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v2.4.6: NPCs and Sortable Libraries (Patreon)

Published:
2019-05-01 03:43:55
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Hello DMs,

Welcome to Improved Initiative v2.4! This update includes improvements to the Library pane to make it easier to find StatBlocks and Spells that you are looking for. The new Toggle Grouping button by the Filter field will allow you to sort your library items grouped by Challenge, Type, or Source.

You can now set Characters to behave as Non Player Characters in the StatBlock Editor. Here's how NPC Characters work:

  • NPCs remember their hit points across encounters
  • NPCs can have persistent notes, like PCs
  • NPCs will not display their HP in the Player View
  • NPCs will not be saved as part of Saved Encounters.

Saved Encounters today will only store combatants that were added from the StatBlock library. This behavior has been present since Persistent Characters were introduced in 2.0, but I'm planning to revisit this behavior in the future since I think it has caused problems for some users.

I recently got back on my personal Twitter account. As you might expect, I mostly tweet about RPGs and software design, and of course I'm trying to promote Improved Initiative on the account. You can follow me at @cynicaloctopus. Thanks for your support!

-Evan

Report a Bug | Request a Feature

Update 2.4.1: Fixed a bug preventing AC from displaying.

Update 2.4.2: Fix various bugs, including some Player View stability issues.

Update 2.4.3: Fixed some issues with Kobold Fight Club imports

Update 2.4.4: Fixed an issue with the damage prompt

Update 2.4.5: Fixed an issue preventing tag durations from working

Update 2.4.6: Fixed a bug in the damage prompt on mobile

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Comments

Anonymous

Hi Evan, first just want to say I think Improved Initiative is great. About the Non Player Characters, I think that that is good feature and I hope you do consider letting us store Persistent Characters and NPCs in Saved Encounters. I think it would be a really good time saver.

Anonymous

Can you somehow mark NPCs as friendly? Whenever I add an NPC it adds to the XP Counter making the encounter more dangerous (on paper) although it should become easier as this NPC is supposed to be an ally to the player charakters.

Evan Bailey

It might make sense for you to just mark friendly NPCs as PCs in that case, but it would show their HP in the Player Display.

Anonymous
>>22921367

Thanks for your reply Evan, that what I am doing right now, I just added dashes in front of my PCs, so that I can instantly identify them in the initiative order

Anonymous

Would it be possible to have the option to remove the PC's health from being displayed on both the GM side and Player View? I don't track the players HP and just rely on them to keep track of their own. It would help with my OCD to not have their HP displayed at all rather than showing 48/48 when I know they are beat pretty badly.

Evan Bailey
>>23120970

You can do this today. On the Settings pane, on the Options tab, under Player View, the "Player Character HP Verbosity" setting can be set to "Hide All".

Anonymous
>>23120970

Welp! Learned something new! Thanks for being so on top of answering the communities questions!

Anonymous

Evan, A few months ago I had printed off and laminated a bunch of sheets for tracking encounters because I hated every single online initiative tracker. I threw away my laminated sheets today because I use yours now. One of my struggles was that my group only has about 2 hours to play and it was hard to keep prep time for an encounter brief. This is so helpful and my players love being able to see the initiative right in front of them (and see who's bloodied without having to ask...because players would be able to see who was hurt the most). Anyways, thanks for the work. I support you both financially and in spirit. :)

Evan Bailey
>>23242190

Hi Dougald, I'm really happy to read stories like this! I totally understand having limited time to play, so I'm glad I can help you run a speedy game.