Combat in D&D is too fast

[Janx]

I ran my 1st "World of the Stick" adventure last night.

It was a basic 4 room dungeon crawl to clean out the kobold raiders nest.

3 PCs (half-orc monk, half-orc barbarian, half-elven spellthief)

We started at 7 PM. We got done at 9 PM. The PCs "won"

We had the following encounters:
meet Earl Grayson, owner of Grayson Tea Trading Company to hire them to kill kobolds
meet some hick on the road that directed them to nearest kobold dungeon
kill 2 kobold guards outside dungeon
kill 3 kobolds in Room 1
kill 2 kobold hallway patrol while disarming DC21 trap
kill 2 kobolds & kobold wizard in room 4
while being ambushed from behind by orc and 4 more kobolds
scoop the loot, get XP, go home

There were 4 distinct encounters (init was rolled, kobolds were killed).

We had a battlemat. I drew out a mini-map as the party advanced so they could see where they been, and get a sense of which directions they could go.

We had probably 3 attacks of opportunity that came up.


Here's what I surmise was how we got through everything so fast. The players did not dick around and waste time on their turns. Their turn came up, they moved, they rolled, they dealt damage. They didn't argue about rules. They had a battlemat and a mini-map, so they weren't wonderering where things were or where they were. They paid attention to the game.

Here's the slowest things that happened:
some players had to goto bathroom
we had to look up the Charging rule
a player had a round of indecision at one point

If you're game isn't going fast, take some notes. Write down any times that come up where you feel that things are going slow. Those are the areas that are probably the problem. I bet the common trend will be:
rules lookups
rules debates (can I or can't I do X)
"what's going on" repeat explanations
doing math the hard way ("10 + 2 + um .....3 is uh .... 16, right?")
can't make up their mindisms ("I'm going to .... uh...no wait... I don't want to do that....")

 

[delericho]

Yep, that sounds about right from my experiences.

In general, I expect players to be able to declare the first thing their character is going to do on his turn almost immediately. They do, after all, have the whole round to think about it. Actions beyond the first might take longer, since you don't know the outcome of that first action yet, but shouldn't take too long.

I also expect players to have looked up any rules and/or spells they need for their actions before we get there. There are plenty of PHBs at the table, so have at it! (In fact, unless I know the spell effect off the top of my head, I require them to look up the spell and then hand me the PHB to peruse the description as I require.)

Because we run combat fast, there's very little call for repeat descriptions - fast combat holds the attention better, which removes much of that need. And, unless the combat runs for a long time, there's no need for mid-combat smoking/toilet breaks.

Finally, we don't allow redos. If you forget to add your +2 flanking bonus on your turn, and therefore miss by 1, well that's a shame. You'll not forget it next time. But, once we've moved on, that's it.

 

[papakee]

low level fast..high level slow

Yeah, combat at low levels is fast. Its when one gets to the mid levels that it begins to slow down. Mostly with all the extraneous magical stuff going on. Bless, bain, shield, protection from evil, bulls strength, true strike, hallow, unhallow, darkness, etc. etc. that causes one to refigure their attack bonus each round. Then their are special attack abilities for creatures such as improved grapple, trip, swallow whole, etc. Then there are movement obstacles, web, entrangle, walls that get thrown into the battle. Then there are special defense abilities for creatures such as fire resistance, damage resistance. Then there is flying and burrowing creatures that take the battle into the vertical dimension.

But you are quiet correct on rule lookups and debates. That does slow things down considerably. Go with the flow and resolve after the game. Next time you can apply the rule correctly.

 

[delericho]

Yeah, combat at low levels is fast. Its when one gets to the mid levels that it begins to slow down. Mostly with all the extraneous magical stuff going on. Bless, bain, shield, protection from evil, bulls strength, true strike, hallow, unhallow, darkness, etc. etc. that causes one to refigure their attack bonus each round.

I've found that the key here is preparation, and notes.

When the Fighter has Power Attack, he should have prepared a sheet giving all his power attack options (or, at least, all the ones he'll actually use). Likewise for Expertise, and especially if he has both.

Spells that apply buffs to the character as a whole should have their effects noted directly on the character sheet (I use the Mad Irishman's character forms, so printing new character sheets is trivial). And, if the character uses the same buffs a lot (Clerics with Divine Power and Righteous Might, I'm looking at you) should have those changes to the stats already pre-figured.

For conditions and special maneuvers, cards giving the required rules are a godsend. (The Fiery Dragon Battleboxes are ideal here.)

It is certainly true that high-level combat is more involved than low-level. And it's also true that it will inevitably slow down somewhat. But, as with most things, there are a variety of simple tricks that can be employed to cut down on the complexity.

Certainly, one shouldn't have to 'refigure their attack bonus each round'. Where modifiers are reasonably fixed, write the result (not the modifiers) down somewhere. Then, just apply the changes that only apply this round on top. (So, write down the results of applying bless, bane, shield, protection from evil and bull's strength. Then, just add the true strike on top for that one attack, apply the darkness, hallow and unhallow when you enter those areas, and so on.)

 

[Dracorat]

meet Earl Grayson, owner of Grayson Tea Trading Company to hire them to kill kobolds

Heh, some module designer somewhere was feeling punny...

 

[Janx]

Heh, some module designer somewhere was feeling punny...

Yeah, that was me. It was a rapidly written module in our not too serious new campaign "World of the Stick" in the style of the Order of the Stick comic.

I needed a name, I called him Grayson. He needed to hire the PCs to goto some town with a randomly generated long name that was fairly wealthy. So I said he ran a Tea trading company. From there, Earl was just too obvious.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"Earl Grayson" rules. I may have to yoink that for a minor (never seen) noble.

 

[Diremede]

Combat gets a bit more complicated when you have more than just 3 players as well. When you have 6 players, you not only have to keep them in to it, but you have twice as many bathroom runs, twice as many turns, and with spell casters who cast area of effect spells, you have to determine the area, who is affected, and roll the saving throws. This gets even more complicated at higher levels.

Personally I have found that quick combat relies on a couple things.

1. The DM should be knowledgable about the rules, and be quick to make a ruling.
2. If the character is going to charge, trip, or cast a spell they need to have the rules out and ready, and understand how to do it, before they do it, with 5 other players going before your next turn you should be able to figure it out.
3. As the DM if you have spell casting NPC's or monsters with spell like abilities, get familiar with the spells that creature has and create a "tactics" list that kind of breaks down what the NPC or monster will do on what round or situation.
4. Out of game conversation. This can slow down combat quite a bit. However in my game I allow a certain amount of story telling as well, thats the reason why me and my friends get together, to have fun and share stories from real life as well as the story thats being played in D&D, it just makes the experience fun.

Even with a bit of out of game conversation, I would say in our small 3 1/2 to 4 hour gaming window that we get in at least 2 decent size (high EL encounters) combat scenarios per session, or 3 or 4 smaller ones, as well as some meaningful plot progression.

 

[kenobi65]

When you have 6 players...you have twice as many bathroom runs

QFT.

I'm about to go on a four-day weekend game-a-thon with my old gaming group (6 players, plus myself as the primary DM). There are several people in the group who need to make frequent bathroom breaks, and there's one guy that, when he goes, he's in there for 20 minutes (don't ask).

What kills me is that, without fail, these folks get up to go to the bathroom immediately before their turn!! "Well, it's Gerri's turn...and, she, of course, is in the bathroom." GAH! Take your turn, make your attacks, and then go tinkle!

Back on topic...yup, low-level combats are quick, esp. if the players know what they're doing. You've just got fewer options, and you're frequently mowing down bad guys with single hits.

 

[RFisher]

Here's what I surmise was how we got through everything so fast. The players did not dick around and waste time on their turns. Their turn came up, they moved, they rolled, they dealt damage. They didn't argue about rules. They had a battlemat and a mini-map, so they weren't wonderering where things were or where they were. They paid attention to the game.

Gah! Work is the time for effeciently getting things done. Game night is the time for wasting time.

YMMV.