-pathfinder-initiative-with-a-stupid-name/

Still gives the initiative skill *something* to go with (but barely). The biggest benefit is that it keeps players interested when its not their turn, as they could jump in at any moment. I plan to run it using the note card system, but with numbers on them. Put all of them in the middle, and each player / group of creatures grabs a number when its their turn to go. You can then use the number to roughly figure out how long a spell effect would last (i.e if i had #6 last round, and casted a 1 round spell, it will wear off at the end of turn #6 on the next round).

 

[SilverfireSage]

Anyone else feel individual initiative is more trouble than it's worth? With the removal of the Delay action* and the overly punitive way Ready takes away your reaction, I've been feeling like rolling the right order in initiative is the hardest part of many fights and that just a single roll for the party then taking actions in an order we chose would allow for FAAAR better tactics.

*Even if House ruled back in, you still have to deal with the "I wanna act NOOOW"-types.

Since I do one roll for all the monsters, usually I write it down and whoever beats the monsters gets a free action to do what they want, then the monsters go, then you just start alternating players and monsters. So initiative still matters a lot, but doesn't bog anything down.

 

[Thaumaturge]

I've recently started using the Chris Sims method. I stole it from his twitter.

My dirty secret: I roll initiative for monsters only sometimes. I have them go intermittently as is dramatic.

It has worked out well so far. I'm able to avoid clumping and such.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Paraxis]

Individual initiative, love it even with large groups of monsters. In fact one of the few house rules I used in 4e was to roll individual initiative for the same type of monsters, where by the book say all goblin shamans are supposed to go on just one initiative.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I love group initiative. It encourages acting like a unit, has everyone paying attention to what is happening because you never know when an audible will get called and the order needs to change. I also just like the concept OUR turn in a cooperative game and everyone taking turns rolling instead of everyone rolling in their own personal bubble, and the tendency for other players to tune out at least partially because it isn't their turn at the moment.

 

[GameDoc]

Here's an alternative I'm going to try in my next session

http://angrydm.com/2013/09/popcorn-...and-pathfinder-initiative-with-a-stupid-name/

Still gives the initiative skill *something* to go with (but barely). The biggest benefit is that it keeps players interested when its not their turn, as they could jump in at any moment. I plan to run it using the note card system, but with numbers on them. Put all of them in the middle, and each player / group of creatures grabs a number when its their turn to go. You can then use the number to roughly figure out how long a spell effect would last (i.e if i had #6 last round, and casted a 1 round spell, it will wear off at the end of turn #6 on the next round).

This is basically the initiative system from Marvel Herioc RP. It definitely adds flair to each round.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I do group if the monsters are of the same type. So a gang of Goblins and Hobgoblins and a bugbear. The Goblins would all go at once, The Hobs would go at once and the Bugbear would go at once.

 

[JeffB]

I have not tried it with 5E yet. But I have used group init, re-roll every round in 4E and 3.x/PF. D6. No modifiers. high roll wins, ties are re-rolled. You sometimes need to mess around with some powers/feats, but usually it evens out overall.

I hate the cyclic initiative system since 3E. Bores me to tears, as well as my Kids group. Group re-rolls every round puts alot of excitement into the game for us. I really hated using cyclic when I have run 5E (I wanted to run it, by the book, to start).

 

[Sacrosanct]

for things like roll20 RAW initiative works fine. At my gaming table, it's too cumbersome for us. What I do is roll for the monsters like normal, and then just call out, "everyone above X (my result) can go.". Then I go, then everyone else. Its simple, fast, and allows players to delay if they want without any additional mess or rule.