1 Minute Duration Spells

[PinkRose]

Tracking 10 rounds isn't difficult, just fiddly and unnecessary, in my opinion.
"1 Encounter" does the same thing, but we aren't allowed to use "Encounter Powers" as a term in 5e so 1 minute works for me.

Just because WotC isn't using 4e terms in 5e, doesn't mean mine or your table's can't.

 

[Sadrik]

I prefer one minute duration spells to something like 5 or 10 minutes.

Note that 50 round combats in 4e may have been common, I am hoping for 10 round combats in 5e. 1 min or 10 rounds is perfect in this case.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'd prefer they just say "1 encounter"and be done with it. Whether that is 1 minute or 5 makes little difference and can be handwaved -- the majority of combats will be under 10 rounds.

 

[CleverNickName]

Because if they added encounter durations, most of the non-4e players will not touch the game with a 10 foot pole.

Yep.

 

[Incenjucar]

Note that 50 round combats in 4e may have been common

Whut?

No.

No no no.

Not at all.

4E combats tend to resolve in 4-6 rounds.

 

[YRUSirius]

After thinking about it, 1 minute duration spells seem like a good compromise between the two factions. 4E players who don't mind 'encounter' lingo can read the 1 minute duration as 'until the encounter ends' and 3E/2E/1E players can track their spell duration if they wish.

"Man, I always track the duration of my Spiritual Hammer but no encounter ever lasts more than 10 rounds!"

-YRUSirius

 

[BobTheNob]

Note that 50 round combats in 4e may have been common, I am hoping for 10 round combats in 5e. 1 min or 10 rounds is perfect in this case.

Jeez. If 4e combat took 50 rounds it would take months to resolve one encounter! It was slow enough trying to do the small handful of rounds it actually took, 50 is unimaginable!

 

[howandwhy99]

Yeah, spell durations for the last dozen years are pathetically short. Make them all daily or permanent again. I mentioned this over on CM. They way they are doing spells is abysmal. It's as if they can't think of anything regarding the game except 60 second combats strung together.

 

[DDogwood]

If tracking 10 rounds - either counting up from 1 to 10, or down from 10 to 1 - is too much for people I'd hate to see how badly they mangle the tracking of their hp.

It's not "too much". It's one more thing to track, when we are already tracking HP, positioning, initiative, actions, advantage/disadvantage, and any number of situational modifiers. Every additional thing you need to track increases the odds that you will somehow screw up something else.

Worse, it is very hard to justify the value of tracking this. Are most 1-minute spells so powerful that adding an extra round or two to the duration, once in every dozen combats, will be completely unbalancing? Is the game so simplistic that adding one more countdown is the only way to make it interesting? Do one minute durations add verisimilitude because it's impossible to accept magic that doesn't jive with modern timekeeping techniques?

 

[tlantl]

This is what's commonly known as the Rule 0 Fallacy: "it's not broken if you can fix it."

But in this case the spell's not broken. The person tracking it is just lazy. So be lazy and make it an encounter duration.