Minion Initiative

[FitzTheRuke]

I only roll initiatve on individual monsters if it's three or less of them, otherwise I do it in groups. I'm with the crowd that would roll for all the minions, all the dragonshields, all the skirmishers, etc etc.

Fitz

 

[Vendark]

I generally roll individually; if I want to simplify things for myself, I'll have all the monsters of one type hold until the slowest member of that group gets to act.

That's what the PCs would have to do if they all wanted to act on the same turn, so it only seems fair to hold the monsters to the same rule.

 

[Vaeron]

I generally roll for each monster, but a couple of the encounters in KotS seem to imply that all minions act on the same initiative, because there were a few other monsters that Delayed their action to 1 less than the minion's initiative (not initiatives). But it also says in quickstart to roll for *every* creature, so it's a bit unclear.

 

[cerberus2112]

Am I the only DM who decided that monsters always "Take 10" on their initiative checks?

 

[Nytmare]

Am I the only DM who decided that monsters always "Take 10" on their initiative checks?

You know what? I had toyed around with that a couple years ago, but abandoned it. It would be just about dead on however for minions.

 

[Blackeagle]

How about minions always win initiative? That way they can rush out to be slaughtered in all their red-shirted glory.

 

[That One Guy]

Am I the only DM who decided that monsters always "Take 10" on their initiative checks?

I've started being lazy and doing things that way. It's sorta' anti my PCs, though, because they always roll poorly for initiative (watch next game that change entirely).

 

[pogminky]

Couple of ideas:

Instead of having monsters divided by type (minion/brute etc.) divide them by squad. Put a marker on them (say a strip of blue post-it on a mini) and have balanced squads (2 minions, 1 brute, whatever) - roll initiative per squad, not creature type.


Other idea, as others have already mentioned, just pre-roll (ok - just pick a number) initiative for all baddies pre-adventure. I don't know why they just don't replace initiative mods in monster stat blocks with a straight "acts on intiative 14", especially for non-elites/solos.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

I've always done it as one roll per creature type. I quite like the idea of taking 10 for minion initiative and will be taking that up. I may use that and a separate initiative for each other monster.