Would adjusting the Initiative Order once per combat of, perhaps, 2 party members (consensually), usable several times between long rests, be something you might take as a feat? Is that enough for a Feat to be worth an ASI?
My gut says no, but it probably depends on how you imagine it being used. If you can use it to allow any two characters to act first in combat, that could be valuable. In any other scenario, then it's circumstantial at best.
I imagine this to be a flexible tool for managing combat. For instance, if the Cleric in your party rolled low on initiative, using this could move the Cleric higher than one of the PCs who became unconscious. Cure Wounds/Healing Word brings that PC back to fighting condition instead of wasting a turn to see if downed PC stabilizes or, even worse, to avoid possibility that downed PC gets shanked while incapacitated. Another example would be to allow the party Wizard to go earlier than others in order to lay down a control spell on the battlefield before the melee PCs get into the AoE cross-fire.
I am thinking this ability would take a bonus action to activate since an Action would be too expensive and a Reaction, while less "expensive" much of the time than a bonus action, also feels inappropriate thematically.
Would adjusting the Initiative Order once per combat of, perhaps, 2 party members (consensually), usable several times between long rests, be something you might take as a feat? Is that enough for a Feat to be worth an ASI?
Off the top of my head, I wouldn't put any kind of further cap on its usage, unless for some reason you want it usable mid-combat to change the initiative order, which would probably be a mess
I'd use Second Chance as the model -- it's a half ASI that recharges every time you roll initiative, so is usable once every combat
Keep in mind someone could just take Fey Touched and pick gift of alacrity as the optional spell though, so that's what your feat is competing with
I can kind of see uses for it though. Ensure the assassin is at the top of initiative to get the free advantage, or ensure the druid is ahead of the melees to get off a faerie fire, that sort of thing. Not hugely powerful, and it might have been something you would have rolled anyway, but it could be somewhat handy
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Off the top of my head, I wouldn't put any kind of further cap on its usage, unless for some reason you want it usable mid-combat to change the initiative order, which would probably be a mess
I'd use Second Chance as the model -- it's a half ASI that recharges every time you roll initiative, so is usable once every combat
Maybe it's my personal headcannon, but I would imagine that being able to change initiative order once per combat to be potentially much more useful than avoiding one otherwise successful melee attack against you.
Keep in mind someone could just take Fey Touched and pick gift of alacrity as the optional spell though, so that's what your feat is competing with
I can kind of see uses for it though. Ensure the assassin is at the top of initiative to get the free advantage, or ensure the druid is ahead of the melees to get off a faerie fire, that sort of thing. Not hugely powerful, and it might have been something you would have rolled anyway, but it could be somewhat handy
Gift of Alacrity is a Dunamancy spell from Mercer's setting. It's one of several Dunamancy spells I consider to be badly tuned. It lasts way too long and has too much of an effect for just a cantrip. As such, it would need to be nerfed a bit and switched to 1st level for me to allow it in my games.
I was thinking that this feat could be used in the middle of combat. I know that might mess with players' expectations a bit, but the use of this ability would be on the player's own initiative as well as agreed upon between the two players whose turn order is being changed.
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Sorry, for some reason I thought it was a cantrip.
Anyway, it still seems a bit too powerful for a 1st level spell due to it lasting what is basically a whole adventuring day. I could be wrong here, but that feels like 1/2 a feat right there for the price of a single level 1 slot.
For instance, if the Cleric in your party rolled low on initiative, using this could move the Cleric higher than one of the PCs who became unconscious. Cure Wounds/Healing Word brings that PC back to fighting condition instead of wasting a turn to see if downed PC stabilizes or, even worse, to avoid possibility that downed PC gets shanked while incapacitated.
Oh, I missed this when typing my initial response. This... doesn't actually make a lot of sense
Initiative order is mainly only important in the first round. Once the combat's rolling, when it finally gets to the cleric's turn, they are effectively "ahead" of everyone else in the initiative order
Consider your scenario. The initiative order to begin the combat is, let's say, Enemy 1, Fighter, Enemy 2, Enemy 3, Cleric. The fighter goes down on Enemy 2's turn. What benefit would it have for the cleric to move up ahead of the fighter mid-combat? It's going to be their turn anyway before the fighter's turn comes around again
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Consider your scenario. The initiative order to begin the combat is, let's say, Enemy 1, Fighter, Enemy 2, Enemy 3, Cleric. The fighter goes down on Enemy 2's turn. What benefit would it have for the cleric to move up ahead of the fighter mid-combat? It's going to be their turn anyway before the fighter's turn comes around again
So considering the scenario you provided, the PC Fighter gets to 0 hp. The Cleric doesn't have to change initiative relative to downed Fighter. Cleric's initiave can be changed to be ahead of Enemy 3. By going ahead of Enemy 3, Cleric prevents an easy kill on incapacitated Fighter by Enemy 3.
Perhaps I did not explain the feat proposal carefully enough. It is not solely to allow to PCs to switch turn orders with each other. It can also adjust the turn order of PCs relative to NPC allies or to enemies.
You mean like the Alert Feat? That seems like a pretty common trade off, some feats, like armor proficiency, aren't particularly strong.
Mechanically, I think what you're wanting to achieve might be best approached by emulating the Battle Master's maneuver Commander's Strike. Messing with initiative is kind of goofy, but letting a character act out of turn by giving up a bonus action and their reaction would be worthwhile.
You mean like the Alert Feat? That seems like a pretty common trade off, some feats, like armor proficiency, aren't particularly strong.
Mechanically, I think what you're wanting to achieve might be best approached by emulating the Battle Master's maneuver Commander's Strike. Messing with initiative is kind of goofy, but letting a character act out of turn by giving up a bonus action and their reaction would be worthwhile.
The Alert feat also has the benefit of never being surprised in combat. That by itself is pretty good.
Commander's Strike is already baked into a subclass. So...are you saying that if I combine two or more abilities with the relative value of Commander's Strike, then it would be worth opportunity cost of a Feat? So if I combined the ability to change initiative order with a +1 to one stat or something similar, that might be worth taking as a feat?
You can get access to Commander's Strike through the Fighting Initiate Feat, so if you make your idea equivalent to a combat maneuver, then any class could take it as a feat.
Edit: Well, technically the feat has a martial prerequisite, but that's probably fine for your purpose.
I'd probably opt for something like a full turn swap in exchange for burning your reaction.
Would adjusting the Initiative Order once per combat of, perhaps, 2 party members (consensually), usable several times between long rests, be something you might take as a feat? Is that enough for a Feat to be worth an ASI?
My gut says no, but it probably depends on how you imagine it being used. If you can use it to allow any two characters to act first in combat, that could be valuable. In any other scenario, then it's circumstantial at best.
Give the use case you are imagining.
I imagine this to be a flexible tool for managing combat. For instance, if the Cleric in your party rolled low on initiative, using this could move the Cleric higher than one of the PCs who became unconscious. Cure Wounds/Healing Word brings that PC back to fighting condition instead of wasting a turn to see if downed PC stabilizes or, even worse, to avoid possibility that downed PC gets shanked while incapacitated. Another example would be to allow the party Wizard to go earlier than others in order to lay down a control spell on the battlefield before the melee PCs get into the AoE cross-fire.
I am thinking this ability would take a bonus action to activate since an Action would be too expensive and a Reaction, while less "expensive" much of the time than a bonus action, also feels inappropriate thematically.
Off the top of my head, I wouldn't put any kind of further cap on its usage, unless for some reason you want it usable mid-combat to change the initiative order, which would probably be a mess
I'd use Second Chance as the model -- it's a half ASI that recharges every time you roll initiative, so is usable once every combat
Keep in mind someone could just take Fey Touched and pick gift of alacrity as the optional spell though, so that's what your feat is competing with
I can kind of see uses for it though. Ensure the assassin is at the top of initiative to get the free advantage, or ensure the druid is ahead of the melees to get off a faerie fire, that sort of thing. Not hugely powerful, and it might have been something you would have rolled anyway, but it could be somewhat handy
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Maybe it's my personal headcannon, but I would imagine that being able to change initiative order once per combat to be potentially much more useful than avoiding one otherwise successful melee attack against you.
Gift of Alacrity is a Dunamancy spell from Mercer's setting. It's one of several Dunamancy spells I consider to be badly tuned. It lasts way too long and has too much of an effect for just a cantrip. As such, it would need to be nerfed a bit and switched to 1st level for me to allow it in my games.
I was thinking that this feat could be used in the middle of combat. I know that might mess with players' expectations a bit, but the use of this ability would be on the player's own initiative as well as agreed upon between the two players whose turn order is being changed.
gift of alacrity is 1st level, not a cantrip
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Sorry, for some reason I thought it was a cantrip.
Anyway, it still seems a bit too powerful for a 1st level spell due to it lasting what is basically a whole adventuring day. I could be wrong here, but that feels like 1/2 a feat right there for the price of a single level 1 slot.
Back to the subject at hand...
Oh, I missed this when typing my initial response. This... doesn't actually make a lot of sense
Initiative order is mainly only important in the first round. Once the combat's rolling, when it finally gets to the cleric's turn, they are effectively "ahead" of everyone else in the initiative order
Consider your scenario. The initiative order to begin the combat is, let's say, Enemy 1, Fighter, Enemy 2, Enemy 3, Cleric. The fighter goes down on Enemy 2's turn. What benefit would it have for the cleric to move up ahead of the fighter mid-combat? It's going to be their turn anyway before the fighter's turn comes around again
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
So considering the scenario you provided, the PC Fighter gets to 0 hp. The Cleric doesn't have to change initiative relative to downed Fighter. Cleric's initiave can be changed to be ahead of Enemy 3. By going ahead of Enemy 3, Cleric prevents an easy kill on incapacitated Fighter by Enemy 3.
Perhaps I did not explain the feat proposal carefully enough. It is not solely to allow to PCs to switch turn orders with each other. It can also adjust the turn order of PCs relative to NPC allies or to enemies.
You mean like the Alert Feat? That seems like a pretty common trade off, some feats, like armor proficiency, aren't particularly strong.
Mechanically, I think what you're wanting to achieve might be best approached by emulating the Battle Master's maneuver Commander's Strike. Messing with initiative is kind of goofy, but letting a character act out of turn by giving up a bonus action and their reaction would be worthwhile.
The Alert feat also has the benefit of never being surprised in combat. That by itself is pretty good.
Commander's Strike is already baked into a subclass. So...are you saying that if I combine two or more abilities with the relative value of Commander's Strike, then it would be worth opportunity cost of a Feat? So if I combined the ability to change initiative order with a +1 to one stat or something similar, that might be worth taking as a feat?
You can get access to Commander's Strike through the Fighting Initiate Feat, so if you make your idea equivalent to a combat maneuver, then any class could take it as a feat.
Edit: Well, technically the feat has a martial prerequisite, but that's probably fine for your purpose.
I'd probably opt for something like a full turn swap in exchange for burning your reaction.