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I have been running and coordinating Pathfinder Society scenarios for the past year or two and normally I run things by the book. Recently a few of the judges I've played with have been using an alternate rule for Initiative rolls. Instead of have players roll initiative, they run initiative by what a character's Initiative bonus is and using this to determine the order in which initiative is ran. Example: player one has a initiative bonus of +3, player two has an initiative bonus of +6 and the monster has an initiative of +1. The initiative order would be player two, player one, and then the monster. This is done with no die rolls for initiative. Is this something that is acceptable in the Pathfinder Society? I would assume it isn't but would like an official response before I step in as coordinator and stop it.
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Not an official answer. I think it depends upon the players. If everyone's on-board and doesn't mind, then sure. It's not going to alter the game too drastically. If so much as one person says "I don't like that" then everybody rolls. I certainly would expect him to roll for init if he was GMing at a convention rather than try to sell it to the players. But if his system is known and accepted then I could understand letting it slide. Personally I like to roll. As a GM I always roll. Sometimes I pre-roll because I use index cards for initiative. It can be a time-saver.
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Not an official answer, but I wouldn't like it (unless I were playing a rogue). I think you need the randomness which occurs when the halfling rogue (Init +9) loses to the human oracle (Init -2). I don't even think I'd like it in a home game. I don't even see what it gains versus pre-rolling initiative for the monsters. You're also going to have a bunch of +1 and +2 values, how do they determine the order between them?
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At the start of a battle, each combatant makes an initiative check. An initiative check is a Dexterity check. Each
character applies his or her Dexterity modifier to the roll, as well as other modifiers from feats, spells, and other effects. Characters act in order, counting down from the highest result to the lowest. In every round that follows, the characters act in the same order (unless a character takes an action that results in his or her initiative changing; see Special Initiative Actions on page 202).
I would say the official answer is the RAW. I don't see anything in the Guide or more specifically Chapter 13 that includes any 'alternative' system for determining initiative. Therefore it is not ok in Organized Play.
Unofficially, even though there's 'nothing wrong' with this alternative it's not what a random walk up player would be expecting and sort of removes the 'excitement' of the random element.
I would say the official answer is the RAW.
This.