D&D 5E Dungeons & Dragons is X Percent Combat

[CleverNickName]

On average, what percentage of D&D is combat? Or to put it more specifically, how much of every gaming session is spent in combat?
Vote for the correct percentage.

(This is obviously inspired by recent threads about the upcoming Dr. Who 5E game.)

 

[CleverNickName]

My regular Friday Night gaming group (I'm a player, not the DM) is all about the combat. Lately our gaming sessions last for about 5 hours, and except for a 30-minute prologue and a 30-minute epilogue, the whole thing is just one combat scene...or two combat scenes, separated by a short rest. Every now and then, rarely, we will have a trap or puzzle to figure out, but those are few and far between. So I voted for the 71-80% range.

In my other group (that I DM), it's quite different. There's about 2 or 3 combat scenes per gaming session, but the battles typically last only 20 or 30 minutes each unless something strange is going on (like a boss battle or a lair monster). Most of our gaming session is spent talking in-character, chatting around the campfire or haggling with merchants, or trying to decipher a clue. I'd say combat only accounts for about 31-40% of that gaming group...but we're currently on hiatus, so I couldn't vote for that one.

 

[GMMichael]

(This is obviously inspired by recent threads about the upcoming Dr. Who 5E game.)

Then you should remove the part about "how much of each session," since that's a different question than the first.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Ah... the poll I was expecting before.

My response was to the question: "On average, how much time (as a percentage) of your gaming sessions are devoted to combat."

Our sessions are typically 6 - 8 hours, sometimes as long as 12 hours, and I would estimate about 2/3 of the sessions (after catch-up time, recap from prior session, etc.) are combat or combat-related (planning and such).

Due to how long our sessions can go, we've had as many as probably 12-15 combats in a session, but most are probably closer to 5-7.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Regardless of what anybody picks, it's going to be less than the percentage of active threads on this site talking about it and Dr. Who for a while.

 

[Oofta]

It depends of course, mine are probably 50% or a little less on average. Most home games I've played (ignoring 4E for a moment) since high school have been. For us 4E was the exception because after a certain level a single combat could take hours, it's one of the reasons I wouldn't play it again.

It varies of course. Right now my group is on a very combat heavy arc because they're trying to escape hostile lands and get back home. Once they get back home I'm looking forward to a session or two with minimal combat as they deal with some of the stuff that happened while they've been gone.

 

[Stormonu]

I think from the other thread, there's a huge misconception. About 80-90% of the rules and mechanics are combat orientated, but I doubt many games in play are more than 50%-60% combat.

 

[Oofta]

I think from the other thread, there's a huge misconception. About 80-90% of the rules and mechanics are combat orientated, but I doubt many games in play are more than 50%-60% combat.

I'd disagree with that, I just did a page count and percentage on the other thread. For example the equipment chapter is about half combat related and half on goods and services. I freely admit that the estimates were just a quick off-the-top-of-my-head estimates, but I got 50% of the PHB being specific to combat. We can quibble about my estimates, I don't think you'll get to 80%.

 

[Asisreo]

I think from the other thread, there's a huge misconception. About 80-90% of the rules and mechanics are combat orientated, but I doubt many games in play are more than 50%-60% combat.

I agree. Although I wonder about the difference between time spent actually playing and time spent discussing options or just making jokes in-between. Typically, my players and I can spend a total of 30 minutes a session cracking wise and another 30 minutes discussing what tf to do next. That's about a third of a session doing practically nothing.

 

[CleverNickName]

@Morrus , we probably don't need two nearly-identical polls cluttering up the forum. Could you lock the door for me on my way out?