In my games I use a different rule for initiative.
Basically I auto-roll all initiatives before each round is played.
This way I keep players engaged, shake up the battle, and put them on the edge. They never know when their turn is gonna be next, they never know if and which enemies will act before their next turn, the focus becomes the moment, what's happening now. And also, the transition between non-combat scenes and combat scenes becomes seamless. I don't ask them to roll for initiative (which sounds like a "Combat is starting!" declaration). Instead I auto-roll all initiatives, and then start asking for their actions right off the bat (or describing what each enemy does).
I'm using this system for over a year now, and so far my players love it.
The script also supports auto-rolling the vanilla initiative system (once per combat), which already makes the transition between non-combat and combat seamless, but without the chaos.
I do like this idea, but what happens if a player gets downed near the end of the initiative, and then the randomizer puts all the enemies first? Nobody would be able to stop it; and in D&d nothing's worse than not being able to interact with the game
(I'm not saying this is bad, I actually might try this in my campaign, but I just wanted your input on a scenario like that)
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Even though the 'random' nature is present regardless of the initiative system you're using, in this system it's possible for all enemies to play last in one round and then play first in the next round. And the PCs understand and know that this is a possibility (although it's statistically rare). And that makes the PCs play it smart and tactical, after I started using this system, the battles became more interesting. They don't save heals because they know the next one is the cleric, they don't risk themselves because they know the barbarian is next, etc. They play closer to what their characters would actually play (knowing battle is a chaotic event, full of uncertainty).
For instance (this really happened in one of my sessions): They were fighting some ghouls and a boss (I can't remember which boss), and in my game ghouls want to eat flesh, so if they down a character, in the next turns they start to eat him/her (real death threat). The wizard got downed by this ghoul. A few turns later it was the Fighter's turn, the whole table was really tense, they didn't know when the ghoul would act, they didn't know when the Druid (party's healer) would act, the Fighter could try to end the boss (he was pretty rough already) and risk the Druid's turn would take place before the ghoul's, or he could risk an OA, run to the Wizard and administer a Healing Potion. They really have do some serious effort to analyze the risk/reward involved, this kind of situation engages them, and empowers them. The Fighter ended up taking an OA, and saving the Wizard. The next turn the ghoul attacked the Fighter and the whole table went ecstatic.
Even though it may happen that sometimes the party misses the opportunity to save a character, the risk/reward analysis and the uncertainty this system introduces creates a new dimension in the battle. It makes the battle more chaotic and risky. And it may randomly make all the players take their turns twice in a roll, which may turn the tides of the battle (sometimes in a critical moment).
In my games I use a different rule for initiative.
Basically I auto-roll all initiatives before each round is played.
This way I keep players engaged, shake up the battle, and put them on the edge. They never know when their turn is gonna be next, they never know if and which enemies will act before their next turn, the focus becomes the moment, what's happening now. And also, the transition between non-combat scenes and combat scenes becomes seamless. I don't ask them to roll for initiative (which sounds like a "Combat is starting!" declaration). Instead I auto-roll all initiatives, and then start asking for their actions right off the bat (or describing what each enemy does).
I'm using this system for over a year now, and so far my players love it.
I'm using the python script you can find here (requires python to run) to auto-roll the initiatives:
Repo:
https://bitbucket.org/aymar/fishermans-initiative-tracker
Binaries:
https://bitbucket.org/aymar/fishermans-initiative-tracker/downloads
The script also supports auto-rolling the vanilla initiative system (once per combat), which already makes the transition between non-combat and combat seamless, but without the chaos.
I do like this idea, but what happens if a player gets downed near the end of the initiative, and then the randomizer puts all the enemies first? Nobody would be able to stop it; and in D&d nothing's worse than not being able to interact with the game
(I'm not saying this is bad, I actually might try this in my campaign, but I just wanted your input on a scenario like that)
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I totally understand your concern.
Even though the 'random' nature is present regardless of the initiative system you're using, in this system it's possible for all enemies to play last in one round and then play first in the next round. And the PCs understand and know that this is a possibility (although it's statistically rare). And that makes the PCs play it smart and tactical, after I started using this system, the battles became more interesting. They don't save heals because they know the next one is the cleric, they don't risk themselves because they know the barbarian is next, etc. They play closer to what their characters would actually play (knowing battle is a chaotic event, full of uncertainty).
For instance (this really happened in one of my sessions): They were fighting some ghouls and a boss (I can't remember which boss), and in my game ghouls want to eat flesh, so if they down a character, in the next turns they start to eat him/her (real death threat). The wizard got downed by this ghoul. A few turns later it was the Fighter's turn, the whole table was really tense, they didn't know when the ghoul would act, they didn't know when the Druid (party's healer) would act, the Fighter could try to end the boss (he was pretty rough already) and risk the Druid's turn would take place before the ghoul's, or he could risk an OA, run to the Wizard and administer a Healing Potion. They really have do some serious effort to analyze the risk/reward involved, this kind of situation engages them, and empowers them. The Fighter ended up taking an OA, and saving the Wizard. The next turn the ghoul attacked the Fighter and the whole table went ecstatic.
Even though it may happen that sometimes the party misses the opportunity to save a character, the risk/reward analysis and the uncertainty this system introduces creates a new dimension in the battle. It makes the battle more chaotic and risky. And it may randomly make all the players take their turns twice in a roll, which may turn the tides of the battle (sometimes in a critical moment).
Let chaos reign! Mwahaha.