D&D 5E More granular initiative variant

[Zsong]

If it works for you then go with it. I would recommend taking a look at runequest initiative. It is a quicker and efficient way to be somewhat similar to what I think you want. But anywho i hope u and your players have fun and your Idea works for you. Let us know how it works out in play.

 

[Rockyroad]

With 6 seconds and 6 impulses, the natural observation is to equate 1 second = 1 impulse, but I don't think that was really what you were going for.

I used 6 Impulses to make the math on 30 ft speed easier to run on 5 ft square battle mats, but this does work out that each Impulse equates to 1 second which was intentional. I'll edit the rules to make that more explicit.

You might want to consider something more along these lines: You can move up to half your speed on an impulse, with a minimum of 5 feet.

So, a "cautious" approach could literally be 5 feet per impulse like you suggest, but a couple quick jumps into the fight could get you there much more quickly. If you know you still have a long way to go, when you dash, don't double the speed--keep it at half--but allow it for two more impulses.

Ex. You're speed is 40 (mobile feat). You move 20 on impulse #1, 20 more on impulse #2, but still need to more more so elect to take the dash action and gain another 40 feet of movement, allowing you to move 20 on impulse #3 and 20 more on impulse #4.

This shows how it took you "time" to move a full 80 feet because you covered the ground over 4 impulses. Additionally, someone like a rogue could use Cunning Action for that dash, and still have another dash action to take, allowing them to further move on impulses #5 and 6, covering a total of 120 feet of movement. Or, since they still have their action, the rogue could actually attack a target.

The feel I wanted to get out of this initiative system was that the actions or more specifically the combat movement was happening simultaneously in parallel with all combatants, or at least come close to simulating that feeling. That's why I went with the incremental steps in movement and not allowing one combatant to make a large chunk of movement without allowing others to react or adjust to that. It's just more realistic to me.

I think allowing light weapons to attack twice would be ok. I would avoid finesse, though as it ties even more into DEX-based builds which are already to much in 5E IMO. Unarmed strikes could also be twice, so a monk could use Extra attack and strike twice on an impulse and then flurry of blows for two more attacks on the next impulse.

Yeah this makes sense.

Sure, you're most welcome. This sort of stuff is obviously fun for me--working on game mechanics--so I hope you'll eventually get a chance to try it out and report back. If you have any more tweaks and such, I'll more than happy to look over things and offer constructive feedback.

Another thought I had was allowing unfinished actions to carry over to the next round. I already have it in the rules such that if you're knocked prone it takes 3 Impulses from the time you're knocked prone to the time you can get back up. For example, if you get pushed prone on Impulse 5 you can not get back up until Impulse 2 of the next Round. Maybe allow this for other actions such as casting spells that take extra time, or extra attacks you weren't able to get off, like when you finally reach your target on Impulse 6 you take your Attack Action to make an attack but then you are allowed to take your extra attack on Impulse 1of the next Round. This would alleviate the problem of wasted actions at the cost of extra bookkeeping. IDK, I'd have to think about this.