How Does Initiative Work in D&D 5e?
Initiative is a Dexterity check every combatant rolls when a fight starts: d20 plus your Dexterity modifier. The GM ranks the totals from highest to lowest, and that order holds for the whole fight. Surprised creatures roll with Disadvantage. That is the whole rule. Here is what the SRD says, quoted, plus the features that bend it and the odds of going first.
The rule
Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant rolls Initiative; they make a Dexterity check that determines their place in the Initiative order. The GM rolls for monsters. For a group of identical creatures, the GM makes a single roll, so each member of the group has the same Initiative.
Your total is your place in line:
A combatant's check total is called their Initiative count, or Initiative for short. The GM ranks the combatants, from highest to lowest Initiative. This is the order in which they act during each round. The Initiative order remains the same from round to round.
You roll once per fight, not once per round. The number on your character sheet's Initiative box is just your Dexterity modifier, unless a feature adds to it: "Write your Dexterity modifier in the space for Initiative on your character sheet."
Initiative is a plain Dexterity check with no skill attached. Features keyed to a skill skip it: Jack of All Trades works on a check "that uses a skill proficiency you lack", and Guidance makes you "choose a skill". Neither adds to Initiative.
Ties
If a tie occurs, the GM decides the order among tied monsters, and the players decide the order among tied characters. The GM decides the order if the tie is between a monster and a player character.
No roll-off, no Dexterity score tiebreak. Between two creatures with the same modifier, a tie comes up 5% of the time.
Surprise
If a combatant is surprised by combat starting, that combatant has Disadvantage on their Initiative roll. For example, if an ambusher starts combat while hidden from a foe who is unaware that combat is starting, that foe is surprised.
Surprise no longer skips your turn. It moves you down the line. The Invisible and Incapacitated conditions carry the same idea as named effects:
Surprise. If you're Invisible when you roll Initiative, you have Advantage on the roll.
Surprised. If you're Incapacitated when you roll Initiative, you have Disadvantage on the roll.
To set up an ambush, the party needs to be hidden (see Hiding) and the targets unaware. Both halves matter: a guard who hears the party coming is not surprised, hidden party or not.
The odds of going first
Two creatures with the same Dexterity modifier, one d20 each. How often does yours come out strictly higher? Worked out over every pair of rolls:
| You | Them | You act first | Tie |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain roll | Plain roll | 47.5% | 5% |
| Alert, +2 | Plain roll | 57.2% | 4.5% |
| Alert, +3 | Plain roll | 61.7% | 4.3% |
| Advantage | Plain roll | 64.1% | 5% |
| Surprised | Plain roll | 30.9% | 5% |
| Surprised, Alert +2 | Plain roll | 40.9% | 5% |
| Advantage | Surprised | 81.6% | 3.3% |
Advantage beats a flat +3 here. Against a surprised foe, a hero with Advantage acts first more than four times in five. (How Advantage shifts a d20: Advantage and Disadvantage.)
What bends it
Alert, an Origin Feat (see Origin Feats), does two things:
Initiative Proficiency. When you roll Initiative, you can add your Proficiency Bonus to the roll.
Initiative Swap. Immediately after you roll Initiative, you can swap your Initiative with the Initiative of one willing ally in the same combat. You can't make this swap if you or the ally has the Incapacitated condition.
The swap is the strong half. The Alert character rolls high, then hands that slot to the Wizard holding a crowd-control spell.
Features that grant Advantage on Initiative in the SRD:
- Barbarian, level 7, Feral Instinct: "Your instincts are so honed that you have Advantage on Initiative rolls."
- Champion Fighter, level 3, Remarkable Athlete: "Advantage on Initiative rolls and Strength (Athletics) checks."
- Sentinel Shield, uncommon: "Advantage on Initiative rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks."
- Rod of Alertness and the Ioun Stone of Awareness: the same pairing, Initiative and Perception.
- Weapon of Warning, uncommon: you and allies within 30 feet get "Supernatural Readiness. Each subject has Advantage on its Initiative rolls." It also wakes sleepers when combat begins.
And one that breaks the order: the Thief Rogue's level 17 Thief's Reflexes. "You take your first turn at your normal Initiative and your second turn at your Initiative minus 10," in the first round only.
Monsters and Initiative scores
Stat blocks list a modifier and a score, such as "Initiative +2 (12)". The score is the no-roll option:
Your Initiative score equals 10 plus your Dexterity modifier. If you have Advantage on Initiative rolls, increase your Initiative score by 5. If you have Disadvantage on those rolls, decrease that score by 5.
A GM running ten goblins can use their score instead of rolling, which speeds the table and keeps monsters predictable. The SRD frames it as a GM choice: "Sometimes a GM might have combatants use their Initiative scores instead of rolling Initiative."
Summoned and conjured helpers often skip the roll entirely. Many "share your Initiative count" or act "immediately after you", so the creature never needs its own place in line.
At the table
- Roll Initiative before anyone describes their first move. Once the order exists, your turn runs in it.
- Write the order where everyone can see it. The order never changes, so one list lasts the fight.
- Decide surprise from the fiction first, then roll. Hidden and unaware means Disadvantage; anything less means a plain roll.
The Book of Dice covers the d20 and how Advantage changes the curve in Part III, The Rolling.
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
