Initiative

[Saeval]

A few questions about Initiative.

1 - Is there a way to prevent combatants from drawing the same initiative number?

2 - Is there a way to group enemies of a similar type to use the same number (similar to Savage Worlds initiative tracker)?

3 - What do you do with the creatures that have a speed rating higher than 1 that get multiple actions per round but their slow and fast action pairs are supposed to be on different numbers so as not to overwhelm the party?

In game I know they draw multiple cards but that's hard to do with the one initiative spot coded into the combat tracker. I have no easy solution to this last one since it's more of overcoming the current programming setup and allow them to have multiple numbers for initiative. Maybe just have the slots for 1-10 on the tracker and allow you to drag and drop combatants into their initiative slot and be able to drop the same creature into more than one spot if need be. it would be a little more tedious for the GM to start an encounter but once it's done you don't "draw" initiative again in the same fight so it should go smoothly after setup. With sufficient coding you may even be able to hit a button to switch initiative slots with a targeted enemy by spending successes just like extra damage.

I'm loving this system and I'm so glad someone is working on bringing this game to Fantasy grounds so I would like to help anyway I can with testing certain elements or putting forth some ideas of ways to make things work more closely to the original rules. I wish I knew how to code so I could be of more use but that stuff is beyond me lol

Another thing I just thought of for a quality of life improvement down the road (if it's not already possible and I just don't know how) is the ability to undo what you chose for successes until the GM applies the attack. Like if they clicked knockdown but instead just wanted to do an additional point of damage they can undo their chosen success and apply it to extra damage then the GM can apply the whole thing once they're satisfied.

[Valyar]

A few questions about Initiative.

1 - Is there a way to prevent combatants from drawing the same initiative number?

2 - Is there a way to group enemies of a similar type to use the same number (similar to Savage Worlds initiative tracker)?

3 - What do you do with the creatures that have a speed rating higher than 1 that get multiple actions per round but their slow and fast action pairs are supposed to be on different numbers so as not to overwhelm the party?

Hi Saeval, answering in the same order :)

1. At the moment there is no enforcement on duplicate initiative and if GM does not want actors to be on same one, manual re-roll is needed. I often run actors of same type (this links to your next question nicely :) ) on same initiative so this is why for now there is no enforcement. I found very weird the FL approach of initiative caps and many times this didn't work with large battles, therefore no restriction here to facilitate more play styles. I also know groups (and me included) that replaced the dice with different size one or even used Agility/Dexterity/Mobility to create the order.

2. No, but this is great suggestion to organize the CT for actors on same initiative. I will add to the list of features we will explore for the next release.

3. In the manual I put suggestion how to handle that with "dummy" actor and using the names to distinguish who is who. In CT each NPC actor is instance of an object and I couldn't find way to have reference links like we have with PCs. Not the most convenient approach, but it does the work when you have encounters with such creatures.

We will look into the other suggestions for sure.

[Saeval]

I would actually be all for having an alternate initiative setting that we can choose from in the options. Currently the card draw is not popular with my group so we changed it to 2d6 + wits or agility which they enjoy more.

Using a dummy name in the CT for multiple actions is one of those solutions that’s just so elegantly simple lol I never would have thought of that and while it might be a bit tedious for now it will work just fine until something else comes along.