D&D 5e modifications for PbP

[Anthr4xus]

Have you run 5e via PbP either here or elsewhere before? If so, what did you tweak or change about the system to streamline it for play by post? I've just started a 5e Ravenloft game, and posted the below tweaks to combat in 5e. I am looking for more suggestions of other things that I may want to change to establish now, before they become issues later.

Combat

Combat in 5e does not lend itself well to a PbP format. To help move things along without having to wait potentially days for the next person to declare what they are doing, several concessions are made.

1. When combat is likely to break out in a scene, a call will be made in the group specific OOC thread for initiative. If a character fails to make a post within 24 hours of that call, their initiative will be assumed to be 1+Dex Mod+Proficiency Bonus (Proficiency Bonus is doubled if the character is supposed to have advantage on Initiative). Ties will be broken by Dex Tiebreaker, Armor Type, and finally a secondary die roll by the DM.
   1. Once the overall initiative order is determined, player turns between monster/NPC turns are functionally interchangable, unless one person is doing something clearly dependent on the actions of another character. i.e. Initiative order is Amelia (19), Falken (17), Zombie Group 1 (16), Sartre (15), Rhortigern (14), Ilian (9), Karlov (9), Zombie Group 2 (9). Functionally, Amelia and Falken can act in any order, and Sartre, Rhotigern, Ilian and Karlov can as well.
2. Stats (including HP), Saving Throw modifiers, immunities, resistances and vulnerabilities for most monsters will be provided at the outset of the combat. If an action taken by a character would require a monster to make a save or ability check, that player should include that roll for the monster. This will allow players determine the full impact of their actions for most combat situations so they can fully describe their turn. Certain significant monsters/NPCs may have stats hidden until they can be revealed in combat, but these are likely to be fairly uncommon.
3. Each "round" will last 72 hours or until all of the involved characters have posted their actions, whichever is quicker. Characters that have not declared an action will be assumed to be taking active defense (giving attackers disadvantage). Characters can declare a "default action" in their character application thread to change what this assumed action is. I.e. Ardir states that his default action is "Take a melee attack at the most damaged opponent in range". If Ardir fails to get a post in on time for the current round, he will be assumed to either be making a melee attack as specified or hold his action to take that attack once an opponent comes in range. If your default action relies on a limited resource (class abilities, spell slots, limited stock), you should also state what you want to do if you are out of that resource. This is not intended to punish anyone or limit options, just to keep the game moving.
4. Feel free to post mechanics and mechanics related questions in the OOC thread for your group. The DM may embellish and add additional description or clarification in a separate summary post. If there is an issue with the description within your post, you may be asked to edit either for clarity, rules adjustment, or narrative consistency.
5. A gridded battlemap with row and column indicators will be provided for each combat and will be updated each round. Movement should indicate ending coordinates, and utilize the coordinates to illustrate any oddities in movements to avoid threat areas and the like. I.e. Setare is standing a A2 and wants to get to F7, but there is a ghoul standing at D3. This means Setare would potentially take an attack of opportunity passing by the ghoul if he moved in a straight line(A2->F7 {implying a route A2->B3->C4->D5->E6->F7}, 25 feet). He could specify that he is taking the route (A2->B3->B4->C5->D6->E6->F7, 30 ft) This takes extra speed/movement, but keeps him out of the range of the ghoul.

[Eagleheart]

2 hours ago, Anthr4xus said:

When combat is likely to break out in a scene, a call will be made in the group specific OOC thread for initiative.

Alternatively, the GM can just roll initiative for everyone. Some players might complain about this, but it saves so much time.

[Melkar]

That looks like a fairly comprehensive list, and GM rolling initiative for everyone is certainly an option. What I am wondering though is if, during combat, how do people feel about rolling group initiative with the person with the highest initiative modifier rolling for the group rather than individual initiative. Secondly, how do people handle reactions? Things like an attack from a monster potentially triggering a shield spell from a wizard are very difficult to run in PbP and have the potential to slow things down, unless the assumption is that potential reactions are always triggered from the GM perspective. That in turn becomes a bit of a nightmare for a GM to keep track of.

[cailano]

I've used group initiative while running Pathfinder. I would do a group roll for the PCs, and then I'd roll for the "lead" NPC or monster with a +5 bonus. The +5 was to make up for the many rolls of the PCs.

It usually resulted in the PC's winning initiative, but not always.

It's not quite as dynamic as individual initiative but it made keeping track of who is going when a lot easier.

I like your idea of a 72-hour time limit on combat posts, but I'd shorten it to 48 hours, maybe 72 on the weekends.

[Anthr4xus]

3 hours ago, Melkar said:

That looks like a fairly comprehensive list, and GM rolling initiative for everyone is certainly an option. What I am wondering though is if, during combat, how do people feel about rolling group initiative with the person with the highest initiative modifier rolling for the group rather than individual initiative. Secondly, how do people handle reactions? Things like an attack from a monster potentially triggering a shield spell from a wizard are very difficult to run in PbP and have the potential to slow things down, unless the assumption is that potential reactions are always triggered from the GM perspective. That in turn becomes a bit of a nightmare for a GM to keep track of.

The reason, at least in this game, that I am not wanting to do group initiative is that one of my player's is a Twilight cleric and I feel that group initiative would nerf one of her starting abilities pretty severely. Although, to be fair, allowing characters to flex in their initiative as long as there isn't a monster between them already undercuts that a little bit.

I had been thinking about reactions myself. I intend to add a clarification to #2 stating that monsters can be assumed to always take attacks of opportunity when possible, unless the GM specifically changes that in the initial combat declaration. Of course, named NPCs are likely to have more and varied reactions, so I'm still working out how those should be handled.

1 hour ago, cailano said:

I like your idea of a 72-hour time limit on combat posts, but I'd shorten it to 48 hours, maybe 72 on the weekends.

My hope is that if I can maintain player engagement, we will get posts from everyone involved in the combat well short of that limit. If most players are usually pretty quick, I may tighten it up to 48, or maybe 60 hours.

[BobtheWizard]

For initiative, it works much better if the DM rolls all the initiatives. Otherwise, you are waiting 2-3 days just for rolls. My favorite system, by far, is for the DM to roll PC initiatives individually and then one roll for the NPCs. All PCs that beat the NPCs' initiative can go first, in any order. Once those PCs have gone, then the NPCs go, then all the players can go in any order, turning into group initiative after the initial round. This still makes initiative bonuses important without slowing down posting.

For reactions, when I DM'd I would adjudicate those as they were posted, or if a player adds a reaction after my DM post, I would edit the post. You have to anticipate these a little. If you are going to have the enemy cast fireball, ask the player if they are going to counterspell before you calculate all of the damage.

[omegoku]

Block Initiative is the best for PBP I have found (as both DM and player)
DM (or players) roll Init, DM rolls for monsters
Groups are formed of

-players who beat monster Init,

-monsters (This can be more than one group with different init scores),

-players who did not beat monster init.

This can be simplified further to
-PCs who beat monster init
-monsters
-All PCs (though preference is given to those who haven't gone yet)

This gives both sides advantages. Monsters and players can work in concert a lot easier than in standard init.
The three goblins can all gang up on a player and attack them without worrying about being picked off one by one. Likewise, the cleric with bless knows he can cast it before the barbarian goes barrelling into the enemy. Or he can safely cure the player that just went down, knowing the goblins will not get to attack until after the player has a chance to get up and defend themselves.

Some DMs play it as 'whoever posts first in the group goes first' some prefer 'resolve the order of the PCs in the order they rolled init within their group'
The first one is faster, but the second one prevents the same players who are online the most taking too much spotlight.
Also might require a little DM finessing. When player 1 kills the goblin and player 2 also attempted to strike the goblin, but the DM didn't resolve the player 1's turn yet. The DM might float that attack over to a nearby enemy, allow the player 2 to retake his turn, or move them with the option for the player to request a change if they had a different plan in mind.

 

Nothing kills PBP game like 3 players waiting on 1 player to take their turn for a week.

[bwatford]

Block initiative is almost a must for pbp or it will drag a combat out even further waiting for players to take their turns.

I usually do it simple, roll for all players and divide by the number of players to get the average. Roll for all the NPC's and divide by number of NPC's to get the average. This will determine which side goes first and we are off.

I process actions in the order that they are posted, so players sometime coordinate in the OOC on any certain way things need to go down.

I most always use a gridded map and just let them give me directions when moving, like N, NW, N,N, E.

If a save is needed due to a monster's action, I roll it at the time of the attack. Don't wait for the players to determine the outcome.

For possible reactions, I ask that possible reactions with triggers be placed in a spoiler in the player's post. This usually covers things like shield, and warding flare, or abilities that allow attacks back to be made. If a reaction is triggered, I roll whatever dice is needed when processing the round once a trigger is met.

Even with all the above, it is still hard to keep things moving for slow players, so if they haven't posted in x amount of time then they will take the dodge action by default.