D&D 5E Concurrent initiative variant; Everybody declares/Everybody resolves [WAS Simultaneous Initiative]

[Lanefan]

1. How do you resolve things like, "I run in to attack enemy" and enemy, likewise says, "I run in to attack PC"
On a tabletop, do they just meet halfway? Do they attack at the same time and both take damage? Is there no way to finish off your foe before they get a strike in?

Were it me they'd meet in the middle, or close, unless one had a dramatically higher move speed than the other; and there'd be a d6 roll to see who struck first; if the rolls tied then they struck simultaneously.

2. How do you resolve attacks of Opportunity that might pop up.
PC: "I back up and shoot"
ENemy: "I close and attack"

Does the enemy close and get his attack and then get an AoO as the PC withdraws to shoot? Or does the PC move away out of reach of the enemy as the enemy closes? Is this an instance where initiative should be rolled? Can the shooting PC decide to not withdraw and just drop his bow and attack with a sword?

Again, were this me, it'd come down to a die roll as to who's faster (if either): if the shooter's faster she gets her shot away without provoking an AoO because the attacker's not there yet, but then gets attacked with only a bow for defense; if the enemy's faster he gets his swing in (and the shooter can choose between foregoing all attacks that round in order to switch to weapon and shield) then if the shooter still tries to shoot the attacker would get a free swing at her as well.

Trying to make everything simultaneous is perhaps a path to madness. The trick, IMO, is to instead use a much smaller and unmodified initiative die (we use d6) re-rolled each round, with tied rolls resolving simultaneously. (so, if there's a whole bunch of participants in a battle all the 6's get resolved; then all the 5's, etc.)

 

[Ilbranteloth]

Yesterday, I briefly read the first couple posts regarding simultaneous initiative and decided to try it with my group and they absolutely loved it as well. They thought the combat was much more fluid and fights actually went quicker.

@FormerlyHemlock I do have some questions, though that maybe I missed the details of in this 200+ post thread.

1. How do you resolve things like, "I run in to attack enemy" and enemy, likewise says, "I run in to attack PC"
On a tabletop, do they just meet halfway? Do they attack at the same time and both take damage? Is there no way to finish off your foe before they get a strike in?

I was just running it that both people get hit and whoever got around to moving their token first is where the attacks took place.

2. How do you resolve attacks of Opportunity that might pop up.
PC: "I back up and shoot"
ENemy: "I close and attack"

Does the enemy close and get his attack and then get an AoO as the PC withdraws to shoot? Or does the PC move away out of reach of the enemy as the enemy closes? Is this an instance where initiative should be rolled? Can the shooting PC decide to not withdraw and just drop his bow and attack with a sword?

I'll read through the thread again to double check. Maybe I was just doing it wrong?

Edit: I just noticed this is a Necro thread.... still, can anyone answer my questions

I'm not FormerlyHemlock, but I can tell you how we handle it.

First, we separate movement from your turn. The players describe what they are going to do, and I do the same for the monsters. We then resolve attacks and actions in a logical order

If there is a chance that somebody will finish off their foe, or there's some other thing that you need to know what order something takes place (like two creatures trying to grab the same thing), then we roll an opposed Initiative check, but only the relevant creatures.

Attacks of opportunity operate as normal. If the situations that provoke an opportunity attack arise, then they get an opportunity attack.

Since we separate movement from your turn, the answer to the last question is quite often, yes. If you have movement left and a creature is running toward you, you can run away without provoking an opportunity attack, since they need to be within reach before you move away.

It all becomes a question of the DM/table adjudicating the action appropriately. I say DM/table, because while the DM is the one adjudicating the action, since this is also all happening in your heads, the players need to be engaged in the process so everybody is on the same page.

 

[Hemlock]

Yesterday, I briefly read the first couple posts regarding simultaneous initiative and decided to try it with my group and they absolutely loved it as well. They thought the combat was much more fluid and fights actually went quicker.

@FormerlyHemlock I do have some questions, though that maybe I missed the details of in this 200+ post thread.

1. How do you resolve things like, "I run in to attack enemy" and enemy, likewise says, "I run in to attack PC"
On a tabletop, do they just meet halfway? Do they attack at the same time and both take damage? Is there no way to finish off your foe before they get a strike in?

I was just running it that both people get hit and whoever got around to moving their token first is where the attacks took place.

2. How do you resolve attacks of Opportunity that might pop up.
PC: "I back up and shoot"
ENemy: "I close and attack"

Does the enemy close and get his attack and then get an AoO as the PC withdraws to shoot? Or does the PC move away out of reach of the enemy as the enemy closes? Is this an instance where initiative should be rolled? Can the shooting PC decide to not withdraw and just drop his bow and attack with a sword?

I'll read through the thread again to double check. Maybe I was just doing it wrong?

Edit: I just noticed this is a Necro thread.... still, can anyone answer my questions

RE: #1, back in 2017 I would have rolled initiative, 5E-style, but nowadays I would have them meet in the middle and probably just have the PC roll his attack first (order doesn't really matter on a first attack so might as well let the player go first).

Your way of doing it ("whoever got around to moving their token first") sounds 100% fine to me too.

RE: #2, again, back in 2017 I would have rolled initiative for this, but today I'd just make a judgment call based on relative movement speeds and the distance between them. If they're starting off 30' away from each other there's no reasonable way the enemy could close fast enough to still attack this turn, so I'd just convert that into a Dash by the enemy[1], but the PC gets a shot off before the enemy gets into range. No initiative roll needed. If they were only 10' away instead I'd go ahead and roll initiative between them.

[1] My players and I usually call this move "Charge". "I charge the Goristro" means "I move towards the Goristro intending to attack in melee, but if I have to I'll Dash instead."

You might try @Hemlock as he has started a new account I believe

The old one for some reason won't let me change my username back to Hemlock, so yeah, I had to create Hemlock as a sesparate account. [shrug]

 

[Zaukrie]

Thanks everyone for helping me resurrect this. I'm sure I'll have questions when I'm not watching protests live....