There's an issue that kind of rose up in the discussions on "players go first, actions are in DEX order". It's actually a lot looser than it sounds.
The problem I have with a lot of initiative systems is that there's a whole lot of figuring out a formal order first, then people waiting for their turn. That's so common, so ingrained, that a lot of people probably think I my suggestion is to figure out everyone's DEX first and resolve the attacks in that order.
Nah. That's too fiddly. After getting a general idea of what everyone's plans are, I would just go from player to player and resolve whatever situation they are in. If they are fighting an opponent, I would check the DEXs then, to see who hits first. If they are hanging back, safe from attack, and performing some other action that isn't time-critical, like casting a spell that will take effect on the next round, then there's no need to check DEX at all.
In my last play group, I did it differently, since I was going entirely by weapon length with DEX as the tie-breaker (the inverse of what I'm now suggesting.) Part of the reason I changed it was because there was a little bit of figuring out everyone's action order first, which is what I want to avoid. Plus, maybe there wouldn't have been that TPK in the battle with the skeletons.
You could even ignore comparing Dex between several melee opponents until one of them gets a killing blow. Then Dex is checked to see if they get a chance to respond.
ReplyDeleteWell, there are a couple other situations besides a killing blow that might need a precise determination of who goes first, but yeah, I get what you're saying.
Deleteinitiative can slow encounters and play down so much - tend to roll once per side and use length and dex as a decider or for situational advantage - i was rolling initiative for each player each round - i cut to roll for each side - players asked to roll once per encounter unless a tactical or terrain considerations demand a change (a fight in rigging of a ship perhaps) - we get more encounters per session - when i played RQ i had on player micromanage initiative for me
ReplyDeleteThat's another good reason to ditch the initiative roll: the tension between squeezing every advantage out of a situation versus avoiding slow resolution.
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