Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thia Halmades" data-source="post: 2627148" data-attributes="member: 35863">"If you have 4 or more levels on your target, your combat experience is taken into effect; gain a +2 circumstance modifier on initiative rolls."  -- Full text below.Other than the above, any complicated changes to the initiative system would be a really bad idea, because... while the system isn't great, it also isn't broken.  Any adjustment would unnecessarily complicate it.  What we're establishing is who goes first, i.e., who gets the drop.  Should the Rogue be fastest?  The Fighter is best trained, but the Barbarian is moving on pure instinct!  Surely a Barbarian shouldn't get caught with his bear skin down.  There are various abilities and feats which directly affect initiative, but I'm inclined to agree that it is one of the most important elements of a fight, and lacks any possible 'punch' or drama that reflects how people deal with combat on the whole.  However, fixing it (and I tried fixing it) just complicates things that much more.So, first.  If you use a BAB system, then the favored classes are those with the best progression (or MOBs, highest HD).  This would pretty much pooch the Rogue's need to go first.  We don't want to do that.Second.  Intelligence should play a factor, absolutely.  So we ... take an average?  More math.  And, a lot of standard monsters aren't all that bright.  You want the creature to have the advantage of twitch reflexes and getting there first; you want the PCs to be afraid of getting nailed to the wall.  What d20 does very well is excise as much math as possible, leaving you with basic addition and subtraction.  Recalcing a single PCs init would be easy, absolutely, but not necessarily fair.  Your wizard (with their amazing high INT & solid DEX) would be beating your Rogue, or at least coming close, before unloading a spell at a flat-footed MOB.  Again, no dice.If you're concerned about advanced PCs dealing with mooks, you're right.  The mooks shouldn't get the drop, which is why with good Listen & Spot checks you could certainly have your PCs get into a surprise round position, or, better, give them a circumstance modifier to initiative.  So I'll go with the Golden Rule and swiftly add two.  As simple as it seems, the extra 10% chance gained from the +2 will swing a lot of borderline initiative rolls.  Otherwise, I would suggest sticking with either Blooded or Improved Initiative.LCpt. Thia Halmades</blockquote>

Verification