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

[Olaf the Stout]

I prefer individiual initiative.

Grouped initiative can sometimes result in swingy combats purely because the party of baddies can all concentrate on 1 person, which may kill that person before someone on their team can heal them or at least do something to protect them.

Of course that can still happen with individual initiative (all the players roll high initiative and the baddies roll low, for example), but it's less likely.

 

[Li Shenron]

Anyone else feel individual initiative is more trouble than it's worth?

No, not really. Both methods have pros and cons.

 

[aramis erak]

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).

I've hated rerolling every turn since AD&D 1E...

I've always preferred roll once, establish the cycle.

For simplicity, like so many others, I roll groups of same type of monster as a single initiative point; I have PC's roll individually, because (1) it's the rules and (2) it helps with pacing. I'd happily let a player spend his action to reroll...

Truth be told, my favorite initiative system was from the Mongoose Traveller Playtest... start of encounter, everyone rolls initiative. each "turn" everyone adds 2 points to their score. Only those with 6+ get to act. Different actions cost different amounts, lowering your score. It was great. Due to the skill system in that playtest, it meant players had to decide whether to take quality or low initiative score after acting. (Ties were broken by Dex)...

 

[fanboy2000]

Ha ha...

I like group initiative for monsters, my players hate it. At least for 4e. First, spike damage. Second, there are a number of rules that key off initiative order that they feel like individual initiative is a must. Now, in 4e and 5e I use 5e's "groups of identical monsters go on the same initiative."

My current 4e game started with monsters having group initiative, but I tried my current system after player whining an it didn't annoy me. It helps that I have a magnetic combat tracker pad. Individual initiative is a breeze on that thing.

 

[Uchawi]

I like group initiative for permitting an ebb and flow where each side may act first in a round, and I like individual initiative for the randomness as a better simulation of combat. So the concept I am thinking about, but have not tested it, is a floating initiative roll. You would start with the standard 5E method, but on the second turn you would pick a monster and a PC to roll a separate initiative die e.g. 1d6. Whoever wins would start on their turn and it would end when it comes around again. Rinse and repeat. The main goal beyond mixing things up, is to keep the initiative system as simple as possible. You could reward players for certain actions in combat to gain the roll for that round, and the DM could pick a specific monster to add more tension.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Dexterity is already modifying armor class, ranged and finesse weapon attacks and damage, and the dodgy, divey, and oops-catch-yourself-from-falling type saving throws. I can't imagine why it might be a good idea to pile Initiative onto that as well.

So here's how I've started to handle group initiative in my (OD&D) games: I got myself some playing cards with the ridiculously oversized indices, the sort for blind old ladies playing bridge. I get one pack; the player characters get another. When a fight breaks out, after any surprise round is resolved, we play a round of war. We each flip a card, and high card wins the initiative. If it's a tie, burn three cards and flip again; repeat until the tie is broken. If one side or the other pulled a joker, they automatically win the initiative and everybody on that side in the fight gets an action point (in the 4e sense) to spend during that combat.

Everybody on the winning side goes first; then everybody on the losing side. And it just alternates from there, back and forth. There's usually no real need to draw for initiative again during a single fight. This way, if the players (whose characters are all going at the same time) want to combine their actions in interesting, tactical, or swashbuckly ways, they can go ahead and do that. In other words, group initiative leads to a lot more instances of barbarians throwing halflings around, and that's just plain a-okay in my book. *thumbsup*

Sounds like fun, but how do you handle spell interruption beyond round 1?

 

[jrowland]

I like it when, via individual initiative, there is a shuffling of PC-creature-PC-etc and don't like it when it becomes PC's-Creature's as a group. I do group my creatures though for ease of play, but tend to have multiple groups (kobold slingers one group, kobold stabbers another group, cultists a third, and so on).

Ive tried selling my own version of initiative to my players, but they always prefer rolling.

My version, fwiw: Initiative is static, your initiative is your dex score (plus bonus from feats as well). On a tie between characters, they can determine who goes first as default. Ties between creature and character are resolved by d20 roll, highest wins (no need to add dex mod since they have the same dex) - or you can just default creature wins/loses as you see fit according to narrative needs. You can use a move action to change your initiative down by up to 5, then use your remaining action at that initiative score. following turns move and action are still available. Yeah, this means the rogue goes first...but in practice, the rogue usually goes first anyway. What you gain (as a DM) is an initiative list you can just have on your screen and insert creatures whenever appropriate according to their score so when you move from narrative storytelling into combat, e.g., you can just turn to highest initiative and ask what they do:

"As the negotiations break down, the yelling gets louder. Suddenly one of the Dwarves honor guard pulls a hand axe is about to throw it at one of the kings men across the table! Legolas, you have the fastest reaction in the room, so its your turn...what do you do?"

 

[Jack Daniel]

Sounds like fun, but how do you handle spell interruption beyond round 1?

If you took damage during the half-round before your action, you can't cast a memorized spell on your own action that round. Same as it ever was. (O/BD&D doesn't have a "concentration check", as I'm sure you're well aware.)

 

[Desdichado]

It's worth the hassle? Where's the "what do you mean, hassle?" option?

 

[Dausuul]

Group initiative all the way.

In my group, each player rolls initiative, and the DM makes a number of initiative rolls equal to the number of players (so each side has a fair shot at winning, unaffected by number of combatants). If the DM gets the highest roll, the monsters go first. If the players get the highest roll, the player to the DM's left goes first. Then play goes clockwise around the table.

There are lots of things you can do to streamline the initiative-tracking process, but we have not found that there is any substantial benefit to initiative tracking that would make it worth the effort. Clockwise around the table is vastly simpler.