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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6363954" data-attributes="member: 996">The guidelines call out 6-8 moderate-hard encounters, and I think that's what they mean.  I'm not sure the difficutly label is correct, because, if you're outnumbered by whimpy monsters the equivalent difficulty gets boosted a lot, even though a well-placed AE can own the encounter.Also, we don't have any clear ideas on the number of rounds an encounter will last.  From the playtest, I'd guess around 3 unless dice go dramatically cold on both sides. That's clearly intentional.  In 4e, there was no need to balance classes by dictating the 'length of the day,' so it was a non-issue - and encounters tended to go 5 or more rounds.  In 3e, tier 1 classes were clearly overpowered.  5e had to rein in spells/day to even come close to balancing casters, but couldn't do so to the level needed to maintain balance (not without provoking the cries of 'not D&D,' anyway).  So it had to /also/ ratchet up to 6-8 moderate-tough encounters per day. I think you exaggerate.  If you cast a spell effectively in the first round of the combat, you've probably shortened the combat.  It's unlikely you'll be plinking for more than a couple rounds after that unless it's a /really/ tough combat, then you'll cast another spell to help save the day.   5e emphasizes fast combat, so they'll only be boring in the sense of repetitive and/or anti-climactic.</blockquote>