Would eliminating almost all Opportunity Attacks speed combat up?

[ArcaneSpringboard]

I wonder...if you eliminated opportunity attacks for the most part except for those that involved marked creatures, would combat speed up?

You wouldn't have to worry about whether or not you moved such that you'd get an OppAttack, and it would reduce the amount of extra attacks (that usually don't do much damage).

 

[Rune]

I wonder...if you eliminated opportunity attacks for the most part except for those that involved marked creatures, would combat speed up?

Some, I suppose, but you would be enhancing the striker role (which is mobile), while devaluing the defender role (significantly, in the case of the fighter).

You wouldn't have to worry about whether or not you moved such that you'd get an OppAttack...

Do you usually find Opportunity Attacks taking the bulk of your game-time? In my experience, they influence tactics on the battlefield, but don't take that long to resolve (although, if your intent is a more fluid battle-field, this definitely should help).

...and it would reduce the amount of extra attacks (that usually don't do much damage).

Those extra attacks can do a lot of extra damage if your leader(s) are buffing defenders properly, especially at higher levels. And don't forget, every roll is one more chance to crit (which some characters are built around).

With all that in mind, if you really want to speed such attacks up, some, anyway, you could simply give out the average melee basic damage (like a minion) for each opportunity attack (this could be recorded on the character sheet. (Although, I reiterate, this devalues the crit-build character.)

You could streamline even further by making this auto-damage (although this over-powers the fighter, who also stops a creature on a successful opportunity attack.

Personally, I don't like either of those options. If I was going to eliminate/streamline opportunity attacks, I'd do it selectively:

Defenders, Soldiers, and Maybe Brutes would still get to use them. No one else would. (This would negatively affect melee-leaders and melee-strikers, but they would benefit so much from most monsters lacking opportunity attacks that I think it would balance out.)

 

[PeBiHa]

I wonder...if you eliminated opportunity attacks for the most part except for those that involved marked creatures, would combat speed up?

You wouldn't have to worry about whether or not you moved such that you'd get an OppAttack, and it would reduce the amount of extra attacks (that usually don't do much damage).

It would change things a lot and while it might speed up combat, there are some consequences to consider.

Some builds might become far stronger. The Charging Barbarian will become a powerhouse, being able to leave melee without having to worry about getting attacked and then reengaging. Yes, any charger build will benefit greatly from this. Archer rangers can simply walk into melee and shoot enemies in the face with a bonus, because they're the closest. Warlock can more easily walk around on the board, spreading their curses and walking at least 3 squares to make sure they get full benefit from Shadow Walk.

Ranged characters will also feel the love, since they can now be engaged in melee, without having to worry about casting their spells if an enemy stands adjacent. And you can always just walk out of the melee on your turn, without having to worry about trying to find a way to shift far enough away or use some teleport or similarly. On the other hand these rules will also make it more dangerous to be a ranged character, since enemies can walk past your front lines and deliver pain.

Enemy artillery will be even more powerful/dangerous, since you can no longer rely on simply getting a character up next to them and then ensure that they can't unleas mass destruction. Instead that character might just end up eating an arrow in the eye.

A lot of utility powers will be made useless. Shift in general is no longer worth building your character around, because you can simply walk.

On the other hand there are also some characters that really get to suffer under such rules. The first and most obvious is the Artful Dodger Rogue, since they are built up around their good AC against opportunity attacks to maneuver around the battlefield. But the highly mobile Monk may also feel the pain hammer (since their probably best power has the movement effect of shifting, and most of their movement techniques involve some short of shifting.

So before implementing such changes, consider the consequences carefully and adjust accordingly.

 

[bbjore]

Id say it depends on how your group plays. While it may speed up combat it also might slow it down. The defenders in our group do a pretty good job of speeding up combat with OAs by dropping their opponents faster.

 

[Stalker0]

Removing attacks will always speed the game up.

That said, I personally don't feel OAs is a cause for major game slowdowns. There are far worse culprits out there.