Rounds per fight vs short rest/long rest resources

outsider · Jul 11, 2017

This is kindof a meta question for character building, rather than a question for a specific build. I know this is fairly variable group to group, but how many rounds would you say the average 5e fight lasts? I'm only a few sessions in so far, and the average fight duration for me seems to be around 3 rounds so far. Does that much up with your experience, and does it continue into later levels?

If we assume 3 rounds, and standard resting patterns(short rest every 2nd fight, long rest after 6 fights), that means I need to stretch my short rest resources over 6 rounds, and my long rest resources over 18 rounds. Does this seem about right?

I'm not experienced enough with the system yet(nor have I poured enough research into the monster manual) to have a firm grasp on this. Figuring it out would give me alot better ability to evaluate the various resource systems the different classes use.

Gladius Legis · Jul 11, 2017

Usually 3 or 4 rounds IMX. Occasionally 5.

Blue · Jul 11, 2017

I feel it increases as the levels go up - some monsters are just huge sacks of HPs. Once you get past the first few levels, we normally see 4-5 rounds.

How long to stretch your resources for also varies by DM. The DMG recommendation is 6-8 medium to hard encounters with 2 short rests though in reality it varies a great deal. If you go with that, then you are looking at more often 3 encounters between short rests.

When I said that it varies though, my personal experience is that it almost always varies down in number of combats. And short rests are determined more naturally by flow so sometimes you can go through four or more encounters without a chance (like invading a foe's lair), other times you can get a short rest between ever one (like when traveling).

One other point is that there's no award for ending the day with unspent resources. It may be better to spend them more aggressively even if it leaves you short for later encounters. This is more true of characters that can still function at a reasonable level without their per-rest resources like the paladin.

TwoSix · Jul 11, 2017

Yea, 3-4 rounds is the most common, assuming that those rounds can be used to make full turns and aren't being used for positioning. Monsters with hard control abilities can lengthen this quite a bit, as well as monsters where the biggest challenge is their high number of HPs.