Initiative rolls how many?

[Bestial Warlust]

How is initiative rolled does each player roll individually or is it a group roll. ITL page 103 has:
"(1) Roll for Initiative. Each player rolls a die"

Yet page 105 "For example: The Tactics talent adds 1 to the initiative roll
of a party. "

Seems to imply each side rolls. Last time I ran I had players roll individually. It seems like combat may run smoother by just using party initiative for movement.

[Shostak]

My groups have always played with one initiative roll per side.

[larsdangly]

Same; one per side is our approach

[Skarg]

One per side...

... but, especially in an RPG situation, it might make sense to have more than two sides, or split a side into multiple sides, if they become antagonistic or are working independently or at odds with each other, or one side's leadership fractures or they start competing/racing with each other to outmaneuver people on their own side (all of which I have seen happen sometimes in play).

But that's kind of an "advanced" and unusual situation. It's usually best to stick to two sides unless there's a strong reason not to.

[Helborn]

It depends on how the combat is being played out. Several of my players prefer individual rolls though I have ruled that unless they are out of sight of each other, they have to deal with just one per party - just for the sake of speed and less bookkeeping.

[hcobb]

What if the players have shadow and silence keeping them from coordinating?

[Skarg]

I think those are good situations to roll multiple initiative so players can't coordinate and there is an answer to which player moves first, and which player has to cope with the previous players' movement choices.

Also when the players aren't cooperating with each other or can't communicate, I would say a bonus to the opposition initiative roll is in order, unless they have similar problems.

[JimmyPlenty]

I would second Skarg's suggestion about making it for special occasions. Better to have it as a cool DM tool than an every battle rule. Adding flavor makes each battle special.