D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 Expediting Combat?

[BENINHB]

Planing ahead and writing things down helps a lot.

I keep note cards with my stats when under common buffs, saves a lot of math at the table.

also i made some note cards with special abilities and special actions on them so i don't have to flip through the book to find the details of grapple etc.

By the way i hate the way grappling works in 3.5 (of course it could be my dm's interpretation of the rules, he and i don't see eye to eye on it)

 

[Sindenky]

my players started doing something that makes it a bit faster. They roll a d20 and see if they hit, then roll d20 for the next attack they make in that round. They do this and see how many of there attacks hit. Then they roll damage accordingly. One of my players does it so he can roll 3d8's for damage instead of 1d8 three times.

The penalty for them doing this is if the enemy dies after the 1st attack they either lose the attack or can chose a new target, depending on hoe the campaign is going.

They also all keep track of what the others have rolled to see if they hit or not. If the player to the left of you did not hit on a 25 you will not hit on a 25. If over time you see you need a 23 to hit, o if you have a BAB of +10/+5 you know you need a 13+ on the 1st roll and a 18+ on the 2nd.

just something you can try.

 

[Beginning of the End]

IME, the #1 time bloat in running combat is waiting for people to make decisions. (That includes the DM.) For your own decisions, don't sweat the details: It's almost certainly better to make a fast decision than a tactically perfect decision. For your players, announce the person on deck to encourage them to pay attention and have a decision ready. If that's insufficient, start imposing declaration time limits.

(There's no need to be fascist about it: You're a human being not a computer or a chess clock. If the battlefield situation is radically altered and forces someone to look up a spell they hadn't anticipated using 20 seconds earlier, that's okay once in awhile.)

The #2 time bloat is poor bookkeeping. If you've got someone who has to re-calculate his hit bonus every single round then you need to make them fix that problem. (This includes people who are benefiting from a buff spell like bull's strength: Calculate your current number and jot it down somewhere.)

But poor bookkeeping also applies to the GM: Prep your encounters. If you're dealing with complex monsters, take a highlighter and mark 4 or 5 specific abilities you tend to forget or specifically want to make sure you use.

The #3 time bloat is waiting for information to be transferred. Keeping target numbers secret for a couple of rounds may be effective, but after that you're just wasting time: Tell people the magic number so that they can just tell you if they hit or not. (If they are waiting for you to tell them if they hit, encourage them to roll the damage while they're waiting.)

And, once again, this goes both ways: Prep a cheat sheet with the ACs of the PCs so that you don't have to ask for them every round. When the party gets hit with a fireball, tell them the Reflex DC and roll the damage while they're rolling their saves.

Similarly, encourage your players to give you all the information you need to resolve their actions without being prompted. (I've got one player who simply refuses to announce what the saving throw DC is for her spells. Drives me insane. When you say "I cast fireball", the next words out of your mouth should always be "the Reflex DC is X". There is never going to be a situation where I don't want to know that information. I've got another player who says, "I attack the orc!" and then waits for permission before rolling the attack roll. Why? I have no idea. But this kind of meaningless verbal by-play is a huge, pointless timesink.)

 

[Cirripedius]

Notecards with spells, status effects and abilities on them. A whiteboard to keep track of important group information on. The Death Penalty for phone conversations at the table.

I like the notecard idea. I will do that (I'm a college student and I study with notecards so I have literally dozens of packs lying around).

Something my group has developed a problem with is some players actually having the gaul to pull out their computers and start playing WoW. This hasn't happened with me as DM yet but at the start of my upcoming summer campaign i am telling everybody that if you are caught doing anything on a computer that doesnt involve your character's resources then there will be severe consequences.

One guy who does this is rolling a kobold sorceror with 4 character flaws/bonus feats. I told him he could (because I am too leniant) but there would be consequences. This particular character will die as soon as he so much as checks his facebook. I think I am secretly hoping one of my other PCs hears me say "kobold" when introducing him and decides to hit him with a Power Attack.

 

[rusty2667]

This particular character will die as soon as he so much as checks his facebook. I think I am secretly hoping one of my other PCs hears me say "kobold" when introducing him and decides to hit him with a Power Attack.

Dude...abide

 

[Magesmiley]

One thing my group does is keep a sticky note on top of their character sheet. We use it to note any temporary changes to the character (typically due to buffs) and keep a running total, so that it doesn't have to be constantly refigured during combat.

Another tool we use that helps a lot is SpellGen. You can download it from d20 Spellbook Generator
In short you get handy spell sheets you can customize for your spellcasters which also figures out ranges, dice, save DCs, etc and also has a summary of each spell. Its a really good tool.

I have a rule in force that if players want to have secondary creatures (mounts, familiars, summoned monsters) in play, that he/she is responsible for having the creature's stats handy. A copy of the SRD is real handy for making a sheet for these.

Keeping the initiative order up and prominenlty visible to everyone is real important so that everyone knows when they are due to go. I usually put one of the players at the far end of the table in charge of it (which can also be a good way to get a player who has a tendency to drift off to pay attention).

 

[Cirripedius]

Here is a file I made last night for expediting PC and NPC creation