D&D 5E Crawford's 9 D&D "Hacks"

[Harzel]

Can't say I'm exactly overwhelmed with goodness.

...there’s a variant rule that lets players pair any skill they’re proficient in with any ability score, depending on what’s happening in the story. ... Players, he said, can just add their ‘Proficiency’ bonus to whatever ability bonus is relevant to what they’re trying to do.

Sorry, no, this is not a player option. At best, a player might make a suggestion, but the choice is up to the DM. Maybe we can be generous and say something was lost in translation.

And yeah, rolling initiative for monsters is not a significant time sink.

Good reminder that custom backgrounds are a player option.

As for prep time - it's my hobby, dammit, I'll spend as much time on it as I want!

 

[BookBarbarian]

Ain't so much Hacks as they are Tips, like others have said.

Still they are good Tips. Especially for new DMs who may not realize they are fully empowered to do these kinds of thing.

 

[Peter Saumur]

Surprised under "Get better tech", there was no mention of D&D Beyond.

 

[pukunui]

As for the others, I kinda like the 10 + initiative bonus thing. It might be useful at my open table, where we have a lot of players. Will test it out and see how that goes.

I used it for a while. In fact, in one campaign, I had everyone using passive Initiative. It was OK. It certainly sped things up. But it also got stale after a while. Same with using the fixed damage for monsters. It got to the point where I was hardly rolling anything and I rather missed it ... so now I've gone back to rolling for initiative (for everyone) and rolling damage for monsters.

That being said, I do sometimes roll the monsters' initiative ahead of time.


EDIT: Also, one thing I found with having everyone use passive initiative was that most monsters and PCs would end up with an initiative of 10-12, which meant that we then had to figure out who went first. I found it was easier just to roll, which allowed for more variance. We don't always end up with everyone clumped in the middle of the initiative order.

One downside to just using passive initiative for monsters is that they will mostly be in the middle of the initiative, so they'll almost never be going first. This may or may not be a problem for you.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The initiative test worked pretty well last night. Just like you said, it placed all the monsters in the middle of the order. Pretty much an equal portion of the PCs went before and after. Not sure it saved any time, but it made for easier record-keeping. Will continue to test it out.

I suppose if I really want a monster to go before the PCs, there will always be the surprise option, if appropriate, with an ambush.

One downside to just using passive initiative for monsters is that they will mostly be in the middle of the initiative, so they'll almost never be going first. This may or may not be a problem for you.

 

[robus]

I used it for a while. In fact, in one campaign, I had everyone using passive Initiative. It was OK. It certainly sped things up. But it also got stale after a while. Same with using the fixed damage for monsters. It got to the point where I was hardly rolling anything and I rather missed it ... so now I've gone back to rolling for initiative (for everyone) and rolling damage for monsters.

That being said, I do sometimes roll the monsters' initiative ahead of time.

I'll put in another plug for rolling PC initiative at the end of combat rather than at the beginning. It really makes the transition from narrative to combat smooth and fast.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

I live by 4 and 8.

I just have no interest in either.

 

[pukunui]

I suppose if I really want a monster to go before the PCs, there will always be the surprise option, if appropriate, with an ambush.

Yes, there is that. I've found that I like to spread my monsters out in between the PCs as much as possible, and rolling helps with that.

I'll put in another plug for rolling PC initiative at the end of combat rather than at the beginning. It really makes the transition from narrative to combat smooth and fast.

Huh? At the end? Do you mean at the end of the first round? I don't get it.

 

[robus]

Huh? At the end? Do you mean at the end of the first round? I don't get it.

When combat is over (and the PCs are looting the bodies or whatever) they roll initiative for the next combat whenever it might be.

 

[Ancalagon]

When combat is over (and the PCs are looting the bodies or whatever) they roll initiative for the next combat whenever it might be.

This is very helpful in a pbp game!

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