D&D 3E/3.5 4e combat length compared to 3.5
- Thread starter qotile
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fanboy2000
Adventurer
My guess, having run both games, is 6 to 8 for 4th and 4 to 6 for 3.x. Generally speaking, in the real world, 8 rounds of 4e combat take about as long as 4 rounds of 3.x.
I suspect, however, for many people the round/duration comparison is different. I don't know how typical I am.
I suspect, however, for many people the round/duration comparison is different. I don't know how typical I am.
Obryn
Hero
Just like I did for mid-level 3e, I estimate 1 hour per major encounter.
Low-level combat can take quite a bit longer in 4e, while high-level combat is generally faster.
Solo fights almost always drag on (ha!) longer than you'd expect. Fights with an Elite opponent can take a long time if the Elite's defenses are high.
There are huge variables involved with this, though... If your group has more strikers, combat will be shorter. If it has more leaders, combat will be longer (because there's less incentive to quickly finish off enemies with Dailies). If your team works well together, combat will go much more quickly. If your team spreads out their fire among multiple opponents, it will drag.
-O
Low-level combat can take quite a bit longer in 4e, while high-level combat is generally faster.
Solo fights almost always drag on (ha!) longer than you'd expect. Fights with an Elite opponent can take a long time if the Elite's defenses are high.
There are huge variables involved with this, though... If your group has more strikers, combat will be shorter. If it has more leaders, combat will be longer (because there's less incentive to quickly finish off enemies with Dailies). If your team works well together, combat will go much more quickly. If your team spreads out their fire among multiple opponents, it will drag.
-O
Depends on how hard the fights are. Some people will say 4E fights last 1 round... http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4t...storm-blades-planeshaper-epic-resurgence.html or see Punisher of the God's infinite damage combo, and that could be true in 3E as well with a Robilard's Gambit + Savagery fighter or the wizard tossing a save-or-die and the monster failing.
Alternately having a 3E fight against a cleric could mean multiple mass heals going off and a fight taking forever, or a 4E fight where half the party is constantly stunned or can't hit the monsters.
Plus it comes down to how much your DM treats the monsters as lemmings. If a monster has a huge movement, I'll take advantage of it, and the fight will be a long one, other GMs will ignore it and wade them into combat to fall over dead in a couple rounds. Higher level monsters in 3E have a lot more options than 4E monsters like healing and movement so typically a fight will be longer in 3E if the party isn't min-maxed.
Alternately having a 3E fight against a cleric could mean multiple mass heals going off and a fight taking forever, or a 4E fight where half the party is constantly stunned or can't hit the monsters.
Plus it comes down to how much your DM treats the monsters as lemmings. If a monster has a huge movement, I'll take advantage of it, and the fight will be a long one, other GMs will ignore it and wade them into combat to fall over dead in a couple rounds. Higher level monsters in 3E have a lot more options than 4E monsters like healing and movement so typically a fight will be longer in 3E if the party isn't min-maxed.
Fourth Edition tends to run 6 to 10 rounds at low level and 10 to 20 rounds at high level. This assumes that the foes are not a large group of minions, those types of fights can be short (or long if the PC's area effects fail). There are many threads on the high end issue, but mostly it is because of math issues there (monsters hit easy, but are hard to hit, monsters do low amounts of damage, and monsters have a lot more relative hit points).
Third Edition tended to be the similar on the low end, but different on the high end. 6 to 10 rounds at low levels, but often 3 to 12 rounds (depending on whether the PC Cleric and Wizard could ravish the opposing group or not).
There are many factors here as well.
And, a given round tends to take less actual real time in 4E.
I imagine 3.x depends a lot on the group. We used to keep track of round count for durations, and between the time we entered a dungeon and exited, it could be 100-120 rounds easy. This of course included time for navigating between areas while healing up with wands. I don't really know how many rounds an actual encounter would be. Do you count the buffs? Do you count the healing?
Also in 3.x, we could have 2-3 summoned monsters, a planar ally, and a cohort running around with us. And when some of those are tossing around AoE's between the saving throws and everything else, I could do my turn, and eat dinner before it was my turn again.
Also in 3.x, we could have 2-3 summoned monsters, a planar ally, and a cohort running around with us. And when some of those are tossing around AoE's between the saving throws and everything else, I could do my turn, and eat dinner before it was my turn again.
An encounter usually takes about 45 minutes with a 6 man party (vs a scaled encounter).
In rounds it lasts from 3 rounds when the Invoker goes Nova in a good spot, to maybe 6 rounds if the players roll crap.
The party has 3 strikers, 1 leader, 1 tank and 1 controller. A more defensive party would definitively be slower, and have a harder time. The important part is the tank and leader. The tank is a Dwarf Battle Vigor Fighter, and the leader is a Bard that grants 5 temp hp in addition to the healing from the healing surge +5.
All the strikers had 18 AC at level 1.
In rounds it lasts from 3 rounds when the Invoker goes Nova in a good spot, to maybe 6 rounds if the players roll crap.
The party has 3 strikers, 1 leader, 1 tank and 1 controller. A more defensive party would definitively be slower, and have a harder time. The important part is the tank and leader. The tank is a Dwarf Battle Vigor Fighter, and the leader is a Bard that grants 5 temp hp in addition to the healing from the healing surge +5.
All the strikers had 18 AC at level 1.
Odysseus
Explorer
So far my 4th edition combats have lasted 4 to 12 rounds, with each encounter averaging an hour real time. Although this is largly based on heroic tier play.
3rd edition(with the same group thats playing 4e) used to last 1 to 10 rounds, with each encounter averaging 1 1/2 hours.
3rd edition(with the same group thats playing 4e) used to last 1 to 10 rounds, with each encounter averaging 1 1/2 hours.
gtoasnt3
First Post
It is about 1/3 to 1/2 times longer in our games. We did everything we could to cut it down to about 30-40 minutes an encounter with 5 PC's and 1 NPC.
Likes? 4th edition has produced a number of memorable fights and encounters. The rules allow me as a DM to really mix it up and add flavor. 3.5 edition had stale combat encounters. The only thing that made them memorable is when a party encountered a creature/NPC they didn't know. Fights with classic MM monsters and humanoids became pretty boring and lacked the strategy needed in 4th edition.
Dislikes? We can only play once or twice a month due to everyone's schedules. Our guys have just hit 5th level in the SOW campaign. We usually make one level per playing session, so we are right at 10 encounters plus role playing in 10 hours.
Likes? 4th edition has produced a number of memorable fights and encounters. The rules allow me as a DM to really mix it up and add flavor. 3.5 edition had stale combat encounters. The only thing that made them memorable is when a party encountered a creature/NPC they didn't know. Fights with classic MM monsters and humanoids became pretty boring and lacked the strategy needed in 4th edition.
Dislikes? We can only play once or twice a month due to everyone's schedules. Our guys have just hit 5th level in the SOW campaign. We usually make one level per playing session, so we are right at 10 encounters plus role playing in 10 hours.
