0:00
intentionally or not, you have
0:01
reinvented side initiative. The idea of
0:03
side initiative is just the idea that
0:06
players act, then monsters act, and you
0:08
go back and forth. You can absolutely
0:11
play that way, but it does change things
0:13
about your game. Most importantly, like
0:15
initiative modifiers absolutely stop
0:17
mattering. So if someone in your party
0:19
has really high dexterity and someone
0:21
else in your party has really bad
0:23
dexterity, then suddenly that gap no
0:26
longer matters and you're taking away
0:27
one of the big advantages of having high
0:30
dexterity. Now arguably that's fine.
0:32
Dexterity is the best ability score in
0:35
the game and taking things away from it
0:36
won't kill anybody. But you need to make
0:39
sure that your players are okay with
0:41
that. You need to make sure everyone at
0:42
the table is okay otherwise you're
0:44
invalidating choices that your players
0:46
are making. Side initiative also comes
0:48
with some inherent risks of like what
0:51
happens on any given group's turn. It is
0:54
entirely possible that the players will
0:56
focus down specific enemies and make the
0:59
encounter so simple so quickly that it's
1:02
very difficult to challenge them.
1:04
Conversely, if the monsters go first or
1:06
if there's a bunch of monsters up at the
1:08
end of all of the players turns, then
1:10
the monsters can effectively do the same
1:12
thing and do so much damage to the party
1:15
that they have to spend their entire
1:16
turn recovering or just running away.
1:19
So, side initiative can absolutely work
1:22
in Dn D, but you need to go in
1:23
cleareyed. You need to set expectations
1:25
with your party and you need to be
1:27
prepared for those big swings in combat
1:30
just because so much stuff is going to
1:33
happen on either side of the table all
