The monsters only go on the same initiative if they have been added in one lump. If you add them separately, so by not using the + add button they will have a separate initiative.
The ratio of monsters vs characters do indeed affect the challenge of a given encounter, outnumbering opponents mean more actions economy-wise, , more hit points sources to singularly deplete, more positions in terrain occupation etc
Yeah that "identical creatures go on the same initiative" option is rarely used in my experience.
Yeah, it makes the game unbalanced. This is especially true when you have a huge mob of monsters. Since I exclusively use digital dice that do all the math for me, I don't care about rolling dozens of them at a time. Physical dice are so antiquated and I don't understand the purists who want to spend 15 minutes per round of combat. There's an Auto Roll Initiative button in the Combat Tracker that rolls initiative for all characters instantly, so stop wasting time and use it.
This is not about the rolling of dice at the start. It's about cycling through a huge list during every round, identifying which one is pixie #6 and taking its turn, then figuring out which one is pixie #4 and taking its turn. There is a "shifting of gears" between every turn that takes time and a bit of mental energy. With 20 monsters and 5 PCs on the board, that small bit of time and energy is multiplied by 25x, which is a lot no matter how on top of the ball you are.
If I have more monsters than PCs in a fight, I start to group them up so I have an equal or lesser amount of turns than the party. I might break the pixies and quicklings into 4 groups of 5. Or even better, just make swarm variants of those creatures. You still get some variation without an insanely long init list that bloats your combat.
This is not about the rolling of dice at the start. It's about cycling through a huge list during every round, identifying which one is pixie #6 and taking its turn, then figuring out which one is pixie #4 and taking its turn. There is a "shifting of gears" between every turn that takes time and a bit of mental energy. With 20 monsters and 5 PCs on the board, that small bit of time and energy is multiplied by 25x, which is a lot no matter how on top of the ball you are.
You make a good point. I haven't thought about that. However, you're forgetting about HP tracking. No matter what you do, you still need to know how many HP each monster has. Personally, I like using numbered tokens for my monsters. This way, I can easily differentiate Goblin #4 from Goblin #9. I also make it worse by rolling for HP instead of using the averages. A goblin can have as little as 2 HP or as many as 12 HP. The randomness of it all makes things more unpredictable.
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
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So you never had the 48 terracotta warriors in Shagambi’s tomb go off in Tomb of Annihilation? It was a blast for us.
The monsters only go on the same initiative if they have been added in one lump. If you add them separately, so by not using the + add button they will have a separate initiative.
The ratio of monsters vs characters do indeed affect the challenge of a given encounter, outnumbering opponents mean more actions economy-wise, , more hit points sources to singularly deplete, more positions in terrain occupation etc
This is not about the rolling of dice at the start. It's about cycling through a huge list during every round, identifying which one is pixie #6 and taking its turn, then figuring out which one is pixie #4 and taking its turn. There is a "shifting of gears" between every turn that takes time and a bit of mental energy. With 20 monsters and 5 PCs on the board, that small bit of time and energy is multiplied by 25x, which is a lot no matter how on top of the ball you are.
If I have more monsters than PCs in a fight, I start to group them up so I have an equal or lesser amount of turns than the party. I might break the pixies and quicklings into 4 groups of 5. Or even better, just make swarm variants of those creatures. You still get some variation without an insanely long init list that bloats your combat.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
You make a good point. I haven't thought about that. However, you're forgetting about HP tracking. No matter what you do, you still need to know how many HP each monster has. Personally, I like using numbered tokens for my monsters. This way, I can easily differentiate Goblin #4 from Goblin #9. I also make it worse by rolling for HP instead of using the averages. A goblin can have as little as 2 HP or as many as 12 HP. The randomness of it all makes things more unpredictable.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player