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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 9860980" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>I have, and I have mixed feelings about it. First of all, I strongly prefer @mearls’ <a href="https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAGreyhawkInitiative.pdf" target="_blank">Greyhawk Initiative</a> from an old Unearthed Arcana for this than the Speed Factor initiative in the 2014 DMG, and would highly recommend giving it a try if you want a declare-then-act system. A lot of people worry that it will slow things down by re-rolling initiative every round, but in my experience the amount of actual time spent is about the same, but it actually feels <em>faster</em> because the dynamic turn order from round to round keeps everyone on the edge of their seats.</p><p></p><p>What I really <em>don’t</em> like about it is the possibility of players losing their action due to changing circumstances making the action they declared no longer possible when their turn comes up. The solution I eventually landed on was to roll <em>after</em> acting instead of before. Rather than the roll representing the wind-up for your action, it represents the recovery time. Same dynamic turn order, same tradeoffs of bigger actions making you slower, but instead of declaring an action at the beginning of your turn, rolling, and then waiting for your initiative count to come up before you can execute the action, you instead take an action on your turn as normal, then roll initiative to determine when your turn will happen next round. I absolutely love it. First time I introduced it my players were a bit hesitant because they thought it sounded complicated, but they were willing to try, and after the first session using it, I literally had a player tell me “I <em>couldn’t</em> look at my phone the whole time because I was too engaged with the combat.” We’ve been using it happily ever since, and my players love it. They caught on quickly; it <em>looks</em> a lot more complicated on paper than it actually ends up being in play.</p><p></p><p>Here’s my version:</p><p>[spoiler]</p><p><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">At the start of the first round, roll a die based on your character’s size to determine your Initiative.</span></span></span></p><p></p><p> </p><table style='width: 100%'><tr><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><strong><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody'">Size</span></strong></span></td><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><strong><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody'">Initiative Die</span></strong></span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">Tiny</span></span></td><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">1d4</span></span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">Small</span></span></td><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">1d6</span></span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">Medium</span></span></td><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">1d8</span></span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">Large</span></span></td><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">1d10</span></span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">Huge or Gargantuan</span></span></td><td><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">1d12</span></span></td></tr></table><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">Creatures take turns in ascending order of Initiative. If two or more PCs have the same Initiative, the players decide what order their characters take their turns in. If two or more monsters or NPCs have the same Initiative, the DM decides what order they take their turns in. If any PCs have the same initiative as any monsters or NPCs, they take turns in descending order of Dexterity scores, with PCs winning ties.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span style="font-size: 22px"><strong><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">Your Turn</span></strong></span></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span style="font-size: 17px"><span style="font-family: 'UICTFontTextStyleBody'">On your turn, you can move up to your speed and take up to one action and one bonus action. </span>The actions and bonus actions you take during your turn determine your Initiative on the following round.</span></span></p><p></p><p><strong>Attacks</strong></p><p>If you make attack on your turn, roll the damage dice of the weapon used to make the attack, or 1d4 if the attack was an unarmed strike. The result is your Initiative on the next round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Spells</strong></p><p>If you cast a spell on your turn, roll 1d4 if the spell requires verbal components, 1d4 if it requires somatic components, and 1d4 if it requires material components, and add the results together. The total is your Initiative on the next round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Items</strong></p><p>If you use an item or activate a magic item on your turn, roll 1d6. If the item had to be retrieved from a pack or other container, roll another 1d6 and add the results together. The total is your Initiative on the next round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Other Actions</strong></p><p>If you take any other action during your turn, or end your turn without taking an action, roll your Size-based Initiative die. The total is your Initiative on the next round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Multiple Actions</strong></p><p>If you take more than one of the above actions on your turn, use the highest result rolled as your initiative and ignore the rest.[/spoiler]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 9860980, member: 6779196"] I have, and I have mixed feelings about it. First of all, I strongly prefer @mearls’ [URL='https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAGreyhawkInitiative.pdf']Greyhawk Initiative[/URL] from an old Unearthed Arcana for this than the Speed Factor initiative in the 2014 DMG, and would highly recommend giving it a try if you want a declare-then-act system. A lot of people worry that it will slow things down by re-rolling initiative every round, but in my experience the amount of actual time spent is about the same, but it actually feels [I]faster[/I] because the dynamic turn order from round to round keeps everyone on the edge of their seats. What I really [I]don’t[/I] like about it is the possibility of players losing their action due to changing circumstances making the action they declared no longer possible when their turn comes up. The solution I eventually landed on was to roll [I]after[/I] acting instead of before. Rather than the roll representing the wind-up for your action, it represents the recovery time. Same dynamic turn order, same tradeoffs of bigger actions making you slower, but instead of declaring an action at the beginning of your turn, rolling, and then waiting for your initiative count to come up before you can execute the action, you instead take an action on your turn as normal, then roll initiative to determine when your turn will happen next round. I absolutely love it. First time I introduced it my players were a bit hesitant because they thought it sounded complicated, but they were willing to try, and after the first session using it, I literally had a player tell me “I [I]couldn’t[/I] look at my phone the whole time because I was too engaged with the combat.” We’ve been using it happily ever since, and my players love it. They caught on quickly; it [I]looks[/I] a lot more complicated on paper than it actually ends up being in play. Here’s my version: [spoiler] [SIZE=17px][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]At the start of the first round, roll a die based on your character’s size to determine your Initiative.[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE] [TABLE width="100%"] [TR] [td][SIZE=17px][B][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody]Size[/FONT][/B][/SIZE][/td][td][SIZE=17px][B][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody]Initiative Die[/FONT][/B][/SIZE][/td] [/TR] [TR] [td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]Tiny[/FONT][/SIZE][/td][td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]1d4[/FONT][/SIZE][/td] [/TR] [TR] [td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]Small[/FONT][/SIZE][/td][td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]1d6[/FONT][/SIZE][/td] [/TR] [TR] [td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]Medium[/FONT][/SIZE][/td][td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]1d8[/FONT][/SIZE][/td] [/TR] [TR] [td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]Large[/FONT][/SIZE][/td][td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]1d10[/FONT][/SIZE][/td] [/TR] [TR] [td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]Huge or Gargantuan[/FONT][/SIZE][/td][td][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]1d12[/FONT][/SIZE][/td] [/TR] [/TABLE] [COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]Creatures take turns in ascending order of Initiative. If two or more PCs have the same Initiative, the players decide what order their characters take their turns in. If two or more monsters or NPCs have the same Initiative, the DM decides what order they take their turns in. If any PCs have the same initiative as any monsters or NPCs, they take turns in descending order of Dexterity scores, with PCs winning ties.[/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=6][B][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]Your Turn[/FONT][/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=17px][FONT=UICTFontTextStyleBody]On your turn, you can move up to your speed and take up to one action and one bonus action. [/FONT]The actions and bonus actions you take during your turn determine your Initiative on the following round.[/SIZE][/COLOR] [B]Attacks[/B] If you make attack on your turn, roll the damage dice of the weapon used to make the attack, or 1d4 if the attack was an unarmed strike. The result is your Initiative on the next round. [B]Spells[/B] If you cast a spell on your turn, roll 1d4 if the spell requires verbal components, 1d4 if it requires somatic components, and 1d4 if it requires material components, and add the results together. The total is your Initiative on the next round. [B]Items[/B] If you use an item or activate a magic item on your turn, roll 1d6. If the item had to be retrieved from a pack or other container, roll another 1d6 and add the results together. The total is your Initiative on the next round. [B]Other Actions[/B] If you take any other action during your turn, or end your turn without taking an action, roll your Size-based Initiative die. The total is your Initiative on the next round. [B]Multiple Actions[/B] If you take more than one of the above actions on your turn, use the highest result rolled as your initiative and ignore the rest.[/spoiler] [/QUOTE]
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