home brewed initiative

[Balain]

I don’t recall where I heard the rules before but thought they sounded interesting. There were a couple of versions based on the same idea, counting initiative up, ie low number goes first.

1. instead of d20 roll your damage die. Spellcaster roll a d6 and add the level of the spell, cantrips being level 0.

2. Light weapons roll a d4, medium weapons roll a d6, heavy weapons roll a d8, spellcasters roll a d12

Has anyone tried anything like this, how did it work for you?

What about dex bonus?

[opaopajr]

Huh, those are actually pretty clever. Thanks! :smallcool: I'll give it a whirl one of these days.

As for adding DEX, I wouldn't. DEX already gets plenty. Makes the game more unpredictable by not adding it in. And further, since these both favor counting up from '1' being the fastest, adding DEX mod would mean later initiative. (Unless you subtracted, and then some people's heads would explode!)

Did anyone create a new variant for group initiative? I still like the two old AD&D 2e group initiatives. But always open to new homebrew ideas. :smallsmile:

[Unoriginal]

I don’t recall where I heard the rules before but thought they sounded interesting. There were a couple of versions based on the same idea, counting initiative up, ie low number goes first.

1. instead of d20 roll your damage die. Spellcaster roll a d6 and add the level of the spell, cantrips being level 0.

2. Light weapons roll a d4, medium weapons roll a d6, heavy weapons roll a d8, spellcasters roll a d12

Has anyone tried anything like this, how did it work for you?

What about dex bonus?

I'm against penalizing STR builds and big-damage monsters, who already tend to go after the DEX builds. It also perpétuante and exaggerate the "big weapons are slow and clumsy" incorrect assumption, something 5e is currently mostly avoiding (which is a good thing).

And making using a spell=you will likely go last would greatly diminish the efficiency of buffs, and to a degree make casters who prefers DEX over CON even squishier.

All in all I don't see why strong combatants and spellcasters should be slower than what their stats already make them to be

[Naanomi]

So people have to choose their actions before their turn comes up? A Paladin has to commit to Attack with his great sword when initiative is rolled; even if an ally desperately needs healing when his turn comes up? Definetly changes the tactical environment of DnD....

[Aett_Thorn]

So people have to choose their actions before their turn comes up? A Paladin has to commit to Attack with his great sword when initiative is rolled; even if an ally desperately needs healing when his turn comes up? Definetly changes the tactical environment of DnD....

Also, what if I am something like a Ranger that is going to cast Hunter's Mark and then Attack?

[mer.c]

It sounds somewhat similar to this system (http://theangrygm.com/fine-i-wrote-about-speed-factor-initiative-in-dd-5e/), although more streamlined and less granular. I’d recommend giving it a read and seeing if anything with that meshes with or gives you inspiration for your own system.

[Moredhel24]

sounds like the greyhawk initiative ua. really fiddley and got quite a few vehement reactions.

http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAGreyhawkInitiative.pdf

[Balain]

I had a system manyyears ago, I can’t recall the name nowsomething like Ysgard. It had one of the most com0licated initiative systems I had seen. As a rough example, if you were attacking with a dagger, you would get a bonus because it was a light weapon, you would get a penalty compared to other weapons that were longer than it, if you were small you got a bonus to size but larger creatures than you got a bonus because they have more reach, if you had a high strength using the dagger you got a bonus, an average strength no bonus low strength you got a penalty, there were a few other things also considered.

[Eradis]

There is a whole part in the Dungeon Master's Guide about initiative variant. Personally for more complex encounter, I start by rolling initiative and after that, I'm using the table they put in there to adjust the order depending on the actions taken. There are modifiers for type of weapon used, type of action taken and depending on the spell level used. In theory they suggest to roll initiative with that extra modifier every round, but it slows down battle too much in my opinion. Instead, I'm letting those with speedier moves and actions climb on the initiative ladder, and it usually comes down to a standard in extended fight. It is not a bother for me since I do believe that poking with a rapier is logically faster than shooting and reloading a crossbow. This way, it can happen once that a character play twice before other because of the initiative shifting, but at the end, everyone plays only once each round. It can even add some strategy if some players keep track of the initiative order and think they can play a faster action so they can play again before the same enemy to maximize the damage done.

There is also a time saving way for initiative that instead of rolling, you only pick the initiative modifier of the creatures and if you wishes so, those of the players' character too. Order become too predictable if you use both, but still save time if you just roll the PCs'. Plus, you can see the adventuring days as "good" or "bad" days for the initiative, by keeping the first result of a player's roll and keeping that roll for all the encounter of that day.

EDIT: You can also inspire yourself with the turn tracker method of Scion. This game uses tick on a clock divided in 8 ticks. Each action costs ticks. Ex.: You shout -> Your now on tick 2, Your turn again, you hit with your fist, your now on tick 5 (arbitrary examples I do not recall the cost of each action), and so on. So you can actually play many times before another person who uses slower action. When more than one creature are on the same tick, well, they all play at the same time. I'm guessing there is a defense bonus for those who move while targeted in the same turn, but it's been so long since I've played that game.

[Requilac]

This sounds like the variant rule for “speed” initiative in the DMG dungeon master’s workshop. I am AFB right now but I am fairly condfident it is in there. It has a lot of the things you are talking about.