Do your combats take a lot of Real Time to play out? Why?

[Lanefan]

What makes the biggest difference to overall combat length, all other things being equal, is complexity of opponents. A party taking on a dozen Giants doesn't (usually) take all that long. A party taking on a dozen adventurers takes for-nearly-ever; the all-time record for what I've DM-ed was a large and powerful party assaulting a stronghold full of powerful levelled foes - about 50 participants in total, not including summoned monsters etc. That nightmare took 3 complete sessions to resolve; at one point a single round took 2.5 hours...and that's using a 1e-based d6 initiative system!

Plotting the bad guys' tactics in advance doesn't help very much unless you know exactly what the PC's are going to do throughout the combat, as to be at all convincing the bad guys have to be able to adapt to how the combat is going.

We re-roll initiatives each round, and find that doesn't add too much time except in the simplest of combats.

Side note: the longest combat by rounds I've ever seen was a single character fighting her own clone one-on-one...the AC far outstripped the ability to hit...38 rounds later, the clone won.

Lanefan

 

[bento]

I have a group that ranges between 6 and 8 players, often with one who's never played before (its a university gaming group).

Our typical combat encounter runs between 45 minutes and 2 hours, going on average of 5 rounds. That's one to three minutes per person.

We've done several things to speed it up:
- Roll for initiative at the start of the evening
- Experienced players talk with newer players on options prior to their turn
- Roll both attack and damage at the same time
- If you say "I don't know" at the start of your turn, you take an automatic delay and get bumped to the end of the round

Yet several things always slow it down:
- Not reading spells properly
- Side conversations
- GM's love for mass combat

The last item I have for speeding up combat seems to help the best because its intended for people who aren't paying attention or just don't know what to do. Often the player will perk up and pay better attention, or an experienced player will help them out with their options.

A couple of sessions ago I handed over the GM's reigns to a player and its giving me some new perspectives on the other side of the shield. I've learned that its incredibly hard to stay focused on long combat encounters - I'm now as guilty for the side conversations and zoning out with a book. I've also learned that when a player is doing something different, like trying out a new feat or casting spells offensively for the first time, find a way to make them feel good for trying something new.

 

[Raven Crowking]

The things that takes the longest... 1) players who don't know their characters abilities and try to look them up when it's their turn; if it takes too long I just say "you go total defense for a round or hold your action until you are ready";

I had the same problem in my group until I decided that "deliberate" could be a combat action. If you stop to deliberate long enough, you lose your move action. Keep deliberating and you lose all actions. Suddenly people knew what they could do, what they wanted to do, and just did it.

In other games, the things that take the longest are as above, particularly less rules-savvy players who want to use one of their abilities (multi-shot or flurry of blows or whathaveyou) but just don't know how they work and have to have them explained every single time. Frustrating!

I think this is exacerbated by the speed of leveling in 3.X. Players don't really have the chance to really understand what their characters are capable of before new powers are added. My players used to complain about my slowing advancement, but when I DMed the WLD using normal advancement rules it didn't take long for them to realize the advantages of learning what you can do before being thrust into something new.

RC

 

[Raven Crowking]

I too prefer less table talk during combat, whether I'm playing or DMing. Just make your choice and live with it!

OFFER ADVICE: As a reaction, you may call out to a companion to avoid a certain course of action or to perform a certain course of action. This requires you to pay close attention to your comrades in combat. As a result, you lose your next move action.

 

[Raven Crowking]

We re-roll initiatives each round, and find that doesn't add too much time except in the simplest of combats.

I do this, also, and have found that it aids my players in paying attention to what is happening when it isn't their turn.

RC

 

[el-remmen]

I too prefer less table talk during combat, whether I'm playing or DMing. Just make your choice and live with it!

I have a very firm rule about only speaking on your turn as a free action and no more than could reasonably said in 6 seconds.

All strategizing must be done in character.

Obviously, these rules are bent for newer players who are still getting used to things - or when someone calls for what we call "An 18 intelligence moment" (where these is a quick group consultation to represent that intellect) - for those whose characters are a lot smarter than they are - and even these are rare.

 

[Henry]

I use something similar to the "deliberate" action. If someone takes more than 20 seconds to decide what to do, I count down on my fingers visually from 5 to 1. At "1" they lost their turn due to inaction. Sometimes, something, even if it's the wrong action, is better than no action, when you're dealing with a table full of people who want their turn to begin.

For us, combats take usually about an hour. It's only taken 2 hours or more if I planned an involved combat, enemies in waves, lots of spellcasters with lingering area effects, etc. If it's just straight muscle-on-muscle, then I've never seen one take more than 30 minutes. If it's lots of complex spell use, then it can take a very long time, indeed.

 

[Shade]

You (and others) might find these two threads interesting:


Average Length of Combats [Poll]
[Poll] Average Length of Combats (Redux)

Interesting indeed. I'm guessing that the fact that most folks play at low levels equates with the less number of turns. At levels 1-2, you can easily die from weapon damage in 1 round.

 

[Quasqueton]

No offense meant to anyone, but I have to ask:

Those of you saying your combats usually last X time, have you actually timed (more than once), or are you saying this based on feel?

Most people can't tell time length very well based on feel. Check this by asking a friend to time for you. They tell you when to start, and then you tell them when you think one minute is up. Then they tell you how much time has actually passed. It gets much harder to judge two minutes, five minutes, etc.

This is why many service industries (like restaurants) use time coding on tickets/receipts. "I've been waiting 20 minutes for my steak." But the ticket shows it's only been 6 minutes.

I'd really like someone to actually time their combats over the next few weeks rather than say what they feel. Again, no offense, but personal judgement really isn't good for this kind of thing.

Quasqueton

 

[el-remmen]

I'd really like someone to actually time their combats over the next few weeks rather than say what they feel. Again, no offense, but personal judgement really isn't good for this kind of thing.

Quasqueton

I wish I could, but I am not running D&D currently.

I based my estimation on the fact that our sessions last about 6 hours (noon to 6:30 with a 30 minute meal break) - we typically stopped for a meal around 4 pm and when possible I would delay combats until after the break knowing we could usually get it done before the end of the session with time left over for wrap-up.

Of course, sometimes sessions ended mid-combat as well. . . but this was rare.

I did have very detailed records of the round-length of combats for the campaign.