D&D 5E How many rounds do most of your combats last?

[Flamestrike]

Time in our game is different; we have 1 minute combat rounds, each round has six 10 second combat phases. There are two weapons tracks. Melee attacks per phase, ranged attacks per round.

This was done to better simulate the rate of fire for missile weapons when compared to how many times a melee weapon could be wielded.

Whatever works for you man, but:


And she's drawing from a back quiver, and not holding the arrows in her hand. She's shooting at around about 1 arrow per second (making her an 11th level Fighter, using Action surge!).

Watch this dude:


He can fire 3 arrows in 0.6 seconds. Accurately. At moving targets, from range.

 

[Asisreo]

Whatever works for you man, but:


And she's drawing from a back quiver, and not holding the arrows in her hand. She's shooting at around about 1 arrow per second (making her an 11th level Fighter, using Action surge!).

Watch this dude:


He can fire 3 arrows in 0.6 seconds. Accurately. At moving targets, from range.

Holy crap. Somehow the most hardass DM known as God, who doesn't even let you choose a magic class, let's martials do cooler things than a DM running a Conan-style game...

 

[Oofta]

When it comes to archery ... I have a lot of issues with it's implementation in 5E. Like, yes, you can fire quickly but what's the draw weight? Then that goes back to should strength be required for bows and so on. Standard longbows had draw weights of 120 lbs with some historians estimating 150 to 180 lbs. The strength needed to pull was so great that it deformed the skeletons of archers over time.

But it's D&D. I don't get too caught up in realism as long as it conforms to basic action movie reality.

 

[Draegn]

@Flamestrike
What poundage is the bow the girl is using. Definitely not the same as a medieval war bow which is what the game is modeled on.

 

[Oofta]

@Flamestrike
What poundage is the bow the girl is using. Definitely not the same as a medieval war bow which is what the game is modeled on.

It may be theoretically modeled on the medieval war bow but it's more modeled on movies like The Hunger Games which is not particularly realistic.

IMHO war bows should be strength based, not dex based. In my games, they're finesse weapons because it's such a common trope whether it's realistic or not.

I think trying to make D&D more realistic is a rabbit hole of never-ending rules changes, several of which are made by completely uninformed opinion and lack of hard data, especially for things other than longbows. But that's also a different topic.

 

[Flamestrike]

@Flamestrike
What poundage is the bow the girl is using. Definitely not the same as a medieval war bow which is what the game is modeled on.

What the hell is a 'medieval war bow'?

The girl and guy above are using composite bows, common in ancient Persia, among the Mongols, Scaracens and elsewhere for the last 2000+ years.

'Draw, nock, aim, fire' isnt exactly a time consuming process.

As for a longbow:


That guy above is easily firing a dozen+ arrows per minute, and he's using a longbow (the slowest manual bow of all). He could double that fire rate with training and experience (he's not exactly racing to get his shots off above).

Bear in mind these guys and gals are just normal guys and girls with some training; they are nott Achillies-esque near mytholgical warriors of legend as represented by the Fighter class.

Remember; a Fighter, Barbarian or Ranger can pretty reliably kill a Grizzly bear from around 3rd level onwards, with nothing more than his bare hands. From 5th level, they're all but assured of victory.

Your average BM fighter has Str 18 at 5th level, dealing 5 damage per punch, plus a superiority dice. He Action surges on turn one, attacks 4 times at +7 (vs AC 11), likely dealing 4d8+20 damage, and bludgeoning a Grizzly to death with his bare hands inside of a few seconds. If he has the Tavern Brawler feat or the Unarmed combat fighting style from UA, the Bear is even more screwed.

If the guys and girls in the videos above an fire a bow that fast, then Achillies, William Tell, Cu Culain and similar legendary warriors (i.e. the Fighter) can do it even faster.

 

[CleverNickName]

I voted 5-6, but that's an average. Random encounters usually go for about 2-3 rounds, and scripted encounters tend to run about 8-10. When I'm designing an encounter, I try not to waste my players' time with dinky, low-risk encounters. That's what randoms are for.

 

[Zaukrie]

I mean.....go off the rails if you want, or don't....but I don't care about the rate of firing a bow.....

 

[Flamestrike]

It may be theoretically modeled on the medieval war bow but it's more modeled on movies like The Hunger Games which is not particularly realistic.

IMHO war bows should be strength based, not dex based. In my games, they're finesse weapons because it's such a common trope whether it's realistic or not.

I think trying to make D&D more realistic is a rabbit hole of never-ending rules changes, several of which are made by completely uninformed opinion and lack of hard data, especially for things other than longbows. But that's also a different topic.

Why make the Fighter 'realistic', when he's standing next to a dude who can shoot fire from his hands and teleport?

The Fighter isnt 'the guy at the gym'; he's Achilles, a legendary figure who makes entire armies tremble in fear. This dude can nock and fire a crossbow 8 times in 6 seconds at 20th level. He can reliably bludgeon a bear to death with his bare hands at 5th level in a matter of seconds. He can go toe to toe with a T-Rex, with nothing more than a rusty dagger at mid levels and win.

I hate DMs that try and say 'You cant do that because the middle aged accountant at my medieval reenactment group cant do that'. My reply is always (glancing at the Wizard player) 'I bet you that accountant cant shoot lasers out of his fingers, animate the dead and fly either?'

 

[Oofta]

Why make the Fighter 'realistic', when he's standing next to a dude who can shoot fire from his hands and teleport?

The Fighter isnt 'the guy at the gym'; he's Achilles, a legendary figure who makes entire armies tremble in fear. This dude can nock and fire a crossbow 8 times in 6 seconds at 20th level. He can reliably bludgeon a bear to death with his bare hands at 5th level in a matter of seconds. He can go toe to toe with a T-Rex, with nothing more than a rusty dagger at mid levels and win.

I hate DMs that try and say 'You cant do that because the middle aged accountant at my medieval reenactment group cant do that'. My reply is always (glancing at the Wizard player) 'I bet you that accountant cant shoot lasers out of his fingers, animate the dead and fly either?'

I like some semblance of reality in my games. I call it action movie reality.

But I don't have a problem with how many arrows are fired. I have a bit of an issue with longbows being dex based, but not enough to change the rule more than to make longbows versatile.