Help me reduce the No. of rounds/encounter

[DMINGW00TISAWSOME]

I've seen this problem when i have controllers in the enemy group (thinking of a paticularly nasty goblin encounter for 1st level PC's), but other then that both of the games i'm involved in seem to be going pretty smooth. Are your players totally optimizing themselves or something? You might try increase the level of the baddies they are fighting if its that one sided. Personally, I think higher level encounters are more fun to play anyway!

lemme guess... a goblin hexer? my players hate those things. once i knocked half the party unconcious and the other half were all bloodied with low hitpoints by the time they won. its the big sustainable burst power that does it.

 

[Quartz]

On the minions theme, you could have a semi-minion: after one hit the monster becomes bloodied, and the next hit it goes down.

 

[mach1.9pants]

On the minions theme, you could have a semi-minion: after one hit the monster becomes bloodied, and the next hit it goes down.

I like this idea as well

Anyway I tried the (secretly adding) +3 (1/2 level) damage to what the PC's do and also the enemy.....it really sped up the combat. Surprisingly took a couple of rounds off. However all three major encounters were not a challenge for the party (the XP didn' quite add up) as set in the module so maybe that is why...I'll keep tweaking the damage.

 

[Jack99]

I like this idea as well

Anyway I tried the (secretly adding) +3 (1/2 level) damage to what the PC's do and also the enemy.....it really sped up the combat. Surprisingly took a couple of rounds off. However all three major encounters were not a challenge for the party (the XP didn' quite add up) as set in the module so maybe that is why...I'll keep tweaking the damage.

You could try taking off 25% of their (the monsters') hit points, while increasing their average damage by 25% as well. That gives you speedier combats, while maintaining the same danger level (more or less).

 

[mach1.9pants]

You could try taking off 25% of their (the monsters') hit points, while increasing their average damage by 25% as well. That gives you speedier combats, while maintaining the same danger level (more or less).

Yeah I am going to try this tonight. I'll take of about 1/5th of the HP (eyeball estimate) and keep the damage the same. The thing is the last few rounds of combat are pointless we all know who is going to win. I intend to shorten the span by reducing the HP...if it makes it too easy then I'll increase the enemy damage by 20% or so

 

[CapnZapp]

Having all attacks do maximum damage would speed up combat.

This.

It would speed up play even more because you roll less dice. And it would ensure your Dailies become impressive (unless you miss, of course). And it doesn't mean extra administration because no hp values change.

Four worthy advantages in my opinion.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I tried just knocking off about 20% of the HP this evening, nothing else. Worked prefectly, those last 2 or 3 'we've already won but they aren't dead' rounds didn't happen.

However it is not a perfect science, as we did 2 level 6 and 1 level 8 encounters from a module....... but the guys are level 7 and there are only 4 instead of five. But I intend to stick with the HP reduction and just adjust on the fly in game

 

[Sporemine]

I haven't had many problems with having too many rounds but that might have something to do with my player's "hit it wit a meathead, magic, another meathead, some sort of daily power and whatever flaming things are at hand then, if it's still standing (most things aren't) kick it over and step on it." approach. This attack strategy usually lets them take out anything that could be even remotely dangerous in about 5 rounds. An important thing to remember is that hazards increase encounter levels and have the added capability of slowing down the players while they are "deactivating" (usually smashing) them. Some of the best hazards for this are several kobolds on a ballista, legless zombies that grab and try to eat you or the classic "pit with a nasty spiky/angry thing at the bottom." Those are the best things I can think of at the moment.

 

[King Nate]

I have a system set up where, when someone (creature or character) becomes bloodied they gain the status:

[Bleeding - Ongoing 5 dam. (save ends)]

In most cases the creatures are the main ones that end up with this status, thus speeding up combat a little.

Now there are times when players will start to notice that they can't lose the fight and it's only a matter of chipping away at hit points. In these cases any creature with any intelligence will also know that they cannot win the fight and that it's only a matter of time till they die. They run. (That's what I would do in real life if I know I can't win and that I am going to die.)

Let the players chase if they really want to. (They are going to get the XP either way, making a creature run is the same as defeating it. Let the players know this if they are unclear about it)

You can turn the chase into a skill challenge (This will change things up a little)

You can turn the chase into an ambush. (Since there was no 5 minute rest between the encounter and ambush they don't get their encounter powers back.)

You can make the chase just that a chase. If the players are still willing to chip away the hit points of the creature, don't take that away from them just change it from standing there fighting to a chase fight. (The creature takes paths he knows are trapped, the creature closes doors and locks them on the PCs, the creature runs across a rope bridge then tries to cut it down on the PCs as they cross. Make the chase exciting.)

Finally don't make ever creature that successfully escapes warn everyone that the PCs are there. If you do the PCs will always give chase. If they know that the creature won't warn anyone else and that they still get XP (since a running away creature is considered defeated) they will give less chases.