NP Comic for Tuesday, Apr 18, 2023

[Darth Fluffy 302]

NP Comic for Tuesday, Apr 18, 2023

How did those people happen to know to drop down just then? Why weren't they focused on their cult's ceremony? Weren't the large holes in the ceiling obvious? Did the party get a spot check?

It's a D20, Ellen.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Isn't combat initiative established by adding and comparing basic attributes, certain skills, advantages, disadvantages, surprise, encumbrance, fatigue and position before then rolling to modify that total to simulate the uncertainty of battle?

And is a roll where the highest, lowest and every result in between has exactly a five percent chance of appearing really preferable to a roll of multiple dice where a natural bell curve is the more likely result?

[mlooney 3,417]

In D&D 5e, initiative is a flat d20 roll, plus modifiers based on the character's dexterity and possible feats. In "Rules as written" it's thrown once per encounter.  The DMG has an option of rolling initiative at the start of every round.  My group uses this.  Initiative is one of the rules that changes in fairly major ways between versions of D&D. 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

14 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Isn't combat initiative established by adding and comparing basic attributes, certain skills, advantages, disadvantages, surprise, encumbrance, fatigue and position before then rolling to modify that total to simulate the uncertainty of battle?

And is a roll where the highest, lowest and every result in between has exactly a five percent chance of appearing really preferable to a roll of multiple dice where a natural bell curve is the more likely result?

I'm not familiar with the current rules. 3.5 simplified the basic initiative stat as a derivative stat, but yes, all that you mention could be taken into account, depending on if the game you were playing was actively tracking encumbrance and fatigue and other distractions. (I've also been in a game where the party was surprised because the players had been arguing while a foe crept up. That did not logically follow, yet seemed oddly fair . . .)

A bell curve seems like it would model actual response time in a highly controlled situation. What we have is a base initiative (a spike) and a linear die roll modelling w chaotic situation that included response time (the spike) but also accounts for a myriad of distractions, a branch in the face you have to push aside, checking on the other characters, ducking for cover, . . .

What it really models poorly, at least as of 3.5 is how fast someone with combat experience recovers. Essentially in D&D 3.5, they don't. Once initiative is rolled, it is established for the entire battle. In truth, even if caught flat footed for a round, a veteran will recover and perform more quickly than a green troop. Less hesitation.

 

[mlooney 3,417]

25 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Essentially in D&D 3.5, they don't. Once initiative is rolled, it is established for the entire battle.

That's RAW for 5e as well.  I don't recall if 3.x had the option of rolling every round or not.