D&D General Initiative Homebrew favorite.

[Sacrosanct]

After literally decades of tweaking initiative, I think I've landed on my favorite system. Previously, I did a system where everyone rolled. Let's say I as the DM rolled 14 for all monsters. I'd call out "Everyone higher than 14 can go." Then I'd go. Then "Everyone else can go." It wasn't team based quite, but allowed the PCs to organize a bit if they wanted.

However, now I like this other system better. It's one I'm adopting for my own games here on out. Everyone rolls like normal. I start at the lowest number and place them on the initiative tracker. The next highest (2nd lowest in total) places their tracker above or below. Then the next highest places there anywhere in that order. And so on, until the highest initiative places their tracker wherever they want. I don't like D&D (and other's) systems where the highest initiative is actually a penalty because you go first, which may be a bad thing. And the way hold actions work, it feels punitive for those who had the best initiative. This way, the winner can go in whatever order they want.

I created this little tracker today to give a visual reference. Using clothespins allows an easy way to move combatants around without switching out numbered cards or whatever.

 

[BookTenTiger]

After literally decades of tweaking initiative, I think I've landed on my favorite system. Previously, I did a system where everyone rolled. Let's say I as the DM rolled 14 for all monsters. I'd call out "Everyone higher than 14 can go." Then I'd go. Then "Everyone else can go." It wasn't team based quite, but allowed the PCs to organize a bit if they wanted.

However, now I like this other system better. It's one I'm adopting for my own games here on out. Everyone rolls like normal. I start at the lowest number and place them on the initiative tracker. The next highest (2nd lowest in total) places their tracker above or below. Then the next highest places there anywhere in that order. And so on, until the highest initiative places their tracker wherever they want. I don't like D&D (and other's) systems where the highest initiative is actually a penalty because you go first, which may be a bad thing. And the way hold actions work, it feels punitive for those who had the best initiative. This way, the winner can go in whatever order they want.

I created this little tracker today to give a visual reference. Using clothespins allows an easy way to move combatants around without switching out numbered cards or whatever.

View attachment 288961

That's a great idea! I like the concept that higher initiative = more control. It's like taking the 3rd Edition "Hold" action and introducing it just to the first round of combat.

 

[Sacrosanct]

That's a great idea! I like the concept that higher initiative = more control. It's like taking the 3rd Edition "Hold" action and introducing it just to the first round of combat.

Also, it opens the door for more abilities/powers/maneuvers that manipulate the combat order. Say, a swashbuckler uses hamstring to drop a creature 2 spots lower in the initiative order for the rest of combat. Or a mini-haste spell that brings a target creature to the top of the initiative.

 

[Charlaquin]

Nice!

Personally, I’ve taken to using a slightly tweaked version of “Grayhawk Initiative” from that UA a while back.

At the top of each round, the DM declares the monsters’ actions and players declare their characters’ actions (as well as the actions of any creatures under their characters’ control) in ascending order of Wisdom scores. You don’t have to declare the targets of attacks or spells, but you do have to declare what weapon you plan to attack with or spell you plan to cast.

Your declared action determines what die or dice you roll for initiative. If you declare an attack with a weapon, you roll that weapon’s damage die. If you declare an unarmed strike, you roll 1d4. If you declare casting a spell, you roll 1d4 for each of that spell’s components. If you declare any other action, you roll a die determined by your Size (1d4 for Tiny, 1d6 for Small, 1d8 for Medium, 1d10 for Large, 1d12 for Huge, 1d20 for Gargantuan).

Creatures take turns in ascending order of Initiative (so lower rolls act first), with ties going to the creature with the higher Dexterity score. (If there’s still a tie between a player and a monster, it goes to the player; if there’s still a tie between players I let them decide; if there’s still a tie between monsters, I go alphabetically). On your turn, you can move up to your speed, take up to one bonus action, and take the action you declared or the Ready action.

Effects that normally occur at the start or end of a creature’s turn (including death saving throws) instead occur at the start or end of the round where that turn takes place. Creatures that are incapacitated or otherwise unable to take actions don’t declare actions or roll initiative.

I really like how this variant keeps the action in combat more dynamic, and contrary to what one might expect, I have found it to speed up combat, because players don’t spend ages agonizing over their turn. 90% of the time they just say “I’ll attack with my [weapon]” or “I’ll cast [spell]” since they don’t have to declare targets at the top of the round, then on their turn they already know what they’re going to do and are just focused on executing it.

I could probably streamline this even more by cutting the element where different weapons and spells use different initiative dice, but I like that it gives players a reason to choose weapons that might otherwise be “suboptimal.” At the very least, it’s good to keep a dagger on hand for those times when when any amount of damage will kill your target and you just want the best chances of going before it does. Spells’ initiative dice being based on components is mostly just for flavor, but it could make Subtle Spell more useful.

 

[AnotherGuy]

We do a variation of what @Charlaquin posted (it is actually an initiative system by toucanbuzz)
1d4 - dash, disengage and dodge, natural attacks, light weapons, 1 component spells
1d6 - anything that doesn't fit into the other categories
1d8 - non-heavy weapons
1d10 - heavy weapons, 2 components and more spells

Add a d per size category after medium.
So a Giant (huge) using a heavy weapon is rolling 3d10
Intelligence score breaks ties.

You can't change your declared action when its your turn, unless you change it to a dodge, dash or disengage.
Declaring your action for initiative I have found seems to add a level of chaos which is needed for something like combat.

 

[Charlaquin]

We do a variation of what @Charlaquin posted (it is actually an initiative system by toucanbuzz)
1d4 - dash, disengage and dodge, natural attacks, light weapons, 1 component spells
1d6 - anything that doesn't fit into the other categories
1d8 - non-heavy weapons
1d10 - heavy weapons, 2 components and more spells

Add a d per size category after medium.
So a Giant (huge) using a heavy weapon is rolling 3d10

I messed around with different dice for different actions, but ultimately went with the ones I mentioned for the simple reason that I wanted it to be easy to know what die you need to roll for initiative without having to reference a chart or anything. Players generally know what dice their weapons use, and it’s easy enough to note V, S, and/or M next to your spells on your character sheet. For everything else, it’s always either 1d8, or 1d6 if you’re a halfling or gnome or something. I almost always just roll a monster’s hit die, or occasionally a weapon die.

Intelligence score breaks ties.

I considered that one too! I like that it would make Intelligence more useful, but it just doesn’t work narratively for me.

You can't change your declared action when its your turn, unless you change it to a dodge, dash or disengage.

Yeah, that’s I think how action declaration initiative systems usually work. Personally, I like having ready be the option for if you can’t take your declared action because it prevents non-turns, and you can still use that to dodge, disengage, or move up to your speed (which is functionally like dashing) if you want; doing so just ends up costing your reaction.

Technically it also makes it possible to declare a “fast” action and then ready a slower one when your actual turn comes up. But I figure, if you want to use your reaction and risk your ready trigger not coming up, just for a better chance at acting earlier in the round, that’s a valid tactical decision.

Declaring your action for initiative I have found seems to add a level of chaos which is needed for something like combat.

Yeah, definitely makes combat less predictable, which I like a lot.

 

[Lanefan]

Personally, I’ve taken to using a slightly tweaked version of “Grayhawk Initiative” from that UA a while back.

At the top of each round, the DM declares the monsters’ actions and players declare their characters’ actions (as well as the actions of any creatures under their characters’ control) in ascending order of Wisdom scores. You don’t have to declare the targets of attacks or spells, but you do have to declare what weapon you plan to attack with or spell you plan to cast.

Your declared action determines what die or dice you roll for initiative. If you declare an attack with a weapon, you roll that weapon’s damage die. If you declare an unarmed strike, you roll 1d4. If you declare casting a spell, you roll 1d4 for each of that spell’s components. If you declare any other action, you roll a die determined by your Size (1d4 for Tiny, 1d6 for Small, 1d8 for Medium, 1d10 for Large, 1d12 for Huge, 1d20 for Gargantuan).

Creatures take turns in ascending order of Initiative (so lower rolls act first), with ties going to the creature with the higher Dexterity score. (If there’s still a tie between a player and a monster, it goes to the player; if there’s still a tie between players I let them decide; if there’s still a tie between monsters, I go alphabetically). On your turn, you can move up to your speed, take up to one bonus action, and take the action you declared or the Ready action.

This sounds cool, and I'm a big fan of the re-roll each round piece. Just two questions:

1. Why do big creatures get punished so harshly?

2. Why not just let ties resolve simultaneously? As in, the actions of each tied participant happen and resolve without consideration for-of the actions of any other tied participant. Thus, if two PCs and a monster all have init. 7 they all do their declared actions no matter what. An example:

Pre-declared actions: PC A will charge and attack. Monster A will throw a missile. PC B will cast a Sleep spell. All three of them end up with init. 7.

on reaching init. 7 I'd ask each to declare their targets, and declare that M-A is targeting PC-B.

Results: PC A attacks and kills Monster A. Monster A throws a spear at PC B and knocks her out. PC B's spell resolves, putting Monster A to sleep (which turns out to be pointless, but oh well...). All of this happens at once, so both Monster A and PC B go down at the same time; most significant is that Monster A still gets to throw its spear even though it is in process of being killed and PC B still gets her spell away.

 

[GMMichael]

After literally decades of tweaking initiative...

Hey, congrats! What's next on the agenda, and how many decades are you allotting it?

I created this little tracker today to give a visual reference. Using clothespins allows an easy way to move combatants around without switching out numbered cards or whatever.

Not bad, but I'm preferring the Sort function on a spreadsheet.

1. Why do big creatures get punished so harshly?

Fair question. Elephants and whales are pretty slow in real life, but real life isn't turn-based (combat).

2. Why not just let ties resolve simultaneously? As in, the actions of each tied participant happen and resolve without consideration for-of the actions of any other tied participant. Thus, if two PCs and a monster all have init. 7 they all do their declared actions no matter what.

XP for paying some love to Ties.

 

[Charlaquin]

This sounds cool, and I'm a big fan of the re-roll each round piece. Just two questions:

1. Why do big creatures get punished so harshly?

For the same reason I ended up not sticking with a chart with dice tied to more specific actions. In 5e, those are the standard hit dice for monsters of those respective sizes, so this way I always know that if a monster is doing something other than attacking with a weapon or casting a spell, I always just roll one of its hit dice for its initiative. Super easy to remember and apply.

2. Why not just let ties resolve simultaneously? As in, the actions of each tied participant happen and resolve without consideration for-of the actions of any other tied participant. Thus, if two PCs and a monster all have init. 7 they all do their declared actions no matter what. An example:

Pre-declared actions: PC A will charge and attack. Monster A will throw a missile. PC B will cast a Sleep spell. All three of them end up with init. 7.

on reaching init. 7 I'd ask each to declare their targets, and declare that M-A is targeting PC-B.

Results: PC A attacks and kills Monster A. Monster A throws a spear at PC B and knocks her out. PC B's spell resolves, putting Monster A to sleep (which turns out to be pointless, but oh well...). All of this happens at once, so both Monster A and PC B go down at the same time; most significant is that Monster A still gets to throw its spear even though it is in process of being killed and PC B still gets her spell away.

Doesn’t that kinda defeat the point of even having an initiative system? I mean could just do away with initiative entirely, run combat the same way as the rest of the game, resolving actions simultaneously and resolving sequencing conflicts as they arise. But I don’t want to do that. Turn-by-turn action resolution does have its place, in my opinion.

 

[Charlaquin]

Fair question. Elephants and whales are pretty slow in real life, but real life isn't turn-based (combat).

It’s not even about verisimilitude really, using monsters’ hit dice for their initiative when they’re not attacking with weapons or casting spells just keeps the system more user-friendly.