Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Combats in 3.5/4E vs older editions
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="NewJeffCT" data-source="post: 4593277" data-attributes="member: 10784"><p>I am currently running a now 15 month old 3.5 campaign. We did not switch when 4E came out because we figured the initial phases of 4E would have bugs, kinks and other errata to work out, and by that time, the 3.5 campaign would be in the homestretch.</p><p></p><p>However, now that my players are level 10 in 3.5, I have found it very difficult to prep on my part, and when building some cool bad guys, I found a couple of times where I forgot a couple of their cool powers because they had so many cool powers it was a challenge just to do the book-keeping.</p><p></p><p>And, moderately scaled combats basically take almost a whole session to run. Heck, I tried to run a large scale combat with the six PCs, six allied NPCs and maybe 40 attackers (3 major bad guys and 37 supporting ones) and it took three whole gaming sessions of four or more hours each to complete, so maybe 13-14 hours overall.</p><p></p><p>In reading the threads here, it seems that 4E makes it easier for a DM to prep, but has not made combats happen any faster.</p><p></p><p>Back in 2E days in a similar situation, but on a much larger scale: we had a larger group of PCs – nine – plus, 2 major NPCs, and 30 allied caravan guard types against 80 lizardmen, a lizardman shaman who summoned a water elemental, some giant reptiles and half a dozen killer giant dragonflies. That combat took one five hour session, or less than half the time the 3.5E battle took, and it was triple the scale. And, we had several huge, epic combats like that throughout the campaign… </p><p></p><p>My main problem with 3.5 is not the prep time – I do not mind doing that as a DM – it is the playing time. We seem to be spending more time accomplishing less at the table than in 1E and 2E days, and it seems like 4E has not solved that.</p><p></p><p>Now 1E and 2E had a lot of problems, and I like a lot of changes in 3.5, but I miss the much faster-paced combats. I suspect I will like 4E as well, but am leery because it seems to have not fixed the length of the combats.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="NewJeffCT, post: 4593277, member: 10784"] I am currently running a now 15 month old 3.5 campaign. We did not switch when 4E came out because we figured the initial phases of 4E would have bugs, kinks and other errata to work out, and by that time, the 3.5 campaign would be in the homestretch. However, now that my players are level 10 in 3.5, I have found it very difficult to prep on my part, and when building some cool bad guys, I found a couple of times where I forgot a couple of their cool powers because they had so many cool powers it was a challenge just to do the book-keeping. And, moderately scaled combats basically take almost a whole session to run. Heck, I tried to run a large scale combat with the six PCs, six allied NPCs and maybe 40 attackers (3 major bad guys and 37 supporting ones) and it took three whole gaming sessions of four or more hours each to complete, so maybe 13-14 hours overall. In reading the threads here, it seems that 4E makes it easier for a DM to prep, but has not made combats happen any faster. Back in 2E days in a similar situation, but on a much larger scale: we had a larger group of PCs – nine – plus, 2 major NPCs, and 30 allied caravan guard types against 80 lizardmen, a lizardman shaman who summoned a water elemental, some giant reptiles and half a dozen killer giant dragonflies. That combat took one five hour session, or less than half the time the 3.5E battle took, and it was triple the scale. And, we had several huge, epic combats like that throughout the campaign… My main problem with 3.5 is not the prep time – I do not mind doing that as a DM – it is the playing time. We seem to be spending more time accomplishing less at the table than in 1E and 2E days, and it seems like 4E has not solved that. Now 1E and 2E had a lot of problems, and I like a lot of changes in 3.5, but I miss the much faster-paced combats. I suspect I will like 4E as well, but am leery because it seems to have not fixed the length of the combats. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Combats in 3.5/4E vs older editions
Top