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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mkill" data-source="post: 4557594" data-attributes="member: 55985">How long battles take is also a thing of group setup. We've had a campaign with 2 strikers (2w ranger and warlock) and an artificer for backup. With two low-defense high-damage dealers, combats were pretty nasty (in one combat, every single attack against the ranger was a hit, and we were fighting goblins...), with enemies falling quick and the ranger burning through hp just as quick.Another group had no striker but two defenders, it took them much longer to take down enemies, but they also stood longer.It also depends on player tactic skills: it takes a while for players, especially old D&D hands, to learn the tricks of 4th edition team work. That daily has a much higher chance to drive home its message if you have a +5 to hit from a buddy.Still, combats were fun in both groups. I would say from my experience both as player and DM that it's not necessary to change anything in the rules to speed up or slow down combat.But, there are a few tricks in the GM's toolbox that you can pull when combat drags on:- Slashing hp: It's no problem to say "he goes down" when the monster still had 25 hp on paper. If you feel the battle is won an there is nothing interesting for the monster to do to turn the tide one last time, you can just let it drop. In the same way, important NPC's can pull a second wind or a healing potion if you feel it's just not their time to die yet. Just make sure you do it in a believable way so players don't feel cheated.- Scene change: A drastic method. If your characters face an extremely tough fight, and they've burned through all their dailies and the monster is still not down, introduce a stage change. Think of boss battles in some computer games: You don't fight the boss in one stage. Once his hp are down to some level, he jumps on another platform, or polymorphs, or whatever.Once this happens (after 10-15 rounds of combat), PCs gain back all their encounter powers, including the second wind. That way, they can do interesting stuff again and the continued battle is not a boring exchange of at-will blows.Also note that sometimes, PCs just have to accept they can't defeat a monster and it's time to flee.</blockquote>

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