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Initiative tracker guide

How the tracker works for the GM and for players.

How turns work

A round has four bands, played in this order:

1. Fast PCs
2. Fast NPCs
3. Slow PCs
4. Slow NPCs

The band that is up has a purple outline and a "Now" tag. Everyone in that band acts, in any order they like. Each fast turn has two actions (two arrows). Each slow turn has three (three arrows).

Bosses take both a fast turn and a slow turn, so a boss appears in both the fast NPC and slow NPC bands, and its speed cannot be changed. Empty bands are skipped.

For players

Choose fast or slow

Your character's row has a fast/slow toggle. Set it before the round starts. It locks once the character is marked done, or if the character is Down. You also cannot switch into a band that is already over: a slow character cannot change to fast after the fast band has passed.

Mark your turn done

When your character has finished acting, click the circle on your row. It turns into a check. Click again to undo it. You can only do this for characters you own. They are marked "(you)".

What you cannot do

Advancing bands, going back, adding or removing combatants, and changing status are GM controls. Those buttons are hidden for players, and other players' rows are greyed out.

For the GM

Build the fight

Add all players

One click adds a PC for each player in the room who does not have one yet. The button shows how many it will add. It is disabled when everyone already has a PC.

Add combatant

Enter a name, pick PC or NPC, and for a PC pick the owning player. A blank name uses the owner's player name. Tick Boss for a boss NPC.

Run the round

Start round / Next band / Next round

The main button changes with where you are. Moving past the last band starts the next round and clears every Done mark. Statuses stay.

Back

Goes back one band. It does not clear Done marks, so a misclick is cheap to undo.

Done

Click the circle on any row to mark that combatant as having acted. You can do this for NPCs and for players who forget.

Clear fight

Click once to arm (the button turns red), click again to remove every combatant and reset to round 1.

The ⋯ menu

Each row has a ⋯ menu with four choices:

• Active: in the fight and taking turns.
• Down: incapacitated. The row shows a red arrow icon and cannot be marked done or change speed. They stay in the order so you can bring them back.
• Dead: removed from the order and listed under "Out of the fight". Set them back to Active to return them.
• Remove: deletes the combatant entirely.

Good to know

• Everything is stored in the Owlbear scene, so the tracker is shared live and survives reloads. A new scene starts empty.
• Permissions are enforced by the interface, not by Owlbear. A determined player could bypass them. At the table this is the same trust as a paper sheet.
• Only players currently connected to the room appear in the owner list. If someone is offline, add them once they join, or use Add all players later.
• Combatants are not linked to map tokens yet.
• Testing alone: two incognito windows in the same Chrome session share one Owlbear identity, so both will act as the same player. Use two different browsers or profiles to test a player view.