Moving to Side Initiative

[Bagpuss]

is there really much difference between:

1. I hit you for 10 damage, ongoing 5.
2. Other people act, maybe.
3. You start your turn, take 5 damage, die.

vs

1. I hit you for 10 damage, ongoing 5. The 5 happens right now too, you die.

Either way, you never get your next turn.

There is a huge amount of difference between those two when you consider the number of powers leaders have that grant saves. The Cleric even has an at-will one.

 

[Herobizkit]

Is there really much difference between:

1. I hit you for 10 damage, ongoing 5.
2. Other people act, maybe.
3. You start your turn, take 5 damage, die.

vs

1. I hit you for 10 damage, ongoing 5. The 5 happens right now too, you die.

Either way, you never get your next turn.

Unless I incorrectly understand the saving throw mechanic, I would think that in the former example, teammates that have abilities to grant saving throws as immediate interrupts or what have you have a chance to cancel that ongoing 5 before its your turn again, thereby negating the damage.

Also, hilarious "murder Drizzt" example.

 

[bargle0]

If you use average init mod + 10, then as PC level their init bonuses will increase even as the DCs stay closer to the same. They get +1 to init every other level, but monster init seems to not raise all that high.

Creatures get 2 + dexmod + 1/2 level. Level 1/11/21 skirmishers have a dex mod of +3/5/7. If you do absolutely nothing to optimize initiative, creatures will beat you sooner or later. I think most people get this figured out by paragon, though, and do something to fix the initiative situation with feats, items, and powers. This is one of the reasons why warlords are considered top-tier leaders.

 

[masshysteria]

If the goal is to save time then there are far better ways of doing so. I'm thinking of trying the egg timer method, for my players.

While the goal is to streamline decision making my removing delays an allowing sides to still act as a team. The phrase from the rule of three "you fireball the room first and then I'll rush in" sums it up nicely. You can do this in the current system by delaying and jockeying around the initiative order, but we're hoping to avoid that.

One important think that I think we've missed is this:

Initiative systems that have effect occur immediately favor those that go first. The idea being that you can deny opponents their turns.

Initiative systems that have effects that are delayed until an end phase favor those that go last. The last player is able to make decisions with the maximum amount of information.