In which we peek behind the screen

Recently had a lengthy after-action discussion at our table about how initiative and combat timing works.  You can read the basics of our procedure here.  In response I wrote the following and figured since I WROTE it I may as well post it.

Khari kneels before an unopened chest, hoping to find something useful therein. Behind her about 15' back in an arc are Kirkas, Dakora, Castellan and Serynah. Turn's out the chest is a mimic. Mimic takes a grab at Khari, fails, and I call for initiative.

I then go around the table asking for your result. Kirkas 17, Dakora 11, Serynah 12, Khari 12 and Castellan 9. I enter these in the appropriate field on the combat sheet. The monster's initiative is already there. The dice roller and modifier were input when I “built” the encounter. The sheet is formatted to indicate who goes first, second and third. In THIS case Kirkas is first, Serynah is second and Khari is third.

Kirkas tell's me he going to attack with his bow. He rolls 2d20 to determine if he hits, then rolls to determine damage done. I update the mimics HP according AND note that Kirkas has spent 1 AP AND note that the thing Kirkas did (fire his bow) takes 8 tics. Since he STARTED on 17 the spreadsheet then indicates that Kirkas will go again at 9.

Next up is Serynah. She opts for a 3^rd level sleep spell. She rolls a d20 to see if she successfully casts the spell. She'll need to roll 10 or better (10+spell level-charisma modifier.) She's successful but a Mimic has an average of 58 HP. Even if she rolled all 8's she'd only score a 56 and be unable to Sleep the Mimic, so no joy. I note that she has spent TWO AP (to cast a leveled spell) and that it took 3 tics (one per level.) Since she started on 12 she will next go on 9.

Khari is up next at 12, followed now by Dakora (11), Kirkas (9), Sareynah (9), and Castellan (9.) Khari opts to use her wild shape. This uses all three AP and takes the rest of this turn so she's done.

Dakora opts for Witch Bolt. She successfully casts the spell and the arc of energy connects to the mimic. Since she cast it at 4^th level she'll do 4d12 damage this turn and 1d12 for every turn hereafter so long as she concentrates and takes no further actions. Casting the spell costs her 2 AP and 4 tics. She'll be up again at 7.

Kirkas decides his archery isn't strong enough so he swaps out his bow for Swiftstrike. That's an action and takes a tic. He has 1 AP left and will be back up at 8.

Serynah is up next and has only one AP left. Move? Probably not. Fire bolt. No need to check success as cantrips are always successful. She DOES need to hit on a ranged attack. BOOM! She hits. And now that she's 5^th level it does 2d10 damage. But her AP are spent so she's done.

Castellan finally gets to step up. So to speak.. He summons Selune's Strike which takes one tick but costs no AP, but he has to wait for the next tic. As the cantrip takes effect Kirkas gets to go again.

But wait! Oh no! The mimic is ALSO in at 9. That wicked tongue lashes out at the now-wildshaped Khari. It hits, does 7 points of damage. Khari gets to try to avoid the grapple with STR vs DC 13. Let's say she doesn't. The mimic only has one attack so IT'S done but it'll be biting down NEXT turn.

Kirkas and Castellan go again at 8. Kirkas casts Hunters Mark (0 AP) for 1 tic, moving to 7. Castellan realizes he probably should have cast Moonbeam so he does it NOW … spending 2 AP. He succeeds at casting it, the mimic fails it's ST at disadvantage and begins to morph back into its gloppy shape. It takes radiant damage from the beam. Kirkas now has to move to get close enough to swing, using his final AP.

Dakora maintains her concentration hoping to finish the beast next round. And unless I've missed something above thus endeth the round. Six seconds. Roll again? Doubtful. I'd likely allow Dakora's Bolt and Castellan's Beam to finish the beast without playing it out.

The initial guideline for the whole shebang was Greyhawk Initiative. And I've used Tao for guidance. And a handful of other content creators. I keep tinkering with this table to make it better. Latest iteration (NOT used above – will use next session.)

Most stuff: 1

Move, per 10': 1

Spell: 1 per level

Grapple, Potion, poison: 5

Find something: 1d8+2

But the problem is weapons. How long should it take to use them? OLD system was 2 for light/finesse. 4 for versatile, 6 for heavy, 8 for bows and 10 for crossbows.

So I'm gonna try this next time: Light/finesse 1. Heavy/2-handed 3. And I'm still trying to come up with SOMETHING that makes sense for archery. Optimum real world rate of speed I've found was 12 arrows per minute which implies only 1.2 per melee round. By "rule" Kirkas could fire up to six. I need to do more research and do NOT wanna penalize Kirkas.

And after sleeping on this the long term solution becomes clear: ranged weapon attacks require 2 AP.  Suggestions welcome.

In which we roll for initiative.

Have I done this before?  Feels like I've done this before.  The last 7-10 days I've seen a handful of YT's
about this topic and read at least double that in blog posts.  "Initiative is broken.  Here's how to fix it."   IMHO Initiative RAW is NOT broken (even though we don't use it.)  Execution is broken.  Implementation is broken.  But the rule itself is reasonable sound.  All of the "team initiative," "go in order around the table,"  "popcorn," etc. will NOT "fix the problem."

Quick recap:  I'm old.  There were only 48 US states when I was born.  I began playing the 1977 or 78.  Stopped in the mid-80's.  Picked up again about five years ago.  Missed out on 2, 3.5 and 4 but I'm familiar with the rule sets.  And here's the thing - I'm also COMPUTER LITERATE.  And I do NOT understand why more DM's do NOT use a computer to assist running their game.  I'm not talking about on-line players (although in many cases, yes, them too.)  

The idea is to reduce the time spent on simple, repetitive, mundane tasks that detract from player (and DM) enjoyment.  The tabulating and collating of initiative order is a GOLDEN example of this.  No matter what fancy named system you're using at your table it could probably be faster with the use of a laptop to hand basic repetitive computation and collation.

I implemented this procedure three years ago, players love it and I've never had a problem.  It's allowed me to keep a brisk pace during combat while keeping the players involved.  It is VERY adaptable to whatever style of initiative you prefer.  And I'm gonna give it to you free, gratis for the mere price of your continued love, affection and admiration.

Let's start with a bit of background about the homebrew that I manage to run via this sheet.  Hopefully the benefits will be obvious.   We roll initiative every round.  Players roll 3d6 and apply their initiative factor.  Takes seconds.  If they have advantage they roll 4d6b and drop the lowest.  Now to the spreadsheet. Column 1 lists the characters in no particular order.  Further down the column I list (as part of my game prep) the creatures they'll likely be encountering.  I also keep brown bear stats handy because they can stand in for a LOT of things.  Column 2 I enter the players results.  Opponent results are generated by the sheet.  I then apply any encumbrance penalty (because we USE encumbrance rules.)  So now I have a column of numbers generally ranging from 3 to 18, tailored and matched to everyone in the encounter.  

Nothing surprising there.  Any DM might do that.  Simple.  But the NEXT step is where the magic happens.  I apply a little conditional formatting to those numbers.  Whoever goes next is highlighted in green with those on deck in yellow.  When combat hits I can open with "Jutoris, you go first.  Kharkon is next."  Party knows that I don't tell them who's next, it's a critter.  

NOW is where it get's spicy.  Everything that the might do has a cost.  Daggers are fast.  Crossbows are slow.  Etc.  And you can't do everything at once.  So let's say Jutoris goes first.  He does his thing (be it moving, casting, or any other action.)  The cost of that thing goes in column 3.  Column 2 reflects that cost and the number goes down.  The conditional formatting then changes Kharkon to green (next) and whatever initiative is next to yellow.  I'll describe Jutorus' action/outcome, mention which player is on deck (if one IS) and then proceed to Kharkon.  Jutorus is NOT done and doesn't know when he will be up next. All players have to maintain focus on the situation because they aren't sure when they'll be called upon to act.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

We do more but for the purpose of THIS post that's all that matters.  Once everyone has done all of their things in the action economy we re-roll and fire it up again.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  Player involvement and agency.  Cinematic action resolution.  Quicker combat.  And crunchy rule implementation.