Speed Factor 2.0 Some DMs find the regular progression of initiative too predictable and prone to abuse. Players can use their knowledge of the initiative order to influence their decisions. For example, a badly wounded fighter might charge a troll because he knows that the cleric goes before the monster and can heal him. Speed factor 2.0 is an option for initiative that draws heavily from Mike Mearls' own homebrew initiative system he posted on his Twitter and the original Speed Factor initiative variant in the Dungeon Master's Guide (pg. 270). Its purpose is to introduce more uncertainty into combat, remove initiative from Dexterity as an ability check, and give experienced players more tactical options at the potential cost of speed of play. Under this variant, a round of combat occurs over the course of two different phases, the Declared Phase and the Delayed Phase. The Declared Phase This phase represents all combatants of a battle taking action near simultaneously with each combatant racing against one another to land the finishing blow. Declaring Actions Before any dice are rolled, both the Players and the DM declare actions for their controlled characters. These declared actions are specific in terms of what type of action or actions are being performed (Action Type) and what order these action or actions occur (Action Order). However, Players and DMs will make their declarations in different in subtle ways. For the Players When players declare their action or actions, they need to specify what weapon they are using if they are attacking, what spell they are casting if they are Spellcasting, and what they are doing with their bonus action. Everything else can be changed so long as the Action Type and Action Order have not changed. For the Dungeon Master When the DM declares an NPC's actions, it is done using more general language. What the DM describes to the players should be taken as accurate based on the PCs' point of view, but not all encompassing. For example, if a goblin is attacking a player from range with a shortbow, the DM might declare its actions by saying something like, "the goblin is moving back to create more distance while it is readying an arrow." The DM has declared that the goblin will take a Move Action and an Attack Action, but has purposefully omitted mentioning that the goblin will attempt to hide using its Nimble Escape trait as a Bonus Action after firing its arrow. Determining Turn Order Before each round begins, the participants in a battle roll up to three separate dice for initiative with the lowest result going first for the Declared Phase. DEX modifiers and DEX ability checks are now never applied (see Additional Rules below). Each die rolled represents either a Standard, Bonus, or Move Action. Combatants can therefore influence where they will be placed in the initiative order depending on what they want to accomplish during the Declared Phase. Speed Factor Action Type Dice Size Weapon Attack Light d4 Medium d8 Heavy d12 Spellcasting Cantrip d4 Intermediate Spell Slots d8+Spell Level Highest Spell Slot d12+Spell Level Move Action d6 Bonus Action d4 Reaction Instant, Anytime Swapping Handheld Items d6 Other Standard Actions d6 For instance, a player playing a 5th-level paladin armed with a longsword and shield has a number of options when it comes to attacking physically with a weapon, casting a spell, or doing both together. If the paladin wants to attack an enemy that is adjacent to him with his longsword (Standard Action), use a 2nd level spell slot to cast Branding Smite (Bonus Action) to finish off his opponent, and reposition himself to stand between a different enemy and the party's wizard (Move Action) as one fluid motion, the player then declares the actions above, refers to the Speed Factor table, and rolls a d8, a d4, and a d6 together. Alternatively, if the enemy adjacent to the paladin has been severely weakened to just a few hit points remaining, then the paladin may instead opt for a quick attack with just the longsword to finish off the enemy before it can retaliate. In this case, the player would roll only a single d8. Action Economy Just like with the standard initiative rules, attacking first is often very advantageous. With this initiative variant, the most basic way of gaining turn order advantage is done by performing only one action during the Declared Phase, such as attacking with a light weapon or casting a cantrip. However as players and monsters grow in strength, full use of one's Action Economy generally becomes more important than going first. That being said, it is up to the players to coordinate to determine the best course of action.

After everyone declares their actions and roll their dice according to the Speed Factor table. All combatants then tally their rolls and combat begins with the lowest total initiative score going first. In the event of ties, the combatant rolling the most of the largest die goes first. For example, if a d12 ties with a d8, the d12 goes first. If a d4+d4+d6 ties with a d6+d4+d6, the d6+d4+d6 goes first. Any further ties can be settled by the DM via higher DEX score, coin flipping, dice rolling, personal preference, etc. Delaying Alternatively, if a combatant does not wish to declare any Actions or is incapacitated during the Declared Phase, then that combatant is Delayed. When Delayed, a combatant does not need to declare any actions and does not perform any actions during the Declared Phase. The Delayed combatant will then take their turn during the Delayed Phase. Invalid Actions When a combatant's Action becomes Invalid for any reason, that Action is simply skipped. For instance, if two allies are adjacent to the only enemy in range and both commit to finishing off said creature as their first action, then it is possible for one of them to waste their attack completely. So then if the first attack hits and finishes the enemy, then the second attack has no valid target and therefore the declared action is skipped. However, if there happens to be another enemy within range, then that means the second attacker does have a valid target and can proceed through their Action Order as normal. The Delayed Phase Following the Declared Phase, the Delayed Phase gives combatants the chance to take action if they have opted to Delay themselves during the Declared Phase. However, because these combatants have taken a moment to assess the battlefield, they only have enough time to perform two of the three possible actions. For instance, a player playing a 5th-level wizard might be looking to unleash an epic fireball but wants to maximize its damage while minimizing its potential friendly fire. This player could try to unleash the fireball as quickly as possible during the Declared Phase while running the risk of foes leaving and allies entering the Area of Effect. Or, they could instead Delay themselves to wait for the dust to settle and target their foes more accurately. Determining Turn Order If two or more combatants are Delayed, the one with the highest INT or WIS score decides the turn order for all Delayed combatants. Incapacitated combatants are treated as having an INT and WIS score of 1. Again, any further ties can be settled by the DM. Additional Rules The rules below are intended to cover gaps in the rules created from coverting the base combat rules to this variant. Running Non-Humanoid Creatures Although some creatures can Declare Actions in the same way as players can, most creatures in the Monster Manual & Volo's Guide do not fight with crafted weapons like most humanoids. Instead, the players that control non-humanoid characters (i.e. druid wildshape forms, wizard familiars, and ranger beast companions) and the DM should consider the following rules to determine what dice to roll for non-humanoid creatures. Creature Size The DM should use the Size Factor table as a guideline for determining what dice to roll for its Declared Actions. The DM therefore does not have to strictly follow the Size Factor table. For example, if a creature was giant sized but had an extremely high DEX score, it is reasonable to roll a d8 or even a d4 depending on the DM's discretion. Size Factor Creature Size Category Dice Size Tiny-Small d4 Medium d8 Large-Gargantuan d12 Creature Traits Unless specifically described as a Bonus Action or Spellcasting, traits should not add any additional dice when determining initiative. When a creature has Spellcasting as a trait, treat its spells the same as any player character would. Creature Actions Regardless of whether an Action listed in a monster's Stat Block is a weapon attack or spell attack, the DM should be consistent on what die should be rolled (see Monster Size above). Multiattack Whenever a monster uses Multiattack as its Standard Action, it should be treated as using a Bonus Action as well. Non-Attack Actions When a monster Action is not a weapon or spell attack, treat it as an Other Action and roll a d6 for determining initiative. Affecting Initiative Throughout D&D there are numerous ways to affect initiative via DEX bonus, feats, spells, and class features. The purpose of these rules are the Dexterity Dexterity in 5e has always been considered the best ability score since inception. Under this variant ruleset, Dexterity no longer has any positive or negative affect on initiative rolls. Therefore, anything that would affect an ability check, such as Bardic Inspiration or the Lucky feat, can no longer affect initiative. Bonuses Anytime a flat bonus or penalty is issued to a combatant's initiative, that combatant may spend that bonus like a