Combat length

[Wormwood]

Our group: 4 characters + 1 Companion

16th level combats: 1 to 1.5 hours

17th level combats: 45 minutes

The difference was a new DM who cut down table talk, uses DnD4eCM like a pro (a computer hooked up to a 52" LCD screen helps), and enforces a 15 minute break every 2 hours.

Twice the encounters every Sunday. Definitely worth passing up a few jokes between turns

 

[Votan]

To some extent, I have a pretty good idea of where everyone is on the battlefield anyway. (It's like playing blindfolded chess, except you have fewer pieces to work with).

Do you ever have trouble with the players misunderstanding relative positions? We do a mini-less game most of the time and this happens with alarming frequency (and has resulted in characters dying because the player misunderstood relative positions and did something suicidal).

 

[Ariosto]

Not hard data, but I estimate the AD&D group (5 or 6 PCs per session) in which I've been playing takes between a minute and two per round for actual game procedures ...
and about 10 minutes per combat to recite lines from Monty Python movies, make horrible puns, and engage in three-way dwarf/ elf/ half-orc feuding.

 

[Yavathol]

Being aware of this thread, I took care to record the times for my last game. We are normally 6 players, but 2 couldn't make it, so 2 of us ran two characters (and I wouldn't say their rounds took significantly longer than the others). At 16th level, it is taking us 20min to complete a round, and it took about 8 rounds for the fight, with the last couple taking less time as the number of monsters dropped. Yes, it took us about 2 and a quarter hours for the total fight, and that sounds about normal.

We normally try and have at most 1 or 2 fights in our 4-6 hour play sessions....

 

[MerricB]

Do you ever have trouble with the players misunderstanding relative positions? We do a mini-less game most of the time and this happens with alarming frequency (and has resulted in characters dying because the player misunderstood relative positions and did something suicidal).

A couple of times, but it's pretty rare. Mostly, the melee characters get into melee (and flank); the ranged characters stay back.

Cheers!

 

[Bullgrit]

I thought these data points might be interesting - if you've got such results for *any* edition of D&D, please post them!

I used to keep detailed data on this kind of thing because I didn't think my experience with D&D3 combat matched what so many people were complaining about:
Total Bullgeek

Total Bullgeek

My group were not "speed players." I didn't keep a timer for anyone -- I just checked my watch and noted the time on a piece of paper. I don't think my Players even knew I was tracking any of this. So this data shows just our normal, casual game play.

[I've listed this data in a thread here at ENWorld, but my search ability is not active right now.]

Bullgrit

 

[jcayer]

I've got a group of 5. They are 11th level. An encounter usually take 1-1.5 hours.
A couple weeks ago, someone here said they offer +1 to damage when a player completes his turn in under a minute. I tried it last game and it really made a difference, not in just how combat played, but the intensity of the game increased. Everyone worked to make sure they were ready to go and combat did seem to go quicker.
We play tonight and I intend to tweak it a little for my gang, giving the healer the option of +1 on healing instead of damage, and being a little more forgiving when the wizard targets a host of creatures.
Still, this is worth trying.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Combat can be fast... in every edition, but it is important to allow players to make mistakes....

 

[Holy Bovine]

We have gotten to the point now that with only 1 or 2 exceptions combats are finished in a hour. A few last longer a few last less but that has become the average. We still have players that take too long (3 minutes is my max) with their turns but they are offset by the ones who take all of 30 seconds.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Five minute rounds. That's a good clip.

Five minute rounds is perfect, IMO, for D&D. I don't think that we ever managed five minutes during our short time playing 4E, but we were new to the rules and we were using miniatures. (Other pros or cons aside, using miniatures slows down combat, IMO.)

I think my M&M session -- ballparking, since I didn't time it -- easily managed five minute rounds, despite being new to the rules and using minis (albeit in a much less tactical way than with D&D). I expect we might get in down in the three to 3.5 minute range eventually.