Best INITIATIVE Method for D&D COMBAT

Tracking initiative is a not-always-necessary evil of D&D, and I used to believe there was no good way to handle it. Now, I believe I've cracked the initiative code for Dungeons & Dragons 5e! ⏬ More below! ⏬

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00:00 I was WRONG about initiative!
01:37 Initiative VS. NO initiative
04:11 Ideal initiative methods for different group sizes

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons

[thewarlocky]

I've been saying this for years: the only thing that slows down combat in D&D is the player not knowing what they're doing. You can use any trick you want, you can roll the monster's initiatives previously, you can roll attack and damage at the same time, etc... not of that really matters if the players still don't know what to do or how their abilities works.

[MrSumoSpeaks]

I've always loved the pause right after the DM says "roll for initiative". Its a great moment to get into combat mode and it gives you a few seconds to plan what you will do your first tur.

[lorben]

Knowing my players if I gave them the option for an early bird attack I'd have a whole lot of dead NPCs that never got the chance to speak.

[ZombieFood]

Early bird attack seems like a good way to encourage the players to all shout at you at once.

[reeven]

"Six cowled men emerge from the crowd. The glint of steel shines as they unsheathe concealed blades and converge upon your group. Assassins!"
/Dramatic pause, DM looks around the table
*"Roll for Initiative."*
^ Is kind of an iconic D&D trope, though. It would be sad to see it go.

[sputnik]

I like the idea of monsters in the middle- the only alteration I'd make is that instead of 'on 11', the monsters go on 'passive Initiative' (ie 10+dex). I think that would feel a little more dynamic, while still keeping the bulk of monsters around the middle (and making outliers special!)

[razorboy]

"No initiative" method was horrible in practice; table order initiative was pretty good but I had to figure out the most equitable way to insert monster turns into that. However, it disadvantages certain class abilities and high stats like taking away things like having an Advantage on initiative - I had some players express disappointment that their class abilities were essentially nullified. Group initiative is pretty good but suffers from same issues. My preferred way is to roll initiative once at the beginning of the session and then that's the initiative order for the rest of the session. If a player wants to reroll their initiative they have to take an action on their turn to pause, assess the situation, and then roll a new initiative (few players take that option).

[OC]

I did the Early Bird method when I first DMd, and a friend of mine is doing it now that he's starting to DM. My experience is the spell caster quickly turns into The Wizard from XP to Level 3. "I cast Fireball."

[meseattlequin]

The best advice I've EVER recieved was to push minor bookkeeping tasks like initiative and time progression on select players. I'm lucky I have one player who loves to take initiative and discuss strats based on it and one that THRIVES on keeping track of the number of hours that pass in any given session. I can focus more on combat and story but still get that attention to detail that makes a campaign feel alive.

[mikecerutti]

I like the idea of monsters go on 11 and minions on 1. Also, lair effects on 20!

[DUNGEONCRAFT]

Professor DungeonMaster highly approves.

[bassett_green]

The transition from roleplay to combat can be greatly smoothed by having the players pre-roll initiative at the start of the session, then using that initiative when it comes up

[falken]

One thing I want to note that you seem to disregard, intentionally or not, I can not say, is that initiative is a stat, an ability check using your dexterity. It is a very useful stat, as high initiative is generally quite powerful. If you go early in the turn order, you might have earned yourself a whole extra turn in combat, and it gives you the opportunity to remove or deny the turns of enemy creatures either through debuffs or straight up killing them before they can act. Not only can a caster potentially swing a whole fight on the first turn if they go before the enemies, it is also useful for characters wanting to get into a good position to deal damage, stay safe or protect the party. Therefore some people build around it. There are many class features, spells, magic items and even a feat that improves your initiative roll, in addition to just increasing your dexterity and some people build around said features.

My point is just that removing initiative can really change the game as it is a core mechanic that combat is built around and removing it nerfs some characters.

[beatdownerz]

That's what I was doing wrong! Cutting my hair the whole time while learning to DM.

[MamanYossi]

I really liked the "monsters in the middle" approach, thanks!
I have read something interesting in reddit, someone suggested a new state a bit lower than "normal surprise" which instead of free turn to the faster side, it gives advantage on initiative rolls to the faster side, it comes very handy sometimes and more balanced than the surprise in some cases.

[SlyFlourish]

Great video Bob! Great thoughts.

Back when I played at a real table I often used the "go around the table" approach for any battle that wasn't a big boss fight. It worked well and the players were happy. Depending on the circumstances the monsters either got the early-bird attack or the players did which determined whether it started with the DM or started with the first player and the DM went last. That was generally fine. This was, like you say, a sort of surprise round option.

Like you, I used static monster initiative when we rolled for initiative. It saved me a roll and helped the monsters not get hosed by starting at the very end of a boss fight.

When playing online I've set up a macro using the Avrae Discord bot in which I already have everyone's initiative bonus and it auto-rolls for everyone and dumps out a list so everyone can see it. It's *way* faster than having everyone roll but players do feel like it is out of their hands and they get screwed when Avrae rolls low for them. Still, they've gotten over it and it's really fast to do. I expect D&D Beyond will soon have an auto-roll for initiative in their encounter builder which will be equally nice.

I'm hoping to get back to a table soon for at least one of my games and will probably return to the "around the table" initiative system I've enjoyed in the past.

Great topic!

[BartholomewFlutist]

I love my VTT software. I roll one button and everyone is in initiative order, no fuss about anything.

[nickolasbarnes]

I have a plinko board and each character has a token associated and I let the faster characters drop first. I play with small groups so this works out nice. We get a little bit of randomness, fun mini game, and a visual reminder of the order.

[druidelias]

With a big table (7 players), I’ve had players roll and then go around the table from the high number. Let’s one player benefit from high initiative and have ease of knowing who’s next.

[RazzleTheRed]

Has Initiative really been that big of a problem for people? The only issue I've ever had is when roll20 breaks and doesn't add people to the turn order