Initiative

Initiative determines the order in which combatants act each round. It is rolled once at the start of combat and remains fixed unless a Ready or Delay action changes it. A higher result means you act sooner; lower means you act later.

Rolling Initiative

Roll d20 + your initiative modifier. Your base initiative modifier equals your DEX modifier. Feats, traits, spells, and class abilities may add further bonuses — these stack normally unless they share a bonus type.

You roll initiative once when combat begins — not at the start of each round. The GM may call for initiative secretly and reveal the order when the first action is taken, or may have everyone roll openly. Either way, the resulting order is the same throughout the fight unless a combatant uses a special initiative action to change it.

Flat-Footed Until Your First Turn

All combatants are flat-footed at the start of combat until they have taken their first turn. A flat-footed combatant loses their DEX bonus to AC and cannot make attacks of opportunity. This applies even when there is no surprise round — a combatant with the highest initiative is still flat-footed until they act. Uncanny Dodge (Barbarian, Rogue, and others) prevents this.

Tie-Breaking

When two or more combatants roll the same initiative result, resolve ties in this order:

1. Higher DEX score wins. If both combatants have the same initiative modifier, the one with the higher raw DEX score goes first.
2. If DEX scores are also tied, each tied combatant rolls 1d20. The highest result wins. Re-roll further ties. This tiebreaker roll does not change the combatants' initiative counts — it only determines who among the tied group acts first within that count.
3. PC vs. monster ties — some GMs house-rule that PCs always win ties against monsters for player engagement. This is not a core rule.

How Initiative Changes Mid-Combat

Your initiative count is normally fixed for the entire combat, but two actions can change it:

• Ready: Declaring a readied action lowers your initiative to just before the creature that triggered it. This becomes your new count in future rounds.
• Delay: Choosing to act later in the round changes your initiative to the count at which you acted. If you delay until the end of the round, your count drops to 0.

For the full mechanics of Ready and Delay, see Special Initiative Actions.

Initiative Modifier Calculator

What Modifies Your Initiative?

The following feats, traits, and spells from the database affect initiative rolls.

Feats

Traits

Spells