Is having all party high in initiative a good thing?

[HumbleGamer]

Hi there,

I was thinking about a Catfolk rogue with Oracle Dedication "Battle".

By lvl 12 it would be able to

-Avoid Notice + Scout activity
-Scout +2 circ bonus because of Incredible Scout General Feat ( this will save party members from taking improved initiative feat or similar ).
-On initiative roll, it will be using Call to arms, giving +3 status initiative

The total bonus would be from +3 to +5 ( depends the level ), but I am not sure if it would be worth it.

Would it a good thing to have the whole party before ( or eventually after ) the enemies? Or would be better to have them mixed up?

[mrspaghetti]

HumbleGamer wrote:

Hi there,

I was thinking about a Catfolk rogue with Oracle Dedication "Battle".

By lvl 12 it would be able to

-Avoid Notice + Scout activity
-Scout +2 circ bonus because of Incredible Scout General Feat ( this will save party members from taking improved initiative feat or similar ).
-On initiative roll, it will be using Call to arms, giving +3 status initiative

The total bonus would be from +3 to +5 ( depends the level ), but I am not sure if it would be worth it.

Would it a good thing to have the whole party before ( or eventually after ) the enemies? Or would be better to have them mixed up?

I can't think of any disadvantage to having your party go first.

[NielsenE]

You can always choose to delay if tactically it makes more sense, but you can't choose to go faster if you're slow.

There is the sometimes bad instinct of 'if I win initiative I have to make it count' that leads people to rushing in when it doesn't make sense. Often making the enemy spend their actions to close is worth while.

[thenobledrake]

If the whole party goes before their enemies, you've got the best chances of taking one or more enemies out of the fight before they get to take any actions - so yes, it is a good thing for the whole party to have high initiative.

[Arachnofiend]

The whole party going first is pretty much ideal, really. If all players go before all enemies then you can then sort yourselves through delays (controllers/blasters go first) for the most effective turn one possible before any enemy-side disruption can occur.

[Ascalaphus]

I would advise the whole party to invest in some kind of opening round ranged attack capability. Something that doesn't interfere with the weapons you want to have ready when enemies close in for melee. That way, you can let them come to you but get some value out of going first.