Initiative Tracker

Initiative tracker for tabletop combat

Keep your Dungeons & Dragons or tabletop RPG encounters moving. This tracker sorts combatants into turn order, advances through rounds, and tracks hit points so the game master can run a fight without juggling scraps of paper.

How it works

Add each combatant with a name, their initiative roll and optional HP. The list re-sorts by initiative (highest first) every time you add someone, so the turn order is always correct. Next turn moves a highlight down the list; when it wraps from the bottom back to the top, the round counter increases by one. HP is adjusted with plus and minus buttons, and the value turns red at zero or below.

Example encounter

You add three combatants and press Add for each:

The tracker orders them Archer → Fighter → Wizard. After the Wizard’s turn it wraps back to the Archer and round 2 begins. A 5-damage hit on the Archer drops its HP from 7 to 2.

Getting the most out of the tracker

Running larger encounters

For encounters with many creatures — say a mob of eight goblins — you have two approaches: add them individually with separate initiative rolls (shows exactly where each one acts) or add them as a single entry labelled “Goblin Mob” with a representative HP total. Individual entries are more precise but add time at setup; group entries are faster to manage during play. The tracker handles either approach.

Managing mid-combat additions

In D&D 5e and many other systems, creatures can enter the encounter after it starts — reinforcements arrive, a trapped creature is released, or the party triggers a wandering monster. Add new combatants mid-fight using the same Add input. The list re-sorts automatically, so a creature with initiative 20 added in round 3 immediately goes to the top of the next re-sort.

Tracking conditions alongside HP

The tracker focuses on turn order and HP, but conditions (Poisoned, Stunned, Prone, Grappled, etc.) are often equally important. A common game master technique: add a bracketed note to the combatant’s name, such as “Orc Warrior [Prone R2]” to mark the condition and the round it expires. This keeps all essential information in one place during a fast-moving fight.

What “initiative” means across different RPG systems

While the tracker is built around the D&D 5e initiative system — each combatant rolls 1d20 and adds their Dexterity modifier — it works for any system that uses a numeric turn order:

• Pathfinder 2e: uses a “initiative check” result as the number; re-roll on surprise rounds as normal
• Call of Cthulhu: uses DEX-based initiative order; higher DEX acts first
• Traveller: uses initiative scores derived from characteristics
• OSR games: descending initiative variants or Dexterity-based ordering work the same way — just enter the relevant number

The tracker does not enforce D&D-specific rules, so it adapts to any game with a “who goes first” mechanic.

Ties in initiative

When two combatants have the same initiative, the tracker preserves the order in which they were added. This matches the standard D&D rule that ties are broken by the DM, or by the players themselves agreeing. You can break a tie explicitly by entering a fractional initiative — for example 15.1 and 15.0 — or simply accept that the first-entered combatant goes first.

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