Your homebrew combat?

[PhoenixWings]

I'm looking for ideas on how you might've invented your own way to expedite combat in your games.
Knowing the rules is one thing, I realize. & I also encourage my players beforehand to know what they want to do *before* their turn.
But often spellcasting takes time w/ flipping through the PHB, etc.

What else have you done successfully?

 

[Sekhmet]

We roll To Hit dice and Damage dice simultaneously. Obviously, the damage only happens if the To Hit scores high enough.

My casters have lists of what spells do on-hand, categorized by spell level, with all pertinent rules involved listed next to them.

 

[arcseed]

The best thing is to outlaw flipping through the PHB. Having the appropriate texts/ internet up on your computer is also banned. With power comes responsibility, and players of spellcasters have the responsibility to know what their spells actually do.

I also encourage fighting types to have hit/damage bonuses precalculated, both with static bonuses and typical buffs, but that's not nearly as big an issue.

 

[Celebrim]

1) I'm with Arcseed. If you don't know what your spell does, you can't cast it.
2) You have 6 seconds to describe what your character intends to do on your turn. If you can't decide within 6 seconds, you are assumed to have delayed your action.
3) Cut down on table talk, particular on OOC advice on how a player should play from another player at the table. Players should only be talking on there turn.
4) Roll as many dice as practical at the same time. The only thing to watch here is cheating, either intentional or unintentional. Make sure that there is a standard way to read off the dice that is not varied from. I prefer either 'darker to lighter' for neutral tones, or 'red to purple across the color spectrum' for colors.
5) Play a 'low powered' game.
6) Play the majority of the campaign before level 12. I do this by giving what is effectively 1/2 XP, slowing leveling down by about half.
7) Try to get the players to listen and pay attention, so that they know what they want to do before their turn comes up.

 

[ashockney]

Five Parts

1) Build Excel Spreadsheets for ALL of your villians rolls in one click, include your key tactics for 3-5 rounds
2) Assign a player to manage initiative for you, and initiate pre-rolling for the player that is "on-deck"
3) Smooth Attack Rolls - allow your players to roll all their attacks at once and use an "average" attack and "average" damage roll. This can REALLY speed things up. Especially sneak attacks.
4) Smooth Spell Damage Rolls - allow players to use average damage
5) Quick Count Buffs - for initiative, streamline and mark your buffs on the sheet to make it simple and easy to recall. There are a ridiculous number available, and too many "types" to track. Make it simpler for you and them.

I hope this helps. I can elaborate on any/all of the above. This will make combats go faster, continue to be very interesting, and enjoyable. This does make combats (12+ especially) managable for non-hardcore gamers. Huzzah!

 

[El Mahdi]

The first thing I did was to identify what slows down combat (at least in my opinion). For me these were:

• Players not paying attention to combat since they know when their turn is in the rotation (players would go to the bathroom, get food, goof around, etc. - anything but pay attention during combat until it was actually their turn). When it would get to their turn, that's when they would finally take a look at the mat, recap what's happened, and figure out what they want to do.
• Rolling initiative, marking down the initiative order, and tracking it.
• Players taking too long during their turns (looking up rules/spells, deciding what to do, etc.)

I fixed these in this manner:

• I make an excel spreadsheet page for each encounter I have planned for the session, plus one with just the PC's listed and a catch-all entry for "Bad Guys" for any unplanned encounters. On the other pages I'll also list the PC's, but I'll break the bad guys down into groups (like "Orcs", "Boss", "Goblin group 1", etc.).
• At the beginning of the game session, but before we actually start into the adventure, I have all the players pre-roll 20 initiative rolls. I record all of these rolls on the spreadsheet. While the players are rolling up their initiatives, I'm rolling up the monsters (I usually just roll one number per listing and use that throughout the duration of the combats). Then, each round, I simply sort the page by the rolls, giving me a quick and easily tracked initiative that changes from round to round (so the players don't know when their turn is and have no choice but to pay attention).
• Then, I use an egg timer to time each players turn. If they haven't completed their turn by the time the egg-timer runs out, they are automatically considered to be "holding", and have to wait until the end of the round to perform their turn. If, when they get to their turn at the end of the round, they still don't accomplish their action within the limits of the egg-timer, they lose their turn for the round. A chess timer may also work, or simply use a stop watch. this may be harsh, but they'll only miss a turn once before they start expediting their turns, and thus improving the game for everyone.

 

[Triceratops]

There's some really good advice and hints being posted here. I'll have to try to use some of them next time I do table top.

Since my game is an online game we use a dice roller for initiative. Then whoever has initiative gets to describe their actions. If it is simultaneous then they have to do it in a private chat window so there's no confusion.

One thing I do to keep it dramatic is I don't tell people how much damage they are taking from npcs, monsters or traps. I describe the effect it has. So for example let's say that a character takes about 10% of their damage--I describe that as a very near miss or lucky duck or something like that. I only describe actual physicial damage if they are down to 10% or less of their hit points. This is to keep players on their toes. This way they cannot be blase about combat even if they have a hundred hit points.

 

[PhoenixWings]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm DEFinitely intrigued by the excel sheet idea, but I'm not too clear with it. Is is possible to see a photo example?

I think what I'd end up doing for my own game is pre-rolling for the monsters. I'd be afraid I'd be taking away from the feel of "real time" combat by making the players roll everything in advance. (unless I totally misunderstood)

 

[Sekhmet]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm DEFinitely intrigued by the excel sheet idea, but I'm not too clear with it. Is is possible to see a photo example?

I think what I'd end up doing for my own game is pre-rolling for the monsters. I'd be afraid I'd be taking away from the feel of "real time" combat by making the players roll everything in advance. (unless I totally misunderstood)

http://i.imgur.com/f3Ka8.jpg
Here is a sample of what I might use for party groups, so I don't have to keep asking them for their skills, AC, or bonuses.
Some skills are left out because they just aren't used in most situations, and when you ARE using them, you generally have time to talk it out.

I use a similar spreadsheet for NPC groups/Enemy groups.

 

[El Mahdi]

...I'm intrigued by the excel sheet idea, but I'm not too clear with it. Is it possible to see a photo example? ...

[MENTION=6668647]PhoenixWings[/MENTION]

Certainly.

Just consider each column a different round. Go to the Data tab, then click on Sort, and use Column-Sort by-(choose column), Sort On-Values, and Order-Largest to Smallest. After the first time you do it, all you'll have to change from round to round is what column you want to sort by. All of the rows (and by extension, the first column listing the PC's and NPC's) will automatically reorder each time you sort by a different column. Just start at the top of the list and work your way down each round. This will give you a quick, easy, and random initiative count (at least as far as the players perspective) each round. Your players won't know what order their turn is each round, and will have to pay attention to the whole combat. Use this in combination with an egg timer, and combats are resolved a lot quicker and can maintain a sense of tension throughout. I'll have a seperate page for each encounter, and just recycle the players 20 pre-rolls throughout.