D&D General Players who take Excruciatingly long turns: solution?

[payn]

Ok, a twenty four rounds combat took us a bit less under two hours. A six round combat usually takes around 15 to 20 minutes sometimes less.
Edit: And we roll initiative every single round. Does it mean that you roll only once per combat?????

Rolling every round sounds like a headache but VTT makes it pretty easy if you want to do it. Though, I dont think its a popular method.

 

[Mort]

Ok, a twenty four rounds combat took us a bit less under two hours. A six round combat usually takes around 15 to 20 minutes sometimes less.
Edit: And we roll initiative every single round. Does it mean that you roll only once per combat?????

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to test out the Harengon fighter (ambush maneuver)/bard/gloomstalker/wizard (warmage) with the alert feat and a weapon of warning!

 

[Reynard]

Ok, a twenty four rounds combat took us a bit less under two hours. A six round combat usually takes around 15 to 20 minutes sometimes less.
Edit: And we roll initiative every single round. Does it mean that you roll only once per combat?????

Once at the beginning of combat has been the standard since 3E. What version/edition are you playing?

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to test out the Harengon fighter (ambush maneuver)/bard/gloomstalker/wizard (warmage) with the alert feat and a weapon of warning!

Hmm. Seems like they really ought to add that Swashbuckler dip.

 

[Mort]

Hmm. Seems like they really ought to add that Swashbuckler dip.

Well...

I wouldn't want to be accused of being a powergaming min-maxer!

 

[Helldritch]

Once at the beginning of combat has been the standard since 3E. What version/edition are you playing?

5ed what else?
This has been something players has been advocating for in my games. They want to roll every round... So we use side initiative since... 1ed? BECMI? Honnestly, I have been doing this for so long that changing it would be pointless. This is what my players want, on this who am I to downgrade their pleasure?

 

[Helldritch]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to test out the Harengon fighter (ambush maneuver)/bard/gloomstalker/wizard (warmage) with the alert feat and a weapon of warning!

Side initiative pretty much neuter initiative rolls. You would be first in your turn. But you would not affect the initiative roll. Only the pure die is used in side initiative.

Edit: Unless, if some reason, you had been separated from your party. Then all initiative modifiers would apply as per the rules. Of course.

 

[humble minion]

The glib answer to 'how did you solve similar issues' is 'our high-level 3e campaign ground to a miserable halt due to system-breaking maths and option overload and we didn't start playing again until 5e and covid lockdowns came along'

More seriously, one thing that's occasionally worked for me in this sort of situation is to send out a group email asking everyone for ideas and feedback on how the game could be improved or made more fun. This makes it less likely that the slower players will think that it's all just you picking on them, and they get the chance to discuss how the game is working for them too. If your faster players (and you) talk about combat speed being an issue, then you can ask the entire group for ideas about how to speed it up. And this includes your slower players, because maybe they're finding it frustrating as well.

Basically, make it a collaborative effort to improve the game for everyone, not just the DM imposing rules that certain players might feel disproportionately targeted by.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ok, a twenty four rounds combat took us a bit less under two hours. A six round combat usually takes around 15 to 20 minutes sometimes less.
Edit: And we roll initiative every single round. Does it mean that you roll only once per combat?????

That’s been the standard since at least 3e.

 

[gnarlygninja]

That was my assumption. The color coding suggested enemy, but the names suggested NPCs.

But then "Cooter the Archmage" would be a cool villain to fight.

This one would be tough for me to keep a straight face for, cooter was my mom's family's euphemism of choice for a certain part of anatomy