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Efficient initiative tool?

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 7:38 am
by ocaisceti94
Perhaps nothing like what I'm about to describe exists, and I'm wasting my time. However, I think it's worth posing the question, because if something like it does exist I definitely want to use it.

I hate rolling initiative and getting my players to roll initiative. I've overcome some of this by prerolling initiative for my NPCs well before the session, during prep, but that only solves half my problem. When combat starts I still have to say to players, "Okay everyone give me a Cool/Vigilance check," then take all those results and fit them in with the NPC rolls I already have. It takes about a minute to coordinate, which isn't long, but in my mind it kills the momentum and excitement.

What I want to be able to do is push a button and generate initiative for everyone - PCs and NPCs alike. I want a tool where I can have my players' initiative skills pre-entered, along with the initiative skills for my NPCs, and then reach over to my laptop and hit the "Roll Initiative" button the minute I tell my players they've engaged in combat. It would need to be something that could be altered on the fly (e.g., I add another minion group to the encounter, the players bring along an NPC I hadn't planned on, somebody gets a boost die, etc.), but it seems like if a tool like the one I'm describing exists that would be part of it anyway.

I have zero programming experience. If something like this does not exist, I do not have the skills to make it. But if something like this does exist, or a tool that I could repurpose to do what I've described, I would like to know about it!

Re: Efficient initiative tool?

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 9:22 am
by wolph42
hi, the answer is both yes and maybe no.
Yes: there exist macros that roll initiative for all in one click, many frameworks have these.
No: its not clear to me what system you're using and thsu whether there exists an init tool specifically for that system

however, regardless of the answer its really simple to setup and requires little programming skills.

on the campaign panel you can create a macro with a right mouse click and add new macro
in the macro panel you turn on 'apply to selected tokens' and turn off 'allow players to edit macro'.

Assuming that you roll a d100 and the highest goes first:

then the macro would be:

Code: Select all

[h: roll = 1d100]
[h: addToInitiative(0, roll)]
[h: sortInitiative(1)]
If the lowest goes first than replace the 1 for a 0 in the sortinit.

this method is hugely inefficient and could be done much better, but it really doesn't matter in this case. Every token that is selected will run this macro.