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