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<blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 6574336" data-attributes="member: 1288">What I've finally settled on, after a lot of pondering of the various options, is a homebrew system that works as follows:1: I have a list of all the PCs, and then each &quot;batch&quot; of monsters. (I have unique monsters go on their own, but groups of the same kind all go at once. So a battle with a wight and four zombies has two monster turns, one for the wight and one for the zombies. That part of my system is pretty common.)2: The order of said list is irrelevant, as long as it remains constant. I go alphabetically by player name, and then monsters in order of importance.3: Everyone rolls initiative as normal at the start of combat. However, only the highest roll matters.4: The person who got that highest roll goes first on each round, in effect &quot;anchoring&quot; the round.5: Everyone else? Completely random. If there are six combatants/initiative &quot;groups&quot; (not counting the one who won the initiative and became the anchor), I'll just flat roll a d6, and whoever comes up on the list is who goes next.6: Once everyone's gone once, the &quot;anchor&quot; goes again, signifying the start of the next round.It goes fast. Rolling a single extra die behind the screen and saying, &quot;So-and-so, you're up next&quot; takes about two seconds, and can be done--for instance--while the current player is rolling something or moving a token.It keeps combat unpredictable. No fixed order. No &quot;Oh, I have a while until my next turn, I'll play some Plants vs. Zombies.&quot; No &quot;Wait, what was going on?&quot; People pay attention constantly, because they never know when they're going to dive in.Does it make Dex a bit less valuable, since only one person's Dex modifier matters in any given combat. Sure, but Dex is already overwhelmingly the MVP of stats. I don't feel bad taking a minor perk away from it. And it may make feats or abilities that grant init bonuses a bit weaker, but they're still valuable--being the &quot;anchor&quot; and the one predictable factor, as well as going first, is worthwhile--and players know this when they create their characters, so they can decide then if that's enough for them.I have a few other rules, regarding readies/delays and &quot;ends on the next turn&quot; spell durations, but the above is the gist of it. I highly recommend it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mouseferatu, post: 6574336, member: 1288"] What I've finally settled on, after a lot of pondering of the various options, is a homebrew system that works as follows: 1: I have a list of all the PCs, and then each "batch" of monsters. (I have unique monsters go on their own, but groups of the same kind all go at once. So a battle with a wight and four zombies has two monster turns, one for the wight and one for the zombies. That part of my system is pretty common.) 2: The order of said list is irrelevant, as long as it remains constant. I go alphabetically by player name, and then monsters in order of importance. 3: Everyone rolls initiative as normal at the start of combat. However, [I]only the highest roll matters[/I]. 4: The person who got that highest roll goes first on each round, in effect "anchoring" the round. 5: Everyone else? [I]Completely[/I] random. If there are six combatants/initiative "groups" (not counting the one who won the initiative and became the anchor), I'll just flat roll a d6, and whoever comes up on the list is who goes next. 6: Once everyone's gone once, the "anchor" goes again, signifying the start of the next round. It goes [I]fast[/I]. Rolling a single extra die behind the screen and saying, "So-and-so, you're up next" takes about two seconds, and can be done--for instance--while the current player is rolling something or moving a token. It keeps combat unpredictable. No fixed order. No "Oh, I have a while until my next turn, I'll play some Plants vs. Zombies." No "Wait, what was going on?" People pay attention constantly, because they never know when they're going to dive in. Does it make Dex a bit less valuable, since only one person's Dex modifier matters in any given combat. Sure, but Dex is already overwhelmingly the MVP of stats. I don't feel bad taking a minor perk away from it. And it may make feats or abilities that grant init bonuses a bit weaker, but they're still valuable--being the "anchor" and the one predictable factor, as well as going first, is worthwhile--and players know this when they create their characters, so they can decide then if that's enough for them. I have a few other rules, regarding readies/delays and "ends on the next turn" spell durations, but the above is the gist of it. I [I]highly[/I] recommend it. [/QUOTE]

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