Base Initiative and Tidal Initiative

On The Initiative System
by Shea C. Reinke

Originally posted on the Wizards of the Coast website
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19572374/Base_Initiative_and_Tidal_Initiative?post_id=332690494#332690494

The act of determining who goes first, who goes last, and who gets what done before who is called Initiative. Like attack actions, Initiative is an IF roll that all meta-games have some kind of rule for. The rules for Initiative interact with all of the concepts of time in the game. How you use Initiative, how you rule Initiative, has a significant impact on how your games are played. There are many, many, many ways to play with Initiative, in this article I will review the basics. I will also play with the rules a little bit, with optional rules and a tidal Initiative

SRD D20 Core System Initiative

In SRD D20 Initiative is determined on one of two very similar ways. Like most systems you have a collective Initiative IF roll. IF, or Interactive Function, being my term (a very short term) for an opposed or contested roll. A roll that does not have static DC. Your D20 Initiative IF is: 1d20 + Dexterity Modifier + Initiative Bonus. All participants in the combat situation must roll before they can take an action in the turn sequence. If, they do not roll Initiative, then how are you supposed to know when they go?

The core system uses a static Initiative method that requires all characters in a combat situation determine their Initiative at the start of a scenario with an IF roll, and then places all of the participants in to a sequence. Most dungeon masters use some sort of table, either impromptu or pregenerated, to record this sequence for easy reference throughout the scenario. Once this sequence is generated, in the default method, it stays static. The sequence set at the begging of the scenario is maintained throughout, and only the special Initiative actions, delay and ready, allow participants to change their place in that sequence.

Dynamic Initiative is an optional rule that has all of the participants in a combat event roll Initiative IFs prior to the first action of every round. Using dynamic Initiative creates a sense of unpredictability in combat that many groups enjoy, however you must sacrifice the simplicity of static Initiative and some of the utility of the special Initiative actions. With static Initiative you can spend one turn delaying, putting yourself at a particular place on the sequence, and expect to retain that position for the remainder of the scenario. With dynamic Initiative you are "wasting" a turn to go first on the next round with no assurance of going first on the round after.


Ties, Surprise, and Special Initiative Actions

Ties and Surprise are the most commonly faced Initiative issues. If one or more of the participants in a combat scenario are unaware of what is going on at the beginning of combat (or round with dynamic Initiative) you find yourself in a Surprise round. The Surprised characters roll initiative, but they remain flat-footed until their turn. If the Surprised participants are still unaware of what is happening around them when it comes to their turn in the sequence they may attempt to observe, and figure out that their in combat, or they may continue to act as if nothing is happening (remaining "Surprised" and flat-footed). Combat actions happen at a much more rapid pace than non-combat actions. So a character that does not know that that they are in combat is not likely to take a combat worthy action. Particularly move at a their full combat rate.

A tie in Initiative sequence is resolved by comparing the total Initiative bonuses of the tied characters. If those numbers are equal then they must IF against each other. The IF does not effect their place in the larger Initiative sequence, only their relative Initiative sequence. Its like rolling Initiative just for that one turn in the round. Later in this article I will suggest an optional rule for dealing with ties in a different manner, but the core systems work very well to resolve Initiative ties simply. Of course, with dynamic Initiative resolving ties must be done every round, further multiplying the number of Initiative rolls that you need to make to get through a round.

Delay and ready are the two, very similar, special Initiative actions. Both delay and ready allow you to designate another spot on the Initiative sequence to take your turn. Delay is a free action, and ready is a move equivalent action. To delay you must state a specific point in the sequence that you are going to act, whereas with ready you can declare a specific event that will trigger your action. There is a common optional Initiative action called observe the scene. Observing the scene is a full round action that allows you to reroll your initiative with a +10 or +20 Initiative bonus to the roll. A simpler method that achieves a similar result in both static and dynamic Initiative is to delay until the bottom of the round, aka the top of the next.

Optional Initiative Rules

Reroll Ties Every Round

In static Initiative, instead of resolving ties at the beginning of the scenario, you can allow the ties to remain a point of contention. Every round the tied characters declare the action they want to do, and if one of their actions needs to happen before the other (say they are opponents in melee) then they IF roll. If their actions do not compete for timing (say they are flanking a shared enemy) it is simple enough to allow them to take their actions at effectively the same time. Courtesy and player readiness should be enough to determine which player will actually declare and roll first.

"I'll get him next round, you'll see! Somebody cast cat's grace on me!"

Damage allocation at the End of the Round

Six seconds is a very short time. In a number of movies we have seen a character take a mortal blow and continue to act for a moment. It takes a few seconds for the body to realize that it isn't working anymore. In that light you could have the effect of damage (in this case a character dropping below 0) be delayed until the end of the round. With this rule characters will not change their mind as often in combat. There are many times when I have been planning on hitting a monster, but the turn right before mine an ally has killed the beast. The dungeon master promptly declares "and he falls" leaving me with the opportunity to, in a split second, switch tactics and strike another character. Damage allocation at the end of the round adds a little bit of suspense to combat.

"34 damage!? That one should take him down, right?"

Declare First and Act at the Same Time

The first suggestion I have for alternate Initiative rules is actually not very different, as far as the rules are concerned. The difference is in the playing. I call it declare first and act at the same time. The idea being that six seconds is not a very long time. Part of having a higher Initiative is the idea of the idea that your character is more "on top of things" than the other characters. Declare first and act at the same time is a method that gives the high Initiative spot a better view of what they want to do on their turn by forcing the participants with lower Initiatives to declare their actions first.

Starting with the character that rolled the lowest on their Initiative, have each participant declare what their action is going to be and discuss, but do not roll, the DC. This way the characters with higher Initiatives will have the benefit of foresight when declaring their actions. When the highest Initiative finishes declaring their action, everyone rolls at once. All the DCs have already been set so everyone knows what they are rolling for, and hopefully the players will help each other track their successes and failures while the dungeon master makes all the rolls for the NPCs.

If one action interferes with another action saves, concentration checks, or spot Initiative checks can be made to resolve the outcome. In real life sometimes things happen so quickly that you take actions that you wouldn't want to. Giving a character a spot Initiative check to change their previously declared action captures that idea. The DC for that spot check is their own Initiative sequence. They must IF against themselves to change their momentum mid action, in less than six seconds. If the character fails to achieve their set Initiative in the spot Initiative check then they must take the action they were intending as well as they can.

"I was going to hit the orc, but it fell down, so I did 9 damage to the wall by accident."

Tidal Initiative

Somewhere between static and dynamic Initiative is my idea of tidal Initiative. Tidal Initiative requires fewer IF rolls than dynamic Initiative, and creates a more fluid, and unpredictable, combat environment. I use the declare first and act all at once method when I use tidal Initiative, but it is not an integral component. Part of tidal Initiative is the designation of Initiative zones. As you might expect, you want to be in the zone. Tidal Initiative is an option that works well with groups that keep track of higher ground bonuses, and know how to use flanking to their advantage.

To get started, tidal Initiative works the same way that static Initiative does. You roll once for all the participants at the start of the conflict. Any time anything significant happens to alter the scene, such as the entrance of new combatants into the conflict, the group rerolls the open Initiative IF. Tidal Initiative has a number of additional special Initiative actions that make your Initiative sequence more malleable. Such as divide enemies and work together. Zones, zone bonuses, and a tidal Initiative bonus add consequences beyond the order of action to the Initiative sequence.

With tidal Initiative there is an additional Initiative bonuses to keep track of and additional bonuses to actions determined by your Initiative zone. The tidal Initiative bonus is applied to your Initiative IFs. Each participant in a combat scenario receives a tidal bonus to Initiative equal to the number of warm bodies on your side (incorporeals and constructs, while not always warm, are still counted for this purpose). Swarms and hordes will almost always get high Initiative when using tidal Initiative. This is intended to reflect the way that overwhelming numbers can control a combat situation. Hordes and large military forces should be subdivided into combat "squads" of no more than 25, when determining tidal Initiative bonuses.


There are three tidal Initiative zones
The teamwork zone, the pointman zone, and the underdog zone.

When allies are acting on the same Initiative turn they are in the teamwork zone. Characters in the teamwork zone receive a competence bonus on all checks equal to the number of allies in the zone with them, including themselves. This competence bonus applies to all attacks, saves, and checks, and it stacks with any other morale or competence bonuses.

The character that has the highest Initiative total is in the pointman zone. Only one character can be in the pointman zone at one time unless allies are creating a teamwork zone in the pointman zone. If you are in the pointman zone you may take a -4 penalty to your action to influence the flow of combat. If you succeed at the action you attempt (with the -4) you give your allies a +4 morale bonus on their actions that round, alternatively you may give your enemies a -4 on all their actions that round.

If a character has the lowest Initiative total, and no ally shares that Initiative spot, they are in the underdog zone. A character in the underdog zone receives their tidal bonus to Initiative to any social IF rolls they attempt to make. Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidation checks are made best when you are following behind the tide. The character in the underdog zone can also choose to take a special tidal Initiative action called break the tide.

There are four special tidal Initiative actions
Work together, divide enemies, race point, and break the tide.

Work Together: When two characters are allies and they are not in a teamwork zone they may attempt to work together. Working together is a move equivalent action that changes your Initiative sequence by two. You move two steps closer to the Initiative spot of the ally you are trying to work together with.

Divide Enemies: You can take a standard action on your turn to disrupt your enemies teamwork zone. When you attempt to divide enemies you take any normal attack, or social IF action that could distract or demoralize your enemies. Apply a -4 penalty to this action, and if you succeed with the action you have also succeeded in shifting your target enemy's Initiative sequence by three in any direction.

Race Point: As a full round action you may attempt to change your Initiative to the pointman zone. You make an Initiative IF roll that is resisted by the current character in the pointman zone's Initiative IF roll. If you win then the Initiative sequence does not change, but your spot in the sequence is considered the top of the round (all "end of round" effects and abilities such as regeneration or full round action spells are delayed or accelerated accordingly). If you fail nothing happens, and your Initiative sequence does not change.

Break the Tide: Only a character in the underdog zone may attempt to break the tide. Breaking the tide is a full round action that is a special level check modified by your tidal bonus. Roll 1d20 + ECL + tidal bonus vs a DC equal to the tidal bonus of your enemies. If you succeed your enemies tidal bonus is reduced by 4, and the entire field must reroll Initiative.

In Conclusion,

There you are, a quick overview of the core system Initiative rules, a few minor optional rules and methods, and a full sail tidal Initiative system. I hope that this analysis of timing inspires, or at least amuses, you and your play group. I have always like the declare first and act later system ever since I read about it in an old D&D 1st ed. book (of course, that set recommended that only one player actually get to talk to the dungeon master). I hope that the tidal Initiative system works as well for you as it has for me. Lastly, I encourage you to not only role play and roll play, but to rule play as well.

Tidal Initiative Reseach result 1

"End of Round Initiative"

This stand alone optional component for D20 strengthens the feel of simultaneous actions during a six second combat round.
It has not been playtested for safety.


A Review of Action and Initiative Terminology

A round is the collection of all the character's turns.

A turn is one character's part in the round.

Full actions require a character's entire turn.

Standard actions all a character to take a move action that turn as well.

A move action allows a character to take a standard action that turn as well.

A move action may be taken in place of a standard action, allowing two move action on a turn.

Each character gets one swift or immediate action per turn that can be taken with any action.

A swift action must be taken on the character's turn, and an immediate action can be taken at any time during the round.

Free actions do not take any time and may be taken whenever available during the round.

The Combat Initiative Check

Dex + Initiative + Highest Morale = The bonus you apply to your initiative check. At the start of a combat characters without a special initiative bonus will have a 0 initiative, but should an initiative check be called for during a round the character applies their current initiative count plus any special initiative bonuses to the check.


End of Round Effects

The result of all actions that occur during the round take effect simultaneously at the end of round.

Most specifically damage does not effect any character until the end of round. A successful skill action taken on the character's Initiative count does not produce a result on that Initiative count, but at the end of round instead. Combat actions such as disarm, trip, or pilfer do not take effect and interfere with the effected character's capabilities until their next turn. A character must make an action such as Aid or Interfer in order to attempt to prevent another character's action during the round.

Initiative Actions

Delay
A Delay allows the character to chose to have their action take effect after end of round and before the begining of the next Initiative countdown, or at any point in the round between their current round and the next. A triggering action, initiative count, or both (whichever comes first) should be declared with the Delay. If the Delay is triggered the character's new initiative count is the proceeding initiative count after the triggering action.

A Delay is a move action, and allows the character to declare their standard action on their new initiative count.

If two character are on the same initiative count for any reason (either beginning of combat, due to Delay, or any other initiative action) the characters make a Free action opposed initiative check. The winner is placed one higher on the initiative count or the loser is placed one lower; winner's option.

Ready
A Ready is a swift action that allows a character to prevent another character's action from taking effect at end of round. When a Ready is declared a triggering action is declared and the character's triggered actions must be declared. The triggered actions may be a full action, a standard and a move action, or a double move action. If the triggering action does not happen the Ready action returns the character to their original initiative count on the next round.

The Ready takes effect on the initiative count immediately preceding the triggering action, and if the Ready action is successful its effects take place instantly. The instant effect of a Ready action may prevent an effected character from taking actions during the round.

The Ready may or may not change the character's initiative count to the count on which the triggered actions took effect; character's option.

Aid
Aid is a standard action that allows a character to contribute to another character's success on an attack roll or skill check. The character must succeed at an initiative check with a DC equal to the targeted character's initiative count. If successful the character targeted by the Aid action gains a +2 circumstance bonus to any attack or skill roll on their round.

Interfere
Interfere is a standard cation that allows a character to detract from another character's success on an attack roll or skill check. The character must succeed at an initiative check with a DC equal to the targeted character's initiative count. If successful the character targeted by the Interfere action takes a -2 circumstance penalty to any attack or skill roll on their round.

Defend
Similar to a ready, a Defend action can prevent another character's action in the round. Delay is a move action that triggers whenever a character's declared allies are attacked. A character that declares a Delay is allowed to attempt an opposed initiative check with the attacking character in order to take a standard action that may prevent the attacking character's action. If the defender wins the character's Defend action takes effect instantly and Defend resets the character's initiative count to the count immediately preceding the attacker's initiative count. If the attacker wins the check Defend resets the character's initiative count to the one immediately proceeding the attacker's, and the defender does not have the ability to interrupt the attacker's action. They do however have the ability to react before end of round.

Unlike Ready Defend does not give the character the option of choosing what initiative count they are placed on. If there are no triggering actions the Defend action returns the character to the original initiative count that the Delay was declared on.

Movement and Attacks of Opportunity

Since movement happens simultaneously with all other actions in the round a character may declare their actions to take effect at any point in the round and therefore at any location along their movement path. Movements that provoke attacks of opportunity do so normally and those attacks are resolved as are other actions; at the end of round.

The Spring Attack feat and similar abilities are no longer needed or function differently with these rules.

Special Initiative Issues

When one character is attempting to catch another character without a sufficient movement rate that would allow the character to outclass the target's manoeuvrability that character may make a contested Initiative check with the targeted character in order for the chasing character's movement to take precedence over the chased. If successful the character is allowed to take twice their full movement action and end their turn with an attack check. Chasing in this fashion does not effect either character's initiative count.

Dueling may also be resolved using a special Initiative Action. Both dueling characters must declare that they are dueling. The dueling characters apply their base attack bonus to the special opposed initiative check, and the winner's attack action takes effect instantly while the loser's action takes effect at the end of round if at all. The character that looses the duel may loose their action if the instant effects of the winner's action prevent the loser's action.

Counterspelling can be treated as a Ready action or a Defend action in accordance with the setting.

Communication

Communication between characters may be instantaneous, or a character may be forced to wait until the next round in order to react to information conveyed from one to another on any given turn in the round. Abilities such as Telepathy, Hivemind, and Empathic Link may be considered to happen instantly while speaking require a Listen check during a round to be understood by other characters.

Another option is to add "handle and push" actions to all of the social skills. Between intelligent creatures the handle and push actions are slightly more complicated. Each skill has its own adjustments and modifiers listed below.

Bluff
Handle: a Bluff DC 15 allows you to communicate normally as a standard action.
The Feint, Diversion, and Secret Message actions are "Push" for Bluff.
Epic: a Bluff DC 30 allows for normal communication over the round as a move action.
Epic: a Bluff DC 60 allows for normal communication over the round as an immediate action.
Epic: a Bluff DC 90 allows for normal communication over the round as a free action.

Diplomacy
A combat Diplomacy Action is usually a full defensive action and has a DC of 10.
"Handle" allows for normal communication over the round as a standard action.
"Push" allows the character to maintain a 10 round attitude adjustment check as a move action.
Epic: a Diplomacy DC 20 allows for normal communication over the round as a move action.
Epic: a Diplomacy DC 40 allows for normal communication over the round as a swift action.
Epic: a Diplomacy DC 80 allows for normal communication over the round as a free action.
Epic: apply a +30 to your attitude adjustment check if you make a hostile action during the 10 rounds.
Epic: apply a +50 to the DC of your attitude adjustment check to reduce the time taken to 2 rounds.

Handle Animal
Handling an intelligent character can convey information in so much as those concepts can be conveyed as tricks.
Pushing an intelligent character is treated as a demoralise opponent Intimidate check of the same result.
Handling is a move action DC 15, and Pushing is a standard action DC 20.
Epic: a Handle Animal DC 30 allows for trick communication as a move action.
Epic: a Handle Animal DC 60 allows for trick communication as an immediate action.
Epic: a Handle Animal DC 90 allows for trick communication as a free action.
Epic: apply a +20 to the DC of a handle check to convey complicated concepts to intelligent creatures.

Intimidate
"Handle" is a move action DC 15 that allows you to give trick style orders to already intimidated characters and allies.
"Push" is the standard action demoralise opponent option.
Epic: a Intimidate DC 30 allows for trick communication as a move action.
Epic: a Intimidate DC 60 allows for trick communication as an immediate action.
Epic: a Intimidate DC 90 allows for trick communication as a free action.
Epic: apply a +10 to the DC of a "handle" check to convey complicated concepts to intelligent creatures.

Perform
A Perform Action is usually a full defensive action, and a performance must be maintained at least 10 rounds to produce gold.
Every 10 rounds of maintaining the performance the character makes an overall check to determine the gold produced.
The "handle" action is a DC 10 move action that allows the character to maintain a performance while taking other actions.
A "push" DC of 20 allows the character to include communication within the performance, but applies a -20 to the overall check to produce gold.
Epic: adding +30 to the DC of the perform check allows a performance to be maintained as a swift action.

Profession
Handling is a DC 10 move action that conveys the necessary directions to maintain a group check like Craft or Heal in combat.
Pushing ia a DC 20 standard action and allows for normal communication over the round while taking other actions.
Epic: a Profession DC 40 allows for normal communication over the round as a move action.
Epic: a Profession DC 60 allows for normal communication over the round as a swift action.
Epic: a Profession DC 80 allows for normal communication over the round as a free action.
Epic: apply a +20 to the DC of a "handle" check to provide a +2 Aid bonus to a character maintaining a group check like Craft or Heal.