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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DNH" data-source="post: 5648010" data-attributes="member: 63615">Having been back playing 4e for a while now, following about 15 months off, our group (and me in particular, as DM) was getting fed up with the extended combat encounters. We found that we were seemingly unable to finish a single combat encounter in less then three hours, which was clearly too much. I looked at the reasons for it and investigated a number of options as proposed by any number of blogs and forum posts and what-have-yous online. Here are some of my findings and conclusions ...<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We play using a VTT. We are a group of old friends who have played since we were at school together 25 years ago and more, but we all now live in different parts of the UK and so VTTs are our only option.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Despite all its bells and whistles (or possibly because of them), the VTT was probably slowing us down somewhat. It takes time to select your targets, click on the right character sheet, the right power, apply all the modifiers and all that.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">So we decided to try a more lo-tech approach. We now use a different VTT (MapTool) as a purely representative battlemat thing - no character sheets in there, no macros, nothing. We now play old-school with paper character sheets and actual dice.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">But that wasn't enough.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I had previously introduced a morale system for ending fights before that "total massacre" point. In short, if an NPC is bloodied, if its leader or half of its allies has died or fled, or if an NPC successfully Intimidates it, it makes a saving throw or flees.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">And that was better ... but still not quite enough.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I read that Combat Speed article on DDi and promptly dismissed all of its suggestions as either already being done, too drastic or not suitable for our group.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I reached the conclusion, and have since read something similar online, that the *only* thing that is going to make a significant difference to the speed of your combat encounters is having players who know their characters, and their character's powers, well. Too much time is lost to uhm'ing and ah'ing.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Unfortunately for our group, we don't get to play often enough (once a week for three hours) to gain that kind of expertise. And none of us is going to sit down and study hard for a game.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">So that meant I had to take another look at those DDi measures ... and so I took the plunge and halved all the NPCs' hit points.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">That worked! We put away a good combat encounter in about an hour. What is better, none of the players really noticed; certainly not enough to comment.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The NPCs were still hitting as hard and as often as before, so they were still a threat. They just didn't last as long.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">And it occurred to me that some of the weaker NPCs, now with halved HPs, are essentially some kind of uber-minion.</li> </ul>Our group rather plays for the story. Sure, combat encounters are fun but when they become a bit of a chore like they were doing, that's less fun. My players (and me, certainly) would much rather get through two or three quick encounters and have the story progress throughout the session, than spend each week plodding through a single combat encounter and not really achieve anything more than that.In summary then, we are now enjoying a game that has increased in speed by a factor of three, due to the following ...<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Less reliance on a fancy VTT</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A system to end combats without having to kill EVERYONE!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Halving all NPC hit points</li> </ol>Like I say in the post title, this works for our group and I realise it's not for everyone, but I wanted to post a little success story instead of the usual gripes!</blockquote>

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