In the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition tabletop role-playing game, initiative determines the order in which players and non-player characters (NPCs) act during combat. Rolling for initiative is the first thing that happens at the start of every combat encounter.
To calculate initiative, each participant rolls a d20 and adds their Dexterity modifier to the result. The character with the highest total goes first, followed by the character with the next highest total, and so on. In the case of a tie, the characters roll again to determine the order.