Investigating Initiative

    Initiative is an odd subject when it comes to most roleplaying games. It is kind of a jarring mechanic, removing entirely the pretense of being your character for a game rules. Most board games feature a roll off to see who starts play, from Settlers of Catan (First edition 1995 - Fifth edition 2015) to Backgammon (Origin ~3000 BC). This is done to randomize one of the few ways you can earn an advantage in turn based play, the first move. I won't be explaining rules in detail with all the intricacies but we will cover some rules and how I view them from both sides of the referee screen. I'll loosely follow my game history with Iron Kingdoms, Pathfinder, 5e D&D, then B/X. I'll finish with a look at Chainmail, which I'm not too familiar with but my curiosity is raised. 

    From Iron Kingdoms (2012) "At the start of a battle, each character rolls 2d6 and adds his Initiative plus any applicable bonuses. Players roll initiative for their characters, and the Game Master rolls initiative for nonplayer characters. If two or more characters end up with the same initiative values, they should roll again to determine who goes first, second, and so on." 2d6 + Initiative + Bonuses = Initiative Value. We see at its core you are just rolling some dice and adding a modifier. The modifier helps characters feel unique, with your stats directly helping you. Initiative doesn't change during the combat, a lucky (or unlucky) roll will stick with you for the rest of the fight. Also note that a tie results in repeated rolls until no ties are left. When I was a player in this the DM had a dry erase board he wrote our initiative out on in a line, then organized them in a column once he had all the data. It didn't take long, and as a player we were always amped for combat so we wouldn't notice if it did.

    From Pathfinder(2009) "At the start of a battle, each combatant makes an initiative 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). If two or more combatants have the same initiative check result, the combatants who are tied act in order of total initiative modifier (highest first). If there is still a tie, the tied characters should roll to determine which one of them goes before the other." D20 + Dexterity modifier + Other modifier = Initiative. Going back in time a few years from Iron Kingdoms we can see where the groundwork was set. Mechanically it's the same, roll dice add bonuses and record the numbers. We also see that high rolls are good, initiative doesn't change, and no ties are possible. Take note we also see just how crunchy Pathfinder is, with some actions changing initiative. Pathfinder also has rules for being "Flat-Footed" which boil down to "Not only does the enemy go first but you are also easier to hit."

    From D&D 5e Wiki (2014) "Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. The GM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time. The GM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Dexterity check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round. If a tie occurs, the GM decides the order among tied GM-controlled creatures, and the players decide the order among their tied characters. The GM can decide the order if the tie is between a monster and a player character. Optionally, the GM can have the tied characters and monsters each roll a d20 to determine the order, highest roll going first." D20 + Dexterity Modifier = Initiative. Mechanically the roll is the same as Pathfinder, you can still earn additional modifiers to this roll from options during character creation. Again the numbers don't change, and in the event of a tie someone makes the call on who goes first. Where the rules get interesting is that now the Game Master will have a group of creatures act at the same time, as a team. This helps make combat feel more Us-against-Them. You won't watch as the GM moves one figure at a time against you, but as all the creatures attack as one. Players still, all roll initiative individually. 

    From B/X (1981) "To determine initiative, each side rolls 1d6 (the DM rolls for the monsters). The side with the higher roll may move first and attack first in combat for that round. If both sides roll the same number, the DM may either have both sides roll again, or may consider movement and combat for both sides to occur at the same time (known as simultaneous combat). The side "with the initiative" has the first choice of actions. Members of that side may choose to fight, run, throw a spell, take defensive positions and wait to see what the other side does, start talking, or do anything else that the players or DM can imagine. If combat occurs, the side with the initiative always strikes first in that round. Both sides should roll for initiative each round. If both sides tie on their initiative rolls, and combat is simultaneous, it is possible for both sides to be killed!" 1d6 vs 1d6, Highest roll wins Initiative. Wow, these are drastically different rules than we have seen so far. First, it is now Side-VS-Side. Players will act as one team, as will the monsters. If the rolls match (on average 1 in every 6) combat happens at the same time, possibly having combatants kill each other. We now also roll initiative every round of combat, meaning it's possible for a side to attack twice in a row if they lose then win initiative. I feel that these rules help reinforce a feeling of teamwork with the players. Coordination of attacks is important, you don't want everyone to attack the same monster during simultaneous initiative because if the first blow is a killing blow the rest of the attacks simply strike the body as it falls to the ground. For the first time we see Simultaneous Initiative being possible, largely because a fight follows a Combat Sequence. This was the rule that caused me to think "This is a whole new game" when I first read it and why it is the name of this blog. I will also point out a rule from B/X listed as optional, "PAIR COMBAT (optional): The DM may chose to roll initiative for each character and the monsters he or she is fighting instead of for each side. If this is done, character's Dexterity scores are used to adjust the initiative die rolls. The DM may wish to adjust the monsters' initiative for monsters that are very fast." This is where the expected rule in later editions comes from. Dexterity gives up to a +2 bonus or -2 Penalty, and when dealing with individual initiative we see other rules from the Expert book detailing that some weapons swing last no matter the roll.

    From Chainmail 3rd Edition (1975) "1. Both opponents roll a die; the side with the higher score has the choice of electing to move first (Move) or last (Counter-move).""Steps 1 through 6 are repeated throughout the remainder of the game." Here is where we see the president for the 1d6 vs 1d6 in B/X. We also see that you roll at the start of the turn sequence every turn, just like rolling every round of combat. An interesting observation is the option to Counter-move and force your opponent to act first. 

    Now that we have looked at some history of initiative, lets look at some mechanics I don't have experience with and the observations I have from the sidelines. In 2017 Mike Mearls produced "Greyhawk Initiative" (I'm unsure if this has anything to do with original Greyhawk or if its only in the name). With this system you declare what you're doing before the round starts, such as casting a spell, attacking, moving and attacking, etc. and then all at once everyone rolls varying amounts of dice to determine who acts on those actions first. This seems like a great idea, keeping a fog-of-war during combat with players not really knowing what will happen from the time they start casting a spell to the time when it is ready to be let loose. Another similar method I have read on over the years (but have never tried myself, nor can I find it online now) is to "build up" initiative. Faster actions roll smaller sized dice, slow actions roll higher sized dice with everyone keeping a running total and whoever has the lowest take a turn.

    I'll close out with some final thoughts and how my homebrew handles initiative. Initiative is a very important rule to consider, as it can help define team dynamics or a feeling of being a unique hero in a battle. Both types have advantages depending on the feeling of the game you want, for OSR style games with big groups of players and retainers I would recommend leaning into the wargame roots by using Side-Vs-Side initiative. If you are running a game where you don't have large groups on both sides I feel individual is a better way to go, making each character (and player) feel important for a few moments as you go around the table. In my homebrew Reave all combat is simultaneous following a combat sequence. Both sides declare spell casting, then both declare and roll for missile fire, both then declare movement before melee is resolved and finally the spells are cast. This makes combat feel very chaotic, with enemies and allies moving around the battle at the same time. My players have always been very engaged with every phase of a fight, never getting time to pull a phone out of their pocket. 

Let me know what kind of initiative systems you prefer, or if I messed up anything in this post.