SC - Venaerys's Initiative

Overview

SC - Venaerys's Initiative lets GMs and players run combat in shared phases inside Foundry's native Combat Tracker, in both the sidebar and popout. Player characters roll initiative against a DC and enter Fast or Slow. Regular enemies act together between those phases; bosses and encounter events can have their own places in the round.

Each combatant takes a full normal turn during their phase and marks Done when finished. With automatic advancement enabled, combat proceeds when everyone in the phase is done.

The module grew from a phased initiative suggestion by Venaerys in the Shattered Codex Discord community.

Compatibility and Installation

This module is free. This page documents version 1.0.0.

• Foundry VTT: minimum v13; verified for v14.
• Game systems: the core uses Foundry combat data, with dedicated adapters for D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Call of Cthulhu 7e, and experimental Daggerheart support. Other systems use their initiative roll where available or a formula configured by the GM.
• Dependencies: no other module is required.
• Languages: English and Brazilian Portuguese.

Install and enable

1. In Foundry's setup screen, open Add-on Modules > Install Module.
2. Paste this URL into Manifest URL and install the module:

https://github.com/Shattered-Codex/sc-venaerys-initiative/releases/latest/download/module.json

3. Open your world and enable SC - Venaerys's Initiative in Manage Modules.
4. Open Configure Settings > Module Settings > SC - Venaerys's Initiative > Configure to review the DC and phase rules before creating a combat.

New combats use phases by default. The GM can turn Phases on or Phases off for an individual combat before it starts. With phases off, that encounter uses Foundry's native tracker and turn order.

Choose the initiative rule for your system

What You Can Do

• Run shared player turns in Fast and Slow, with enemies acting between them.
• Give bosses, other creatures, and lair actions their own phases.
• Mark individuals or groups done, skip a combatant for one round, or control phase progress manually.
• Split creature phases into movement and actions, and show turn markers for everyone still acting.
• Announce phases with sounds and banners, or run macros, chat messages, roll tables, and optional SC module actions.
• Customize tracker colors and share phase plans and banner themes through JSON files.

Run Your First Phased Combat

The GM creates the encounter; players roll and mark their owned combatants done.

1. Create a combat and add combatants as usual. Check that Phases on is enabled before starting.
2. Set the DC at the top of the tracker. For example, with DC 15, totals of 15 or higher enter Fast and lower totals enter Slow. With default D&D 5e critical rules, a natural 20 enters Fast and a natural 1 enters Slow regardless of the total.
3. Players roll from the initiative prompt or their row's roll button. The GM can select Roll PCs to roll player characters still without initiative.
4. Start the encounter with the native tracker control. Everyone in the current phase takes their full turn, coordinating the order of their actions at the table.
5. Each player marks Done when finished; the GM marks enemies and other GM-controlled combatants done. The next occupied phase begins when all members are done and automatic advancement is on.

A player's native End Turn also marks their combatants done. The GM's native next and previous turn controls navigate phases.

Tap to expand

Start while rolls are pending

When the GM starts with pending rolls, the confirmation offers Wait for rolls, Roll for them, or Start anyway. Starting anyway places characters without a roll in Slow for that round. If they roll and beat the DC before Fast ends, they join Fast immediately.

An unconfirmed start from a player or integration does not show that confirmation; unrolled characters enter Slow for the round. They can still roll from the tracker or their sheet.

Place Bosses and Lair Actions

Set the phase order

The initial template contains Epic Boss, Boss, Mini-Boss, Fast, Enemies, Slow, and Lair Actions. Empty phases are skipped during progress; event phases need a marker to take part.

1. As the GM, open the module's Configure screen and select Phases.
2. Drag phases or use their arrows to arrange them. Fast, Enemies, and Slow retain their relative order; extra phases can sit around or between them.
3. Add creature or event phases as needed. Give extra phases a name, icon, and color.
4. Select Save, then create a new combat to use the plan. Existing combats keep their own phase plan.

Tap to expand

Assign a creature

For the current encounter, use the combatant's row selector, drag its row onto another phase, or select Move to phase… from its context menu. This pins the assignment for that combat. Choose Automatic to restore classification.

A move that would grant another turn or remove an available turn is deferred until the next round. The row shows the pending assignment.

To set a default for future encounters:

1. As the GM, open the creature's sheet and choose Combat phase from the header menu.
2. Select its creature phase and save.
3. Add the creature to a new phased combat to use that default. The GM can still move it in the tracker.

On a token's own sheet, the default applies to that token only. If the chosen phase is later removed from the template, the creature falls back to Enemies.

When Suggest boss phases from the sheet is enabled, an enemy item whose name exactly matches a creature phase, ignoring case, can suggest the assignment. An item named Boss matches Boss; Boss Fight does not. The sheet's explicit choice takes priority.

Tap to expand

Add a lair action or encounter event

1. In Phases, use Add event phase, or keep the built-in Lair Actions phase. Save before creating the encounter.
2. In the GM's tracker, select the event phase's + to add an event marker.
3. When that phase starts, resolve the event and mark the marker Done.

An event marker is a combatant without an actor. It never rolls initiative. An event phase without a marker is skipped, and event phases never split into movement and actions.

Manage Movement and Phase Progress

The GM can use these controls during combat:

The GM can mark or unmark individual combatants. Only the GM can unmark a finished phase. Disable automatic advancement when the table needs manual pacing; when enabled, it waits for dialogs open on the active GM's client.

Separate movement from actions

In World, set Movement and actions to Players' phases or All creature phases, save, and create a new combat. Each affected phase runs in two halves:

1. Everyone moves and marks Moved.
2. Everyone takes their actions and marks Done.

Under this table rule, leftover movement cannot be used in the actions half. The module does not lock tokens or enforce movement allowances. With Off, each phase has a single full-turn stage.

Show everyone still acting

Enable Turn marker on the whole phase to show Foundry's native turn marker beneath every member of the current phase still acting. Each marker disappears when its combatant marks Done. Disable it to retain Foundry's single current-combatant marker.

Tap to expand

Announce and Automate Phases

Play sounds and display banners

1. In Phases, choose No sound, Foundry's combat sound, or My own file for a phase. Set the volume and preview locally. Phase sounds are off by default; Foundry's encounter-start sound is separate.
2. Expand Actions when it starts and add Message on screen.
3. Choose a banner theme, enter optional text, and set Seconds on screen. An empty text field announces the phase name.
4. Preview the message and select Save.

Default phases already announce their names with a four-second banner. To make your own banner style, open Banners, copy a ready-made theme with Copy to edit or select Add banner theme, then edit its name, colors, and Corner marks. Use Show on screen to preview it and save. Select that theme in the phase's Message on screen action.

Tap to expand

Run other actions when a phase starts

Use Add action… to add a sound, hook, chat message, macro, or roll table. Macros must be authored by a GM. Actions run once per phase per round; returning with Previous phase does not replay them. Sounds and banners do not run on a player's client when that player cannot see anyone in the phase.

Optional integrations add these choices when the corresponding module is available:

• SC - Jump Scare: play a scare selected from its library.
• SC - Puzzle Engine: open, arm, or trigger a puzzle.
• SC - Resources: change or restore configured resources.

Share phase plans and banner themes

Use Export in Phases to save the displayed plan, including sounds and actions. Import replaces the draft plan. In Banners, Export saves custom themes and Import merges them by ID. Imports take effect only after Save.

If a phase plan uses a custom banner theme, transfer both files. Import each file in its matching tab.

Settings

Open Configure Settings > Module Settings > SC - Venaerys's Initiative > Configure. Select Save after editing; dots identify tabs with unsaved changes.

Only the GM sees World, Appearance, Phases, Banners, and Help. Every user can adjust This client on their own computer. Phase order and Movement and actions apply to new combats; existing combats retain their plan.

World — combat

World — rolls and DC

Defaults below are the general defaults, including D&D 5e. Pathfinder 2e starts with One degree better for Critical and One degree worse for Fumble. Call of Cthulhu starts at DC 1, with Nothing: only the total counts for both rules because its system roll already encodes success levels.

Base + CR uses the highest non-defeated enemy CR in Enemies, falling back to all non-defeated enemies when that phase has none. The DC follows enemies before combat starts and then freezes. Use the calculator beside the DC to recalculate, or type a manual value.

Appearance

Theme defaults to Verdant. Choose one of sixteen built-in themes or Custom (my own colors). Custom colors use Accent for buttons and highlights, Background for surfaces, and Text for primary text; the remaining palette is derived from those three colors. Their defaults are #1fa971, #15181a, and #e6e8ea, respectively.

The live preview applies on your computer until saved. Saving applies the appearance to everyone in the world. The phase sections and module screens use the palette; combatant rows keep Foundry's own look.

Tap to expand

Phases, Banners, and Help

Phases controls the saved order, names, icons, colors, sounds, and start actions described in Place Bosses and Lair Actions and Announce and Automate Phases. The initial template includes three boss phases before Fast and Lair Actions after Slow; empty phases are skipped.

Banners manages custom message styles and their import/export. Help explains turn events, pending rolls, combatant movement, and compatibility issues.

This client

Both options default to On:

• Show the combat tracker when combat starts: brings the sidebar's combat tab or open popout forward when a phased combat begins. Off leaves your current view in place.
• Ask me to roll initiative: prompts when an owned character joins a phased combat without a roll. Off hides the prompt; the tracker roll button remains available.

Keybindings and Integration

Assign controls

Under Configure Controls, assign these keybindings. No keys are assigned by default.

Listen for phase and completion events

The module exposes two hooks to script macros and other modules:

• sc-venaerys-initiative.phaseChange(combat, { round, phaseId, previous: { round, phaseId }, reason })
• sc-venaerys-initiative.combatantDone(combatant, { done, round, phaseId })

Hooks fire on each client. A phase invisible to a player is reported as null; hidden combatants are not reported to that player.

For example, run this script macro once on your client to log phase changes in the browser console:

Hooks.on("sc-venaerys-initiative.phaseChange", (combat, state) => {
  console.log("Phased combat changed", {
    combatId: combat.id,
    round: state.round,
    phaseId: state.phaseId,
    previous: state.previous,
    reason: state.reason,
  });
});

This listener remains until that client reloads. Running the macro again registers another listener. For encounter actions that should run once per phase per round, prefer the configured Actions when it starts workflow.

Troubleshooting and Limitations

Turn effects and system behavior

• Foundry still has one current combatant. Start-of-turn automation runs for every member when a phase starts. Automatic end-of-turn effects run only for the combatant marked with the hourglass. Resolve other combatants' end-of-turn effects manually when they mark Done.
• Combatants without initiative remain at the end of Foundry's order and can receive system turn events at round changes. Roll their initiative to place them by their result.
• A natural 20 or 1 can reach the combat after its initiative total, briefly showing a character in a different phase.
• In Foundry v14, movement history clears at the start of each phase.
• Daggerheart support is experimental; its own spotlight tracker can move turns and rounds independently of phase progression.

Conflicting module options

For phased combats, disable midi-qol's Auto reroll initiative and set Record attacks of opportunity to None. The former can reset the phase pointer and repeat turn events; the latter can treat other phase members' attacks as opportunity attacks and spend their reactions.

Disable Combat Tracker Dock's Hide until first turn, which can keep enemies in the phase hidden until each becomes Foundry's current combatant. The module warns GMs when these conflicting options are enabled.

For questions or bug reports, join the Shattered Codex Discord. The module repository contains the README and source code.