Keeping track of combat length (for posterity)

[the Jester]

I'm sorry, I know this has probably been addressed in other places, but please, I have to ask: how?

How in the world are you finishing combats with 5 PCs in under 1.5 hours? We never have. Ever.

Hmm, having everyone know when it's their turn helps. So does a striker-heavy party- having run both a game with only one striker and a game with almost all strikers, I have to say that the difference in offensive capability is marked. OTOH, the striker-light party never really felt threatened because they had multiple leaders...

 

[evilbob]

We're doubled up on defenders instead of strikers, so it does take longer in general I think. And I know sometimes delays lead to delays: i.e., this turn is taking 30 mins so one player wanders off, and then when their turn comes around getting back to the table wastes more time, etc. ...And we drink. A lot.

But I think the "chemistry" answer was a good one. We have some players who don't synergize much with the group, and sadly the striker is the main one (a rouge that rarely gets CA). I think most of our group thinks about what they can do on their turn and nothing else. And frankly, strategic thinking isn't something you can get more of from a person, so maybe that's just the problem. Still, I have to think that there's more to it than just "most of us don't plan ahead much."

I know when I'm running a game, I like to announce whose turn it is and then who is next, every time. It helps keep focus and reduces the "wander away" factor. Maybe I will lean on our DM to adapt this as well.

Overall, I'm still just flat out shocked that someone can run a battle in 30 minutes. Maybe I just need to watch a couple of rounds or something to see what they do that is so different? Like a youtube of one of these 5 minute rounds to see how that's even possible.

 

[blargney the second]

Sounds like a lack of focus. How long are your games? We only get 2 to 2.5 hours tops per week with this group, so we tend to focus pretty decently once we start gaming.

 

[theRogueRooster]

Overall, I'm still just flat out shocked that someone can run a battle in 30 minutes. Maybe I just need to watch a couple of rounds or something to see what they do that is so different? Like a youtube of one of these 5 minute rounds to see how that's even possible.

I'd love to see something like this as well, just to see what voodoo you guys use to make it move so fast. I play online with Fantasy Grounds and Skype -- where attack and damage rolls are literally a click away with bonuses added right in, tokens are quickly moved on the battle map, nobody wanders off when it's not their turn and they don't seem to take overly long when it is their turn, and yet we still suffer from hours-long combats.

I'm curious to see how folks are managing it.
-tRR

 

[blargney the second]

Honestly, I think the fact that we dish out really good damage is a huge factor. With at-wills my fighter does about 25 per hit while the rogues do 30 something, with the daggermaster popping out 60 or 70 damage on crits of 18-20. When the three of us get on a monster, it will typically go down in one round.

 

[Wik]

Ha ha. I seriously doubt my group would be down for such a thing. Not exactly how we envisioned our youtube debut, and all that jazz. But yeah, damage is a big part of it, and another part would be the players chat amongst themselves when it's not their turn, figuring out their next plan. Another part would be the fact that I generally stick to within 2 levels of the PCs' level (which means the PCs usually hit on about 7+ for the most part), and the huge damage output of the big three Blargney already listed - along with the fact that the leader can seriously add to the damage output and hit percentage of the group. (The Paladin, by the way, is also very useful in a sort of controller-y defender-y sense, though his marking is kind of pointless).

Quite often, the defenders will trade marks - the fighter will mark them all on one round, and the paladin the next. Also, the group has quite a few powers that let them make saves, so they're seldom out of the fight for long (the paladin has some "make a save" powers, and the bard made sure to take one or two as well, although he's much more focused upon moving his party members).

Also, and I think this might be a big part of it - the group will use dailies. Nobody holds onto them - at least one daily seems to be used every fight, and in the big fights, the dailies get dropped right at the start which can dramatically speed the fight up (the bard's "+5 Attack, +5 Damage on all allies' attacks" is basically a "we win this encounter" power, and the paladin's "+5 damage on all attacks until end of encounter" is probably better).

I have to say, the group is a pretty well-oiled machine at this point. Which works well for me - I can throw much larger fights than you'd expect at these guys, and they will often tear right through the fight.

 

[blargney the second]

Session 4: 2.5 hours total
#1) 45 minutes, 600 XP each, 2 crits, 5 dailies, 1 action points. 3 rounds vs 1 solo lurker

Great session tonight! Wik led us through a fantastic skill challenge where we had to escape an underground complex on a railcart. A wave of extremely venomous spiders pursued us, while aberrant drow tried to prevent us from leaving. (I particularly enjoyed the fact that we could use a huge array of skills, attacks, and other options, which meant that everybody could participate meaningfully.)

Outside the tunnel entrance, the ginormous spider matriarch attacked us. She suffered a withering assault and went down quickly. (We had our first triple-digit damage roll on one of the rogues' crits: 101 damage!)

We're now at a safe place to rest, and will level up to 12. Woot!
-blarg

 

[the Jester]

This thread is really cool. I'm going to try to track some of this stuff at the D&D Encounters session I'm running tonight.

Keep it up, it's fascinating to see different peoples' experiences! I am going to be very interested to see how closely my game's combat time matches up with what it feels like (approx. 30-60 minutes for a typical encounter; striker heavy party).

 

[blargney the second]

We're losing the dragonborn paladin and gaining a human wizard. I'll be curious to see what effect that will have on us, especially since this is the first controller I'll ever play with. I have a sneaky suspicion that it will slow fights down a little bit overall.

I thought D&D Encounters were basically pick-up groups... how do you know in advance that you've got a lot of strikers?
-blarg

 

[Wik]

We're losing the dragonborn paladin and gaining a human wizard. I'll be curious to see what effect that will have on us, especially since this is the first controller I'll ever play with. I have a sneaky suspicion that it will slow fights down a little bit overall.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The Paladin doesn't really dish out a whole lot of damage - his main contribution is healing and defensive bonuses. While without him, the strikers will probably get hit a bit more, I think considering that the wizard is going to be dishing out fair damage and a HUGE amount of negative status effects that the game will actually speed up - I'm interested in seeing how many "and the monster is unable to attack" effects will be dropped.

Of course, the wizard is quite happy to include team mates in the area of effect of his attacks, so things could get interesting...