Quickleaf
Legend
The single biggest time sink is the battle grid. For skirmishes I wouldn't pull out the miniatures or map, just narrate it and let the DM be the final arbiter of what's within range and so forth.
The question is what is at stake with a skirmish?
Since a skirmish is an easier encounter, if the goal were just to drop the monsters to 0 HP the PCs are obviously going to win. Why bother rolling dice? To penalize the PCs some healing surges?
So the primary objective of a skirmish is not to slay monsters. Sure, it's going to happen, but the PCs have bigger concerns. It might be some form of time limit (stop the guards before they light the beacon), it might be a condition which triggers a different encounter (if enough blood is spilled everything is teleported to the Abyss), or it might be a radically different tactic (protect the slaves or avoid a certain terrain at all costs).
What makes the skirmish encounter interesting and challenging is not the monsters but the situation.
It's the situation that's at stake.
Succeed at stopping those guards in time and you can waltz into enemy territory undetected. Fail at stopping those guards and not only are wyvern riders going to be looking for you, but a hard full-scale battle might break out.
The question is what is at stake with a skirmish?
Since a skirmish is an easier encounter, if the goal were just to drop the monsters to 0 HP the PCs are obviously going to win. Why bother rolling dice? To penalize the PCs some healing surges?
So the primary objective of a skirmish is not to slay monsters. Sure, it's going to happen, but the PCs have bigger concerns. It might be some form of time limit (stop the guards before they light the beacon), it might be a condition which triggers a different encounter (if enough blood is spilled everything is teleported to the Abyss), or it might be a radically different tactic (protect the slaves or avoid a certain terrain at all costs).
What makes the skirmish encounter interesting and challenging is not the monsters but the situation.
It's the situation that's at stake.
Succeed at stopping those guards in time and you can waltz into enemy territory undetected. Fail at stopping those guards and not only are wyvern riders going to be looking for you, but a hard full-scale battle might break out.