Combat rounds -- one minute

[Quasqueton]

Heh. If only all our arrows could be CGI'ed in after the combat is over by the DM.

Yeah, like the dragons and fireballs are CGI'ed in after the combat is over by the DM.

Quasqueton

 

[RithTheAwakener]

Im pretty sure in 2nd Edition 1 round was still 6 seconds, and a turn was 10 rounds, or 1 minute. I might be mistaken, but i think it has always been 6 second action time, and thats how we always play it.

Regarding 6 arrow shots in 6 seconds, it IS a fantasy game, and out of the ordinary stuff SHOULD happen

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

*Shrug*

Does it matter? You get one (or more) attacks in a round. Does it really matter how much time a round represents, so long as spell durations are tracked appropriately?

We used 1 minute rounds, but time really didn't matter except in X rounds and Y turns.

 

[Starglim]

It barely came up in our AD&D game, also played with Combat and Tactics. When I actually came to think about it, I've settled on a 6-second round as the ideal for at least one other game. It just fits very easily with bits and pieces I've picked up about human reaction time, decision making and the progress of real-life combat.

 

[Storyteller01]

That was the biggest problem for our group too. We could buy the whole "multiple swings" bit with one or two real opportunities, but that never addressed bow fire or dagger throwing, etc...

Turkish shortbow users can get off five shots in less than five seconds (he's holding four in his bow hand and one in his teeth). No reason shortbow users can't do the same. Now the longbow user...

 

[A'koss]

When we first starting playing way back when, we did go with the 1 minute rounds. But it didn't long for us to switch to 10 second rounds and this was long before Player's Option came out.

Of course now people say "How in blazes can he get off 4 arrows in 6 seconds?"

This is something that came up a while ago and I was surprised to find an expert archer who could loose up to 35 arrows (at least with some accuracy) in a minute. However, I should mention that the arrows were all in the ground by his feet and not in a quiver. So the 4 arrows/round is not as pure fantasy as it might first appear. What is out of line however are the effective ranges for missile weapons. Here's a slightly OT "did you know...?" If we take a 100lb pull longbow firing a typical war arrow, making a 400' shot would take 2 full seconds and the arrow will have lost 60% of it's energy by the time it got there. Firing an arrow 1000' would take an entire round (6 sec or thereabouts) just to reach it's target. Something to think about...

Cheers!

 

[Mark]

Yes, and we constantly argued about that facet of combat too.

Player: But I could totally swing more than once in one minute!
Me: Your attack roll is really a summary of the activity that takes place during that minute.
Player: But look, I'm swinging more than once. [gets out of chair to demonstrate] See? See?
Me: No.
Player: See? See?
Me: No.

That's just one of the things that makes me love 3E.

Oh, to have those many minuites and hours of time arguing that point back...

 

[Akrasia]

...
Yep. One minute rounds needid' killin' in a bad way. Glory be to 3e!

This is hardly an innovation of 3e. The Moldvay basic set from 1980 had 10 second rounds. This rule remained in Dungeons and Dragons from Moldvay through the Rules Cyclopedia.

Only the 'advanced' version of the game used full minutes.

 

[Nighthawk]

Initially, we did. That, however, changed quickly.

 

[3d6]

Im pretty sure in 2nd Edition 1 round was still 6 seconds, and a turn was 10 rounds, or 1 minute. I might be mistaken, but i think it has always been 6 second action time, and thats how we always play it.

Regarding 6 arrow shots in 6 seconds, it IS a fantasy game, and out of the ordinary stuff SHOULD happen

From the 2nd Edition AD&D Player's Handbook, page 15:
Round-in combat, a segment of time approximately one minute long, during which a character can accomplish one basic action. Ten combat rounds eqaul one turn.

There you have it.