[3.5] Alternate Initiative System

[madock345]

Ok, so, I haven't seen anyone complaining about the initiative system, so I don't know if anyone else has problems with it. I have always thought it was rather inaccurate. In the current system Dexterity is the only thing which determines initiative barring feats or class features. However, while physical reaction time is important I think other factors should come into play when determining reaction time. Here is my system.
Initiative bonus is equal to:
Dexterity Modifier (for physical reaction time)
Wisdom Modifier (because someone with keen senses is going to have slightly more time to react)
Intelligence Modifier (because an intelligent person is going to make decisions, and form plans faster)
And a +1 bonus every three levels (because combat experience is going to improve your reaction speed in battle)
What do you think? Too Complicated? Any balance issues or fixes?

[lightningcat]

I think its the Conan d20 system that uses Dex + Base Reflex save + class features + feats for initiative. So you're not the only person who thinks that there should be more to it.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ok, so, I haven't seen anyone complaining about the initiative system, so I don't know if anyone else has problems with it. I have always thought it was rather inaccurate. In the current system Dexterity is the only thing which determines initiative barring feats or class features. However, while physical reaction time is important I think other factors should come into play when determining reaction time. Here is my system.
Initiative bonus is equal to:
Dexterity Modifier (for physical reaction time)
Wisdom Modifier (because someone with keen senses is going to have slightly more time to react)
Intelligence Modifier (because an intelligent person is going to make decisions, and form plans faster)
And a +1 bonus every three levels (because combat experience is going to improve your reaction speed in battle)
What do you think? Too Complicated? Any balance issues or fixes?

Complicated? A bit but not too bad. Unbalanced? Ya. I'll like to point out that 2 out of the 3 stats that are calculated are mental stats. So most martial classes would end up slower as a result. A rogue gains a lot of benefits for going first, mainly striking flat-footed the first round and others. At most, a Rogue would have a decent Int and possibly a moderate Wis. Non-sneaky martial classes like fighter don't invest in Dex or mental stats often because Str and Con are far more useful than any other for their designated party role. A Wizard or Cleric could be finding themselves going ahead of the Rogue.

Thematically and logically, your changes make sense. But in working, it makes weird things happen like having Rogues lose a major advantage. I don't see the point of a +1 every 3 levels. Fights against NPC's built like PC's (PC classes, PC races, etc.) nothing will change because everybody gains the same level-based bonus. Against monsters, most of which have level adjustments, will find PC's going first much more often because they have higher levels. Unless you intended it to be CR insted of HD. "Level" is open to interpretation so you might want to clarify that.

I too believe the initative system is funky but your proposed changes, while in of themselves are fairly balanced, mess up some of the balance elsewhere.

[unosarta]

You could simply make it the higher of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Dexterity. That would probably help reduce the power of casters, and keep the casters on roughly the same level.

[jiriku]

Int and Wis to Initiative would be a dream come true for the classes that are already the most powerful classes in the game. However, increasing the level-based bonus to +1/2 CR for monsters and +1/2 character levels for PCs would smooth out the impact by making the scaling factor a larger total piece of the pie (making the ability bonuses less significant to the final total).

A drawback that I see here is that it obligates you, and every player who summons, binds, or polymorphs, to calculate houseruled initiative modifiers for monsters over and over and over again, but doesn't improve gameplay in any way. As a rule of thumb, I never add any houserule that will increase the complexity of the game unless the rule improves game balance. Increasing complexity just to make the game feel more "mine" always creates confusion as players forget, remember, misunderstand, and misinterpret my rules, or the rules turn out to have all manner of unintended consequences. IME, it's not worth it unless it's for the greater good in some way.