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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Koloth" data-source="post: 9775659" data-attributes="member: 6706231">Nothing wrong with the GM pre-rolling the NPC's initiatives as part of prep.  One less thing you have to do 'in the moment'. Allow use of a hero point to allow a character to go NOW!  Handy for that wizard that sees the perfect setup for a fireball but somehow managed to roll last in the initiative order.  Avoids the problem of that pesky barbarian running into the middle of the encounter before the AOE folks can act.  Even if you don't normally use hero points, let each character start an encounter with a temp point that vanishes when that encounter is over.    If a player is taking too long to act, declare that character stunned and amazed and go the the next character in the order.  Don't delay the game for several minutes because some player was lost in his phone and wasn't paying attention to the game.  When the player finally has something figured out, he acts then and the character moves to that spot in the order.  Avoid the everything fights to the death scenarios.  Even animal intelligence critters can do a basic cost/benefit analysis and will run away if the prey is being too difficult.  More intelligent critters might pull back to regroup, release the caged monster, send for help, sound an alarm, etc.   The goblin running out the back tunnel followed a few seconds later by a loud gong and 'ALARM!' can make the encounter suddenly more interesting.   Provide ways for the party to avoid combat encouters by stealth, diplomacy, etc.   Let those rogues and bards earn their keep.</blockquote>

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