The initiative is the most annoying issue of DND and I tried to fix it

Dungeons & Dragons is a great game that offers endless hours of creative fun, but I feel that some of the rules of the game are actively trying to adhere to making you have that fun. In my endless quest to make combat more dynamic and tolerate spending time in the game, I often start by looking at that first step: the initiative. D&D initiatives determine the order in which players and monsters or NPCs act in battle. In theory, all participants should add a dexterous score by rolling them. Player's character's party is usually made up of at least four, and often fights groups of monsters. Of course, today there are apps and digital tools that help with that, but I'm an old-fashioned guy and like to analog as much as possible when playing games. (Only recently I switched to digital note keeping and campaign tracking. I'll admit that, it's better, but still feel wrong.) Last week, while watching the 2014 Dungeon Master Manual, I stumbled over the amazing Chapter 9: Dungeon Master options. I've listed alternative options for handling initiatives in combat and they all offer good ones, but no one felt that it would fix the issues I'm having completely. Luckily I still had one inspiration point so I rerolled the failed intelligence check and got the idea. Why not mix these variants and create your own variations? I started with the Side Initiative rules (which will also be used in future RPGs from Draw Steel and MCDM Productions). If it is a side turn, members can act in the order they choose. Of course, this makes everything easier, but I didn't like the fact that the sides didn't get a bonus on their rolls. Even very fast monsters lose roll-offs, allow characters to gang-rape, stack attacks and spells, ruining hard plan encounters. So I added two rules. First, each side gets a bonus on the roll based on the best dexterity bonus among the members (it makes sense that quick characters and monsters can instruct others to follow). Second, repeat each round of battle. This means that in theory, neither side should get an unfair advantage. Let's face it, these people need all the help they can get an image: the next variant of the wizard book on the coast is the speed factor. Expert players usually use their knowledge of initiative orders to inform their decisions in combat, giving them even more advantages than those poor monsters. In this variant, you must select an action before each character or monster can roll for the initiative (this is done every turn). Actions and bonus actions can be selected normally during the round, but players and monsters must either use the action they declared or perform the action at all. This adds an element of unpredictability, allowing players to adapt and think on the fly. However, this variant also introduces “speed coefficients” that change initiative rolls, such as casting spells and using weapons of the type used, keeping the initiative score secret until the DM drops from 30 at the start of the round. These sounds become complicated and there's even more time wasted (I play D&D here instead of bingo), so I removed them and kept only the “declaring your actions” part. In the end, I left the following initiative house rules. At the start of the round, each player must declare which action the character will perform (bonus and move actions are declared during the turn as normal). DMs do the same with monsters. Write down the monster's actions on paper, or declare them to make the player easier or harder to combat. It's up to you and adds flexibility. The player then makes one initiative roll on his side and adds the best dexterity modifier available. DMs do the same with monsters. Once everyone is acting, we'll go back to the Declarative Action Step. Image: Coast Wizard/Hasbro This system makes things easier for me as a DM as there is no need to track individual initiatives. It also drags the battle a little more unpredictable by encouraging players to think quickly and adapt. I wanted to test it and I featured it in the next session of my weekly game. So, did that work? of seeds. They took a long time when it was time for my players to declare their actions at the start of the round. They were left in the spot and struggled to adapt as they were not used to quick thinking in D&D combat. Of course, this is natural. I'm sure that with time and practice this problem can be overcome, but at this point it's a barrier to my main goal. Ultimately, everyone experiences the game in a variety of ways, and the house rules or “fixes” should always be tailored to a particular group of games. I've always been trying to come up with ideas to make the game more enjoyable for me and my players. In the comments, let us know what solutions did you find to make your initiative better in D&D?