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

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I prefer slot initiative a la FFGs Star Wars, where individual rolls matter for the party as a whole, but lets me avoid the ready/delay nonsense.

Having all one side go then the other seems terribly board gamey, non dynamic and undramatic to me.

 

[SoulsFury]

I don't use initiative with my PBP game, and it hasn't been a problem yet. I dictate by which group would go first. Most of the time I let the players go first which has caused me to beef up the encounters just a tad.

However, we did use it with my tabletop game, and ran through the goblin part of the Lost Mines of Phandelver. It worked fine, but we only had 3 PCs. Can't really get slowed down with that few players.

 

[Tormyr]

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

Hear! Hear! Don't speak for poll respondents for them. "I prefer Individual Initiative," would work a lot better than "Individual Initiative is worth the hassle." Just because you feel it is a hassle does not mean the people who respond feel that way.

Individual initiative is really easy at our table. We have a magnetic whiteboard. I made magnetic name placards out of dry erase foam board. Each character has their name on one of these tags. Someone at the other end of the table records everyone's initiative next to their name and writes down monster's names and initiative on additional pieces. When done, the player arranges all of the placards in order on the white board. The initiative is then up for all to see. The entire process takes about 1 minute, and everyone can always see when they come up in the initiative order.

 

[SkidAce]

I have index cards with note about each character.

They roll init, I write it on the card and put them in order. They have an idea of where they are based on how they they rolled of course.

I then roll init for special monsters, and then groups of monsters. (If they are fighting six orcs, I usually break them into two groups, etc.)

Those get written on cards and placed in the order. This is done while players are rolling.

I then just cycle through the cards. Somebody delays, I move it.

And I track the monsters hp on the cards...so simple...started doing it about five years ago and wish I had done it since 82.

 

[GMMichael]

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.

This rule was in 4e? Okay, I guess I did have a reason to like it.

Want to make your round more dynamic? Let the PCs use either their actions or their movements (but not both) at any time. When several actions coincide, they are resolved in initiative order, but the character taking his turn gets priority.

Ex:
Orc 1 attacks PC 1, and PC 1 realizes he's overextended. PC 1 decides to respond with the Dodge action. Orc 2, next to Orc 1, wants to attack PC 1 before he disengages.

Resolution:
Orc 1 is taking his turn, so he attacks PC 1 normally. Then PC 1's Dodge begins, since his initiative is higher than Orc 2's initiative. Orc 2 then attacks PC 1. PC 2 must wait for Orc 1's next move to move up and support PC 1, since he didn't announce an action in response to Orc 1's attack. Or PC 2 could simply wait for his turn, when his actions take priority.

When PC 1's turn begins, his Dodge ends, as per the rules. PC 1 has already used his action this round, but he can use his movement now or during a later character's turn.

 

[aramis erak]

One problem I've noticed in reading the PHB... quite a few abilities have a duration of "until the end of your next turn"... that pretty much rules out rerolling every turn, as it has the potential to be majorly disruptive. Not to mention that setting up initiative rolls adds at least one minute, usually 2-3 minutes, to each round.

 

[KarinsDad]

I cannot imagine an initiative system worse than all the players go first, then all of the monsters go (or vice versa).

And doing it in order around the table? I was in a GURPS group that did that. Uggh.


I find it interesting that now that there are no delay actions in D&D initiative, so many people dislike it. I like the streamline aspect of it a lot. The entire concept of delay was always metagamey. I wait, I wait, I wait, ... NOW, I run across the battlefield and take out this foe before he can even pull out his sword.


As a player, I prefer that the team of players can react to situations with the normal initiative system. My PC might have just gone and will not be able to help out the PC Rogue, but there are other PCs whose initiative occurs fairly soon who can.

Especially in 5E where combat can be real swing-ey, having one side go before the other side can react would suck the life out of the game. That is why surprise is so powerful in 5E and should be used sparingly by DMs.

 

[fanboy2000]

I cannot imagine an initiative system worse than all the players go first, then all of the monsters go (or vice versa).

Challenge Accepted!

(Note: in all the following proposed systems, ties go to the person who has the highest charisma. If they both have the same charisma, then go rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock)

1. Re-roll initiative every round! Person who gets the highest roll goes, even if they’ve already gone this round. Things lasting until the end/beginning of next turn, last one minute.

2. Play poker! The person who wins get to go first. Use PC gold/monster treasure for stakes. Compare the hands of the losers to determine the remaining initiative order. For extra-terribleness, combine this method with method number one. DM runs all the monster’s hands.

3. Twilight Trivia Challenge! Ask the group questions about Stephenie Meyer’s quartet of books. The more questions you get right, the higher you go. Have a group of teenage girls answer questions for the monsters.

4. Play Hearts! Go in the order of fewest tricks taken to most. If someone successfully shoots the moon, eject them from the game.

5. Random initiative Table!

Roll d% and look-up the result on this table:

d%	Initiative Order
1	90
2	51
3	67
4	Spend combat on another plain of existence. (DM's choice.)
5	40
6	25
7	81
8	32
9	24
10	-∞
11	29
12	71
13	23
14	87
15	37
16	56
17	12
18	3
19	13
20	86
21	64
22	18
23	57
24	Take a pot shot at the character of your choice before combat.
25	91 and you start combat off the battlemat.
26	15
27	63
28	5
29	7
30	49
31	2
32	11
33	48
34	16
35	47
36	21
37	39
38	85
39	∞
40	77
41	38
42	60
43	31
44	28
45	52
46	10
47	20
48	88
49	35
50	You go last.
51	6
52	72
53	46
54	45
55	17
56	36
57	66
58	9
59	84
60	22
61	59
62	4
63	82
64	68
65	79
66	30
67	74
68	70
69	27
70	You go first.
71	76
72	58
73	43
74	62
75	54
76	55
77	34
78	Turn into a potted plant, you have a shamble speed of 10 feet.
79	44
80	83
91	33
82	14
83	73
84	61
85	8
86	78
87	41
88	53
89	75
90	Drop to 0 hp, initiative is -∞ + 1
91	65
92	50
93	19
94	69
95	26
96	89
97	Heal all HP, initiative is ∞ + 1
98	42
99	1
100	80

Hope this helps!

 

[Tormyr]

Challenge Accepted!

(Note: in all the following proposed systems, ties go to the person who has the highest charisma. If they both have the same charisma, then go rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock)

1. Re-roll initiative every round! Person who gets the highest roll goes, even if they’ve already gone this round. Things lasting until the end/beginning of next turn, last one minute.

2. Play poker! The person who wins get to go first. Use PC gold/monster treasure for stakes. Compare the hands of the losers to determine the remaining initiative order. For extra-terribleness, combine this method with method number one. DM runs all the monster’s hands.

3. Twilight Trivia Challenge! Ask the group questions about Stephenie Meyer’s quartet of books. The more questions you get right, the higher you go. Have a group of teenage girls answer questions for the monsters.

4. Play Hearts! Go in the order of fewest tricks taken to most. If someone successfully shoots the moon, eject them from the game.

4. Random initiative Table!

Roll d% and look-up the result on this table:
*snip*
Hope this helps!

#4: Ah, initiative with a wild mage in the party. wild mages make everything better!

 

[KarinsDad]

Hope this helps!

I said that I couldn't imagine it. I still cannot. La la la la la la (fingers in ears, arm over eyes).