Keeping track of combat length (for posterity)

[the Jester]

That's a pretty good set of numbers! 5 PCs and 1 NPC vs. 5 monsters and 4 minions?

Do you think the MM3 stats helped speed things up? They do seem pretty handy to me - I'm looking forward to using them next week.

Probably, but I think my horrible, horrible dice luck was more of a factor. The party tore this encounter up; the last couple of rounds there were only the two snaketongue warriors left, and one was covering for the other's flight.

This was a cool end of the fight: the pcs kept shouting, "Take one alive!" They were all ready to call subdual on the finishing blow. Well, the bad guy didn't want to be taken alive, and almost killed himself on his last turn; but instead- he died from ongoing damage the pcs had inflicted. No prisoner for you!

It was really funny.

 

[Wik]

Ah, yes, the whole "free subdual" thing. I believe we discussed a house rule that subduals inflict a -2 penalty on the attack roll or something. Because none of us particularly like that subdual damage is free in 4e.

 

[Storminator]

I've been thinking our fights last about an hour, but I haven't tracked them until today. I tracked 2 of our 3 fights - I forgot until the 2nd one started.

Combat 1:
Good guys:
Dwarf Paladin 7, Dwarf Cleric 7, Dragonborn Fighter 7 (all three striker players didn't make it)

Bad Guys:
2 Umber Hulks (lvl 8 Elite Soldiers)

Rounds 9
Time 54 min
6 min/round! We blaze compared to the above numbers! And this vs a pair of monsters with minor action at-will close blast 5 daze attacks. And no strikers.

Combat 2:
Good guys: same

Bad Guys:
3 Dwarven "fighters" (gonna guess here - level 7 soldiers)
2 Dwarven "Crossbowmen" (lvl 5 artillery)
1 "Dwarven" assassin (another guess - level 7 lurker)

Rounds 14
Time 75 min
5 min, 20 sec/round! Even faster!

I can tell you that by the end of the session we had used every daily, every magic item daily, all action points, a potion of Regen, and most of the healing surges. We were this -><- close to a TPK on the last fight. Fortunately those artillery folded up in melee.

PS

 

[Jdvn1]

To clarify this, we have a regular gang of seven players, but they often aren't all there. We will play with a quorum of 3 players, so the number of players goes up and down depending on who is available.

Wait, what? Do you have players running multiple characters or something?

 

[the Jester]

Wait, what? Do you have players running multiple characters or something?

No. If three players are there, the other pcs are "scouting ahead" or "guarding the horses" or "in bed with a fever" or... etc.

They do have their trusty skirmisher npc guy Bradford who helps fill in when they're low on players, and they have a small army (approx. 50 - 70 dudes) of commoners, with about a dozen competent 1st level soldier dwarves if needed for support roles.

 

[Jdvn1]

No. If three players are there, the other pcs are "scouting ahead" or "guarding the horses" or "in bed with a fever" or... etc.

They do have their trusty skirmisher npc guy Bradford who helps fill in when they're low on players, and they have a small army (approx. 50 - 70 dudes) of commoners, with about a dozen competent 1st level soldier dwarves if needed for support roles.

Have you not had that few in some time? The stats I have for you are somewhat consistent in terms of player count. Or am I misunderstanding something?

 

[Wik]

I've got my notes for next session coming up - we finally get to play again! We have a few interesting combatants, including some more Banshrae (kind of boring) and some elites that will not be named until after Blargney suffers through them.

It's going to be the trial run of the MM3, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[the Jester]

Have you not had that few in some time? The stats I have for you are somewhat consistent in terms of player count. Or am I misunderstanding something?

We have, but mostly at the low-combat parts. Also, if you look at the pcs, you'll often see some come and go through the night.

 

[the Jester]

Tonight's encounter session:

PCs: 2 defenders (fighter, battlemind), 1 controller (psion), 1 leader (ardent), 1 striker (ranger).
Bad Guys: Level 2 artillery (x3) and level 4 soldiers (x2).

Real Time: 1 hour, 23 minutes.
Rounds: 8

Surges Expended: I'm pretty sure it was 4 (2 ardent surges, 1 second wind, 1 power that let an ally spend a surge on a hit)

Dailies: Pretty sure it was 0.

Action Points Spent: 1

Notes: A very fast combat, despite one of the players having never played D&D before (I think he'd been in one rp situation before tonight). I thought we were going to have a TPK for a while, but everyone survived. Well done, pcs!

 

[Goonalan]

Encounters from the first session of my new-ish 4e game, Keep on the Shadowfell, my fourth time as a DM for this module.

Players

Leader- Half Elf Cleric 1
Defenders- Dragonborn Paladin 1 & Dwarf Fighter 1
Striker- Halfling Rogue 1
Controller- Human Wizard 1

Just a note none of the players had played 4e before, four of the five have not played a PnP RPG game before.

Enc#1 Kobold Bandits

Level 1 [Level +0] XP 475

Kobold Minion [Minion Level 1] x5
Kobold Slinger [Artillery Level 1]
Kobold Dragonshield [Soldier Level 2] x2
Total Monsters HP 101

3 Rounds
26 Minutes
Action Points 3
Daily Powers 4
Healing Surges 3
Crits 0

Intro to the newbies with an Action Point & Daily Power frenzy, the PCs only encounter of the day and a chance for the players to try everything out.

Enc#2 Kobold Ambush

Level 2 [Level +1] XP 625

Kobold Skirmisher [Skirmisher Level 1]
Kobold Dragonshield [Soldier Level 2] x3
Kobold Wyrmpriest [Artillery Level 3]
Total Monsters HP 171

6 Rounds
44 Minutes
Action Points 0
Daily Powers 0
Healing Surges 5
Crits 2
PCs reduced to '0' HP 1
Monster Crits 1

Enc#3 Outside the Kobold Lair

Level 1 [Level +0] XP 575

Kobold Minion [Minion Level 1] x10
Kobold Slink [Lurker Level 1]
Kobold Slinger [Artillery Level 1]
Kobold Dragonshield [Soldier Level 2]
Total Monsters HP 130

5 Rounds
37 Minutes
Action Points 0
Daily Powers 0
Healing Surges 1
Crits 0

Enc#4 Inside the Kobold Lair- Irontooth!

Level 6 [Level +5] XP 1250

Kobold Minion [Minion Level 1] x10
Kobold Skirmisher [Skirmisher Level 1] x3
Kobold Denwarden [Soldier Level 2] x2
Kobold Wyrmpriest [Artillery Level 3]
Irontoothe the Goblin [Elite Brute Level 3]
Total Monsters HP 305

13 Rounds
90 Minutes
Action Points 10
Daily Powers 5
Healing Surges 11
Crits 0
Monsters Action Points 1
PCs reduced to '0' HP 6
PCs Dead 1

Obviously we house ruled the Action points, PCs can use one per round and multiple in an encounter.

For a round by round break down of the events see my Sig.

Cheers