Probably an easy question, but I had run a game for some friends last night and it ended up with 13 character in initiative and since a good chunk of those characters (7) were identical creatures, I also found it was easy to get confused as to which were going when. Accidentally having a couple go before they were supposed to, forgetting who was next.
I wrote what I could down, but when you have wolf 1, wolf 2, all the way up to wolf 7, it's easy to get them mixed up. Any advice on how to better keep track of so many creatures / characters when running through the initiative chain?
For large groups of identical enemies, it works okay to have them all go on the same initiative count. To avoid huge swings where all the bad guys go either first or last, I usually roll 3d6 for the group's initiative instead of 1d20, though it would also work fine to have them all take 10.
For large groups of identical enemies, it works okay to have them all go on the same initiative count. To avoid huge swings where all the bad guys go either first or last, I usually roll 3d6 for the group's initiative instead of 1d20, though it would also work fine to have them all take 10.
Grouping a bunch of like creatures together sounds reasonable. I may give that a try. I can see how the big swings would be a thing though.
Thanks for the advice.
I also have identical creatures go on the same initiative. Don’t worry so much about characters going first or last. Who goes first is only really important in the first turn. After this is basically taking turns going.
Also if you accidently skip a couple of monsters don’t sweat it. Players on the other hand get angry if you skip them. The most important thing in large battles is to keep the action going.
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Probably an easy question, but I had run a game for some friends last night and it ended up with 13 character in initiative and since a good chunk of those characters (7) were identical creatures, I also found it was easy to get confused as to which were going when. Accidentally having a couple go before they were supposed to, forgetting who was next.
I wrote what I could down, but when you have wolf 1, wolf 2, all the way up to wolf 7, it's easy to get them mixed up. Any advice on how to better keep track of so many creatures / characters when running through the initiative chain?
I use different minis even if they are the same creature.
A few times when I have used groups of identical monsters, I put a small circle of white out on the base and then numbered each one. But still, in groups for sure.
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If you have extra dice, you can also mark figures with a die next to them. Assuming you're using miniature figures.
One of my groups uses a dry erase initiative board like this one from Paizo. One player is generally tasked with calling out initiative, and keeping the action streamlined. When I'm doing this, I often warn players that their turn is coming next.
The more players you have, the longer battles will take, simply because of initiative issues. Unless players are actually blocking each other, or their turn might invalidate another player's turn, you can also tell them all to act and roll their attacks, just giving you the run-down once all rolls are made. This can really speed things up, if everybody knows the system and can be trusted not to "fudge" any die rolls.
Say if Wolf leader goes at initative count 21, then Bob goes at 20, Susan at 18 and Youssef at 17 before wolves 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 go at 12, you can allow Bob, Susan and Youssef to all do their rolls simultaneously, as long as they are unlikely to get in each other's way.
I hate it when technical problems like managing intiative slows down combat. Leaves less time for roleplaying.
When I ref I give important NPC's or boss monsters their own initiative. Then I break down the 'mooks' into groups of 3 and they each get their own rolls per group.
But I also use Combat Manager off a laptop to help me with combat. I use an external monitor with the initiative screen feature thrown on it so the players can keep track of the initiative as I go as well.
If I miss something they easily catch it on the screen and remind me. Has only happened a time or two in 6 sessions so far.
I also use unique miniatures for the important NPC's or boss monsters and pieces from old Stratego games for the mooks. The Stratego piece sets are different colors (about 6 colors) and have had construction paper glued to their faces and backs with numbers 1-12 printed on them.
For example I will use Red 1-6 for 6 Skeletons and blue 1-4 for 4 zombies while I use a miniature of an armored skeleton with sword and shield for the Skeletal champion leader.
Makes telling who is who easy. Got the Stratego piece sets at garage sales but you can do the same with the same kind of bases used in Pathfinder pawn sets and your own carboard and markers. Games stores near my house sell those slotted pawn bases on their own for cheap.
If you have multiple similar miniatures or pawns you can number their bases with dots of paint, just like the pips on a standard 6 sided die. If there are 5 ghouls with identical minis I might note them as G1, G2, etc.
One guy I used to play with used plastic "army men" style toys for minis:
-black, white, and grey Ninjas for Large monsters
-yellow, red, green, etc Indians for Huge monsters
It sounded a little silly to say, "I attack the green Indian!", but at least people knew which monster you were going after.
Lots of identical enemies?
Restat them as a Troop!
