Run initiative and track conditions

To track initiative in Eldritch OS, open Initiative from the top bar of a live session and click Add Players to Initiative and Add Monsters to Initiative — every token on the board rolls a d20 with its own modifier and drops into the order. Conditions and hit points live on the token: right-click any token, use Conditions and the Hit Points controls, and the change shows on the map for everyone at the table.

This guide covers rolling initiative for the whole board, running the turn order, applying and clearing conditions, hit points at a glance, and how the character sheet and the token stay in step.

Before you start

• You need a live session. The initiative tracker is only offered while a session is running, not while you prep a scene. From the campaign’s Scenes tab, Start Session on the scene you want to play.
• You need tokens on the map. Party tokens come from Add Party (see Step 3 of the import guide); monsters come from the Tokens panel.
• You need an Eldritch OS account. During the alpha, access is by invitation — see the end of this page.

Step 1 — Roll initiative for the whole board

1. Click Initiative in the top bar. Before combat it reads No active combat.
2. Click Add Players to Initiative, then Add Monsters to Initiative. Each token is added to the order and rolls a d20 in the open: a character adds the initiative bonus from its sheet, a monster adds the Dexterity modifier from its stat block. The result goes straight into the tracker.
3. The order sorts highest first, and the top of the list is up.

Hidden tokens are skipped by both buttons, so an ambush you have not revealed yet stays out of the order until you reveal it.

To fix a roll, click the row to expand it and type into Initiative, or click the dice button beside it to re-roll. Hold Shift while clicking the dice to make that roll GM-only.

To add one token on its own — a reinforcement arriving mid-fight — right-click it on the map and choose Add to Initiative. It rolls the same way. Remove from Initiative in the same menu takes it back out.

Step 2 — Run the turn order

The tracker shows the round number at the top with previous and next arrows. A strip along the bottom of the table shows the same order for everyone: the current combatant large in the middle, the next few fading off to the right, and the round beside it.

• Next Turn in the strip advances the order; when it wraps back to the top, the round counts up. On the map, the token whose turn it is gets a pulsing ring.
• Players get an End Turn button in the strip on their own turn.
• Click a portrait in the strip to jump the map to that token.
• Each row in the tracker shows the name, a hit point bar, armor class and the initiative score. Expand a monster’s row for its saving throws, its actions, and a Kill button that removes the token from the map.
• Reset Combat goes back to round 1 and the top of the order without re-rolling. Clear Players and Clear Monsters drop one side from the order. End Combat clears the whole thing.

Step 3 — Apply and clear conditions

1. Right-click the token and open Conditions. The list has the standard conditions — Blinded through Unconscious — and a set of combat states such as Concentrating, Dodging and Dying. Click one to apply it; click it again to clear it. Active conditions are marked with a check.
2. For anything not in the list, type a name in the box under Custom and press Enter.
3. On the map, a token with one condition shows an icon badge on its shoulder; with more than one it shows a count. The same conditions appear on the character’s sheet.

Players can do all of this for their own character’s token; the GM can do it for any token.

If a condition should stay between you and the token — a poisoned NPC the party has not noticed — untick Conditions in the Visibility section of that token’s menu and the badge is hidden from players. The Tokens panel has the same switches for the whole scene under Scene Visibility, alongside Health, AC and Names.

Step 4 — Hit points at a glance

Every token with hit points carries a bar beneath it. It shifts from green to yellow to red as the number drops, and temporary hit points show as their own segment.

To change it, right-click the token and use Hit Points at the bottom of the menu: type a number and click Dmg or Heal (Enter applies it as damage). Damage comes off temporary hit points first. A token at zero is marked Downed. Under it, Temp HP has Set and Clear.

The expanded tracker row has the same numbers as plain fields — HP, Temp HP — if you would rather type than click.

As with conditions, a player can change hit points on their own character’s token, and the GM can hide a token’s bar from players with Health Bar under Visibility.

How the sheet and the token stay in step

A character’s token is linked to its sheet, in both directions:

• Token to sheet. Damage, healing, temporary hit points and conditions set on the token are written to the character sheet.
• Sheet to token. Hit points, temporary hit points, maximum hit points, armor class and conditions changed on the sheet are pushed to every token for that character. The token’s name and portrait follow the sheet too.

So a player who marks damage on their sheet, and a GM who marks it on the token, end up in the same place. Monster tokens are not linked to a sheet; their hit points live on the token, and on the stat block you open from it.

What the alpha does not do yet

We keep a page of exactly what ships and what does not. For initiative and conditions specifically:

• Conditions do not count down. There is no duration on a condition and nothing clears at the end of a turn or a round. You clear them by hand.
• Conditions do not change the dice. Marking a token Prone or Poisoned is a note on the board; it does not add disadvantage to a roll, or anything else. The rules are yours to apply.
• Players always see the turn order. The tracker has a Player Visible switch, but it does not yet hide the bottom strip from players; whenever combat is running, they see who is up.
• Switching scenes ends combat. Moving the live session to another scene clears the initiative order. Finish the fight before you change scenes.

Join the alpha playtest

Eldritch OS is in a closed alpha with a small group of GMs running real sessions. If you want to run yours here, join the alpha playtest and say a little about your table — we are inviting tables in waves.