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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BeauNiddle" data-source="post: 2775483" data-attributes="member: 836">Some suggestions that helped out my group:Have one of the players run the initiative track. Since that is the major piece of paperwork at the start of a fight it leaves you time to get any minatures you need out, make sure you have all the notes you need and get yourself into the mind frame of the opponents. During the combat it is that players job to make sure everybody has a turn prepared and to spend time explaining what just happened to any players who weren't paying attention. This leaves you free to focus on the health and tactics of the enemies.When DMing I was always being distracted by people wanting me to rehash what had already happened and other minutea leaving me no time to organise spells, etc. Also if you have a player who only ever pays attention during their turn you could give the job to them forcing them to be involved for the whole combat.My second suggestion is to have your players roll attack and damage dice at the same time. It's not a major speed up but it can help (especially if some of your players like to invoke the gods of luck before rolling). It also helps the description of the game - instead ofPlayer: come on lucky dicePlayer: hmm that was a 10 plus my modifiers, hmm... AC15DM: you just manage to penetrate the orcs defences ...Player: come on lucky dicePlayer: hmm that was a 4 plus my modifiers, hmm... 10 damageDM: virtually cutting him in half. It collapses twitching to the ground.You getPlayer: come on lucky dicePlayer: hmm plus my modifiers,Player: AC 15DM: #small nod#Player: 10 damageDM: With a might sweep you bring your sword down hard on the villaneous foe almost spliting him in half. It collapses twitching to the groundIt doesn't look like much but it stops those odd occurances where a barely successfully hit does massive damage and those massively successful hits do minimum damage.My third suggestion is to use cue cards (small 3" by 5" cards often used for recipies) with all the (important) details of the monster. AC, move, hp, weapons, armour, skills, feats, etc. If you have a group of hobgoblins, goblins, wolves and a barghest it's a lot easier moving 4 small cards around than it is flicking through the Monster manual. If you have one critter with lots of special abilities you can leave the monster manual open on that page for quick reference and deal with the mundanes on cards. It's a bit of work to write up the monster the first time your party meets one but after a couple of sessions you have a prepared pile which also makes running random encounters easier.They helped my party, I hope they help yours</blockquote>

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