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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Twig" data-source="post: 7716888" data-attributes="member: 31754">I didn't read this whole thread, but I wanted to get my opinion out there.First, I don't care what anyone says, there is no way this is faster. I have played RPGs for over 30 years and have used a wide variety of initiative systems, including ones similar to what Mearls is suggesting, and it is not faster.Current system: Figure out the order. Use that order every turn.Mearls system: Figure out the order. Use that order for one turn. Figure out the order again.Having everyone try to decide what they are going to do at the same time doesn't save time either. Currently as soon as you finish your current turn you can start figuring out what to do next turn. Now some players don't do that, but that is not the fault of the initiative system.It also interrupts the flow of combat by adding an artificial pause to the combat every six seconds. There was some comments about how, when combat starts, the game is put on pause when everyone rolls initiative. Well now the game is put on pause after every round while everyone rolls initiative and has a little planning session. How does that make things smoother? In my games once combat starts it is non-stop action. One turn after another, without pause. How does pausing to re-roll initiative every round and then planning based on the new order make anything smoother?Mearls also admits it messes with durations. In the game world, rounds don't exist. Your Monk doesn't say, "Well normally I can stun this guy for 6 seconds, but since I'm going last this round he will recover immediately. Guess I'll hope to go faster next round!" But with the Mearls system, that's exactly what happens.His main complaint seems to be that cyclical initiative is too predictable. But that sounds like a personal preference to me, that is not a universal problem. If you like: "Yee ah! Chaos! Whooo! Anarchy! Aaaahhhh! Yeah!" Then sure, roll dice every round. Heck, roll dice to see what the enemies do. Roll dice for fumbles. Roll dice for random events. Go for it! But that would bug the ever-lovin' crap out of me. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />So now a few words in his defense...Do your players stop and discuss every characters turn as a group? Then declaring actions in advance might speed things up. Of course you can do that without re-rolling initiative, but still, it's a benefit.As mentioned above, do you like more randomness in your game? The more rolls, the more random things are. That's a personal preference, but valid if it is what you prefer.Ummm... Hmmm... I'm having trouble coming up with more benefits. Probably because I already decided it is not for me. So I'll just leave it here. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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