D&D 5E Hypnotic Pattern

[Uller]

So in your group, you hope that at least one person who makes their save has a lower initiative than the caster, so they can wake people up before the end of the round. That's pretty different, too.

I think I highly disapprove of not rolling for initiative if you can't act. You need to know when to make a save often enough, when to trigger certain effects, and someone can always help you out.

We declare actions before rolling initiative. You can't change your action on your turn.

You make your save at the end of the round and effects trigger at the end of the round. There is lots of weirdness RAW with characters who can't act rolling initiative. Two examples:

1) Death saves. You stablize/die faster because of good dex/init roll?
2) If you roll poorly on init and are suffering from some condition that prohibits you from acting but an ally removes that condition before your turn, you can act, but if you rolled well, you miss your turn. That's pretty different.

I'm sorry you highly disapprove but my group really enjoys it.

 

[kerbarian]

We declare actions before rolling initiative. You can't change your action on your turn.

You make your save at the end of the round and effects trigger at the end of the round. There is lots of weirdness RAW with characters who can't act rolling initiative. Two examples:

1) Death saves. You stablize/die faster because of good dex/init roll?
2) If you roll poorly on init and are suffering from some condition that prohibits you from acting but an ally removes that condition before your turn, you can act, but if you rolled well, you miss your turn. That's pretty different.

I'm sorry you highly disapprove but my group really enjoys it.

With standard initiative it's cyclical. You stabilize/die faster if your turn comes right after whatever knocked you down, not if you have a high absolute initiative. Same with status effects. It's a bit funky but never directly penalizes high initiative.

It sounds like with your system, having a high initiative could give you an extra chance to save vs. status effects. e.g. Character A acts first, then Monster B casts Hold Person on A. A fails her initial save but then gets to roll her end-of-turn save at the end of the round and passes it. A got two chances to save before her next turn and thus didn't lose an action for failing her initial save.

I'm sure it works great at your table -- I just think any initiative system is going to have its own set of artifacts.

 

[keterys]

Yep, what [MENTION=40393]kerbarian[/MENTION] said. I haven't met the initiative system that didn't have problems, so just a matter of which you can accept

I actually am okay with declaring actions at beginning of round and largely doing away with initiative entirely, though.

 

[famousringo]

Control spells like this are the wizard's main contribution to combat. And to a lesser extent sorcerers, bards, and druids. I wouldn't recommend regularly throwing control-resistant monsters at the party to thwart Hypnotic Pattern any more than you would constantly throw physical-resistant monsters to thwart the fighter. Most of the time, the player should feel that they are powerful and making a meaningful contribution to combat.

Just plan for it. Mix it up. If the players are encountering charm-vulnerable monsters, add in a few more to account for the spell. They'll feel powerful knowing that their spell made the challenge manageable. If the monsters are charm immune, scale that encounter back again.

Be prepared to make more adjustments as the casters get more control spells.