Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now!

[Bullgrit]

In my nigh 30 years playing D&D, I have rarely seen another Player willingly do nothing or wait during their turn in combat.

Personally, I have no problem with doing nothing for a round or three. I’ve even gone whole combats without taking a real action (maybe move) if my PC’s abilities were not needed. If I’m at the back of the party, and my initiative has me going first or early, I’ll usually just skip my turn or delay till the folks ahead of me have acted or moved.

Now, if I’m the upfront meat shield, of course I’ll take my action and do my job. If I have a spell that fits the situation, I’ll of course cast it. I don’t skip my turn if I’m needed. But if my action is not needed, I have no over-powering urge to jump up and do something immediately as soon as I can.

This “restraint” saves party resources and saves game time and DM effort.

But over the years, with many different groups in multiple editions, I find that most Players can’t pass up the opportunity to act on their turn, as soon as they can. If a combat lasts 10 rounds, the wizard casts 10 spells. If a PC is at the back of the party on round 1, first initiative, he’ll run through the whole party and into the fight.

I’ve seen a fighter that got separated from the fight by a wall start running down unexplored halls, opening doors, looking for something else to fight.

I’ve seen an elf start looking for secret doors as their combat actions.

I’ve seen a wizard blow their highest-level spells to finish opponents that the fighters could handle safely in a few more rounds.

All and only because these Players had the apparently uncontrollable urge to *do something* on their turn – do something, anything, even if it’s unnecessary or wasteful (of resources).

Now, I have a few times seen a Player specifically hold back or delay when they aren’t needed. But these times are so uncommon that they kind of jolt me when I see it happen.

Do you ever see Players hold back or delay when their action or abilities aren’t needed? Do you, personally, hold back or delay when you aren’t really needed?

Bullgrit

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I see that all the time from my players. They had a running joke about "doing a jig" on their turn and taking a 5'-step as their only action. Maybe readying an action in case some new enemy combatant entered the scene.

The most famous (infamous?) and funny circumstance of a player doing nothing in our group occurred when the party fought their way into an "abandoned" warehouse. Upon opening one door they were confronted with five identical twins of themselves tied to chairs in a circle in the center of the room. Many conclusions were jumped to about dopplegangers, etc. On one player's turn he declared how confused his character was and said his character was going to sit down on the floor. Now whenever an encounter gets verbally heated or confusing everybody asks if his character is going to sit down.

As for the "must act" type, I usually notice that from new players to my group. They tend to learn their lessen from observing how the others in our group show restraint and from having their characters die from suboptimal choices (running up to greet the dragon just because you won initiative, starting to open other doors because your character can't do anything else at the moment).

 

[Drowbane]

Do you ever see Players hold back or delay when their action or abilities aren’t needed? Do you, personally, hold back or delay when you aren’t really needed?

Bullgrit

I don't remember noticing someone holding back, I guess I haven't really thought about it. Personally, I avoid wasting resources (this goes double for during low level). My last high level PC rarely acted unless he felt the need to expend the time and energy to do so. It didn't bother him to let the other PCs mop up the rabble. But if an enemy so much as came close to hitting him with something in combat... well... all bets were off then.

 

[Mengu]

When I played 3.x, yes I would frequently delay or do nothing as a wizard to conserve my spells. If the fighters and healing wands could handle it, I didn't need to expend any energy. Some turns all I did was have my summoned monsters act, and that was it. At higher levels once I got some wands, it was usually worthwhile to sqeeze out some magic missiles or lightning every turn, so I no longer needed to delay.

Playing 4e, I never skip a turn. There is always something I can (and need to) do. And with the availability of at-will powers, it's not taking away resources like the 3.x wizard. There are times when I will delay for tactical reasons, but it's usually to get a flank, or see what an ally does that might help me, or I might let someone like the rogue go before me so if they miss I can give them an extra attack as a warlord, etc.

 

[Jack7]

Me personally, I don't feel right doing nothing.

Now if I were separated from my group I wouldn't run off looking for something else to fight. I'd try to find my way back to my group.

But if a situation were dangerous or involved a fight then I'd have to be doing something to resolve the situation cause others are relying upon me. I always feel like I can do something, if only reposition for advantage the next time I can engage. I wouldn't get in the way or try and assume command in a melee if I felt I would cause more problems than I solved, but I wouldn't be doing nothing in an encounter.

The exception would be a situation which requires thought (though I consider thought and analysis an action, it's juts not an obvious game action), like a puzzle, or a trap, in which I couldn't necessarily help. But I'd always be thinking about how I could bring some advantage to my comrades. That would be my duty as far as I'm concerned. If nothing sloes I could be a careful observer, form a rearguard, or prepare for future dangers.

I can do nothing (figuratively speaking) when I'm asleep, or dead.

 

[Drkfathr1]

For a time, a few of my players used to really agonize over the thought of going a turn and not doing "something".

They're a little more relaxed now, but a few still have issues with not being able to attack every round. It kills them to just do a double move if they can't get into position to attack something.

 

[Nellisir]

I prefer to do something rather than nothing, but I'm not stupid about it.

The problem is, it's rare in my experience as a player that a period of inactivity is "brief". I don't like to distract other players at the table, so if I don't push a little, I end up sitting around, twiddling my thumbs, for a good 20 or 30 minutes. That sours a bit of the evening for me.

Plus, I'm not a naturally patient person. I do make a point of telling every DM I game with that I'm a horribly difficult player.

 

[Jdvn1]

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with doing nothing... but, in 4e, you almost always have something useful you can contribute to a combat. At-wills are useful even if they do very little damage, and aiding-another helps out your teammates.
And if you have more encounter powers than estimated turns left in the combat, use 'em. You might make the combat end a round earlier which means less damage to recover from.

I played with a guy at a convention that didn't use his encounter abilities until the last combat. What a waste of a Wizard!

 

[Arnwyn]

Do you ever see Players hold back or delay when their action or abilities aren’t needed? Do you, personally, hold back or delay when you aren’t really needed?

My players have no problem holding back/delaying/doing nothing on their turn during combat when it's appropriate. They consider taking no action a legitimate 'action', if the situation warrants it.

However, it seems that - at least compared to ENWorlders - my players are surprisingly patient (for them, 3e combats go 'fast enough' that even if they do nothing for a round, their turn is back so fast that they often exclaim "me again?!"). I use ENWorld to constantly remind myself how thankful I am I have the players I have.

 

[Harr]

My group is almost the exact opposite. Their go-to and fallback tactics are Delay, Ready Action, Delay, Ready Action. Whether it's "to see what they're going to do" in the beginning of combat, "to let him get the flank" in the middle", or "to see him squirm" at the end, they'll Delay. And there is NOTHING they love more than to anticipate an action by the enemy and Ready for it. I'd be surprised when they didn't.

Now that I think about it, maybe this is the crux of my problems with too-long-running combats.