Hit Dice Initiative
For games where hit dice size is derived from Class.
When rolling initiative, roll your hit dice versus a target number. Target numbers might be:
- Initiative dice rolled by monsters
- A static initiative score given to each monster
Beating the target number means you go before the monsters, otherwise you go last.
Assume hit dice look like the hit dice in AD&D 2e, for the sake of argument:
- d4: wizard
- d6: thief/bard
- d8: cleric/druid
- d10: fighter/paladin/ranger
If we assume "beating" monster initiative means rolling higher than it then we have a situation where wizards tend to go last and fighting classes tend to go first.
What interests me is the result of we invert this and say that we need to roll under monster initiative. Suddenly wizards are pretty much always going first, as are rogues who tend to benefit from striking first/from surprise. The heavy hitters are slower and come in at the end of things.
Staying in 2e territory, it's made more interesting if we bring in initiative modifiers. Weapon speeds are a little too granular for my tastes but I don't hate the idea of declaring actions and modifying rolls based on them, which is how 2e works. Wizards get to go first if all they're doing is hiding/stabbing someone with a dagger, but once you begin to cast spells you slow down again.
Largely initiative is a solved problem and attempts to fuck with it are just tinkering for the sake of it, but it's a fun thought experiment.