D&D combats really don't have to take a long time to resolve

[GlassJaw]

I've been dealing with this for the past 4 years and I still don't have an easy answer. No matter I do, combat takes a long time. Period. Some things might speed it up a bit but I've never been happy with the speed of combat in 3ed.

I now use a laptop with the SRD on it. I can look up spells and rules faster than anyone with a book
For initiative, we use a cork board with cards so the order can be moved around quickly.
I have the players stat out things that change their stat considerably: raging, spells, etc
I don't allow summoning spells unless you have the creature statted out (without looking at the MM).
I stat out all the enemies beforehand and print them out so I have everything right in front of me.

Do these things? Sure, a little. Does combat still crawl alone? Absolutely.

The only thing that really seems to help is for me to memorize as many of the rules as possibly so I can adjudicate or make calculations on the fly.

The no talking when it's not your turn idea is an interesting one but I just can't see that happening. The game is supposed to be fun but that sounds more like punishment.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I run large group games (6-14 players) and found a half-dozen tips that speed things up immensely.

1. All players must take their action in 15-30 seconds or I tell them "You delay action; I'll come back after 2 other people go" If they draw a blank after that I tell them they delay until next round.

2. I have newbies tell me what they would like their character to do in plain english. (e.g. "I want to run up to Lord Doom and hit him.") I then lay out the 2-3 options available to them within the mechanics and let them choose. (Lord doom is too far away for you to reach and attack with a normal move+attack. You can either take a double move and be in position to hit him next round or charge him, getting a bonus to hit but a penalty to your AC.) This keeps the game moving but doesn't force the newbie to know every rule.

3. Assign newbies with casters a "buddy" who can help them deal with spell issues.

4. Trust your players and let them pre-roll dice in some situations; if you're cautious require another player witness it and/or have power attack/etc declared to them. The fighters, archers, and monks with 5+ attacks a round can really slow things down.

5. After a few rounds of combat tell them their opponents' AC or at least remind them what has/hasn't worked in previous rounds. The card-counter types have already narrowed it down anyway.

6. When initiative & the battlemat isn't absolutely necessary, don't use it. Go around the table in sequence one round at a time. E.G. if the players can see the cavalry charging over the hill but can tell they have 30 seconds 'til they arrive.

 

[fredramsey]

The game is supposed to be fun but that sounds more like punishment.

This is a true statement about a lot of systems, a lot of the time.

 

[GlassJaw]

One of the best rules I've heard in this thread is if someone is taking too long, they automatically delay and move on to the next player. It might rub some people the wrong way but it will get them thinking about what they want to do in the rounds to come.

I also see players trying to coordinate attacks way too much. I hear things like "well if you go here, then I'll attack this guy, and then you can cast a buff spell on me, etc". Spend a move action on your turn if you want to bark out orders or tactics.

 

[sniffles]

Ouch! That description of your former group sounds a little too familiar, Quasqueton. We don't take quite that long to play out combat, but it is rather slow, exponentially so as our group enlarges and our PCs increase in level. I find it particularly noticeable in the campaign I'm chronicling in story hour. We have 7 players, PCs now 9th level, and a 4 hour game session with one combat will often be 90% combat time (or so it seems; I have no empirical evidence to support this claim).

The biggest problem I see in our group is that everyone is always suggesting possible actions to other players. The "no talking outside your turn" rule seems like a good solution for this, but I'm a bit dubious how well it would work in our group. I fear most of the players would be insulted by such a suggestion.

Fear of attacks of opportunity is a big motivator for indecision, I think. I personally don't know why other players are so fearful of these. It's too much metagame thinking, IMHO. Naturally my character is going to do everything in her power to avoid exposing herself to attacks that she can't defend against, but I figure that in the heat of battle there isn't a lot of time to think.

I think the best way to run in combat is to say to myself, "what would my PC do?" and do that, even if it's not the best course of action tactically. If I do something stupid in character, I can live with the consequences.

 

[Oryan77]

Battles with my new group take much longer. Mainly because they actually use tactics (which my old group didn't). I like them using tactics but I'd like to speed it up. I don't want to discourage them from using tactics and maneuvers from the books by giving them a time limit.

What I'd like to do is take the focus off of the mat and keep the fight in their heads...but at the same time still using the mat. I wish I could get them to just think about doing something and tell me instead of looking at the mat to coordinate it.

It would be so much better if they said, "I'd like to run up this plank and jump over the ditch and try stabbing him in the back" and I just tell them to start moving their mini and say, "Well this guy gets an AoO on you, he missed, roll for your jump, you make it, you get a sneak attack so roll attacks". Instead they count out squares, try to avoid AoOs, position themselves for flanks, ect ect. I blame the mat for that, but the mat is so usefull!

 

[Gentlegamer]

Take the mat away, and then adjudicate it as you describe.

 

[fredramsey]

Take the mat away, and then adjudicate it as you describe.

Heresy!

That would require trust, and I never invite people who I trust to play a game in my house.



Unfortunately, that is the crux of this whole argument. Some people are comfortable with it, and some are not. Problem is, we seem to have been conditioned to think that if someone has a different idea than we do, they are inferior at best, and an enemy at worst.

"So this is how gaming dies. To thunderous arguing."

 

[Mallus]

"So this is how gaming dies. To thunderous arguing."

Its how gaming lived all these years, so its actually kinda fitting...

 

[Chaldfont]

Another thing to do to speed things up is make the players write out all those spell effects they have on them on index cards in front of them. Before we did this, we had problems with our ranger:

6 attacks
two different weapons (+2 longsword, +1 keen longsword)
bull's strength'd
enlarged

Now that everything is pre-figured, he just grabs a big cup (thanks, WotC, for all the 30th Anniversary D&D cups!), and his color-coordinated d20's and damage dice and rolls three attacks at a time. Now he's the quickest player in the group instead of the slowest.