So in an attempt to put players on group initiative but keep individual initiative rolls important, I've come up with this:
All players roll initiative like normal. Each group goes with the highest roll for their group. Modify the rolls based on the situation (as you would with a skill check) such as a penalty for not being ready, a bonus for planning an ambush ahead of time, etc.
Your total determines how prepared you are for the first round (all subsequent rounds are normal)
DC 20 - If your total is higher than 20, you get an extra move action in the first round.
DC 10 - If your total is higher than 10, you act normally, if your total is 10 or lower however you only have your one standard action (which you could use to move) and you are considered flat-footed until the next round.
It's a quick and dirty rule so it could really use some polishing. It works in most cases, but I have this nagging feeling that this rule might be abused with certain builds or might leave some characters underwhelmed. Suggestions?
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Q: What problem is this intended to solve?
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It looks like a solution trying to find a problem. It is easier to track init to me. I let my players handle initiative when I GM so it is one less thing I have to do. There is also this init tracker that use to be about 10 dollars. All you need is a marker. You move the labels up or down as needed to reorder init if someone delays.
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I have a Paizo-made magnetic init tracker tracker from the 3.5 days that rocks pretty hard. Works with wet erase pens too. Very simple and awesome.
Ah, the good old adage "If it aint broke, don't fix it"...
I know most people get past it and that's fine, but why not improve on something that is at times awkward? I can't seriously be the only person on this board that's found it fiddly at times.
What does this fix?
* No one has to track initiative. Which is better than relying on another person or buying product to announce turn order. Instead it's Players go then enemies go, nothing to remember there.
* Players can collaborate as a group and move as a group, something players usually like to do anyway. The players are more engaged with each other and you're less likely to have someone zone out as they wait for their turn (YMMV).
* When a player rolls a bad roll, they don't feel like crap sitting at the bottom of initiative for the rest of the battle.
Overall, it's more of a personal taste that lightens the tracking, brings more collaboration, and thus improves the general mood at my table. I was only asking if there might be something that I overlooked that might turn this rule into a game breaker in a later date.
We did not know why you were doing it, so it is hard to say what you missed without knowing the goal.
With this information I would take away the penalties for rolling low, and bonus for rolling high.
I made the bonus mistake a few years back. Every player in the group had a +15(minimum) to initiative, and the bad guy did not get to go, which is normally what happens anyway when you have an init happy party.
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There's no point to initiative in this case, however.
Take the PC with the highest Dex. Take the enemy with the highest Dex.
Flip a coin. Whichever team wins goes first
It has the same result.
I'm also not certain what difference it really makes if you're sitting on the bottom in most cases. You're sitting bored waiting for everyone else to finish their turns if you go first as well. Or second. Third. Fourth. Etc., etc., ad nauseam.
But that's off topic. You're making it too complicated.
Make a coin flip, bam Initiative. None of this "Extra actions and/or potential for Staggered and Flat-Footed" nonsense. I bet your Dex 12 Full Plate wearing Paladin will thank you when 40% of the time he can't act normally on the first round.
Ah, the good old adage "If it aint broke, don't fix it"...
* No one has to track initiative. Which is better than relying on another person or buying product to announce turn order. Instead it's Players go then enemies go, nothing to remember there.
I wrote a simple rpg to play with my daughter, and this is exactly what i did. Except there is no roll at all. Heroes go first in any order, monsters go next, repeat.
I'll I'd say is that there's the potential oddity of a group, that had no way of anticipating it, getting the extra actions against their ambushers. Or the ambushers roll under 10.
And then, well, if it's group initiative... what determines who goes first between the groups?
And lastly, if it's group initiative with no set order for the PCs' turns, hope that no one tries to take the spotlight every combat. Or that they plan around a specific order to combo the enemies (not necessarily a bad thing, but...).
Group initiative can lead to better teamwork... or to arguing.
You know, Star Wars Saga Edition has Initiative as a skill. I always found that interesting.
Block initiative is sort of an issue in a game where action enconmy really matters. 4-5 players all going to go before the enemy usually ends up with a much easier encounter, and if all the enemies in larger encounters go before the players you end up with a much harder encounter. Whenever there happens to end up a block initiative (where all one side goes then all of the other) it has generally been a serious problem in the encounter.
Participants getting to react amidst enemy actions is generally pretty important to the flow of a good encounter. I would expect this to create a lot more problems then it fixes.