How do you like your combat?

[WhimsyTheFae]

I love combat and most of my players do as well. I would like to speed it up and streamline it a bit (the "shot clock" idea sounds great). I prefer grim-n-gritty, but my players like heroic D&D style.

As I age, I am beginning to realize that the players enjoyment is more important than my own (not that I don't need to enjoy the game, but without players there is no game). So, I will aim for more streamlined, heroic battles that will be more grim-n-gritty for the NPCs than it will be for the PCs...

 

[Bront]

I like my combat fast with plenty of options and very little handling time

Unfortunately D&D doesn't really support this -- there are enough options but it isn't really fast

I have no problem running a quick round of combat. Most of the slowdown is usually players not preparing ahead of time for an action. The best way to keep things at a brisk pace is to encourage players to think quickly and be prepared (Look up spells between your actions, maybe have notes about what things do, have questions prepared when it's your turn, things like that). However, even with that, I can run a combat with 6 players in about 15-30 minutes depending on the encounter. It does slow down as more complex options become present, but as you get used to them, things begin to run smoother.

 

[caudor]

I like tactical combat with all rules carefully observed and the dice rolled in the open. I like it when the DM is utterly nuetral and pulls no punches for the players or the monsters. If we die, we die. That makes it feel gritty/real/fun to me.

I really don't care how long it takes in real time. I can view the action in my head like a movie in slow motion while I'm planning my next move. Fortunately, my group tends to be very decisive when the their turn comes around.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Overall, I like "gritty, brutal, and cinematic" wombats, as others have already stated a preference for.

I prefer using miniatures, maps, a notebook PC etc.

Open-ended wombats are good.

Rulebooks don't inhibit creativity, in my opinion.

I think that's covered most of what you (the OP) asked.

 

[S'mon]

I like something that feels like a good swords & sorcery battle from movies or novels; with a little magic for flavour but not dominated by spellcasting. I like the PCs to emerge battered but alive.

 

[TheGM]

Fast and Furious

I run combats fast, like them to be dangerous but not deadly, and don't use a mat except in really important fights.

Our groups run for the story, so the bad guys for many fights are intelligent and have goals that may not include winning (like taking out a particular PC or stealing something from one). The PCs can win, if they play smart and work together, they'll die if they don't.

I'm not a big fan of the D20 version of "lots of cool moves". Don't bog my combat down with a zillion different moves that you pulled from forty books just to tweak your character. I've got access to them all, and you will lose that game.

I like death to be an important impact on a person's life. I've actually modded the res. rules to be like 2.0 - loss of CON, not XP. It's not a revolving door, it's death's door.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I'm a fan of fast. When it gets to somebody's turn, I mentally count to ten, then hold up my hand and count to five, and if they haven't gotten froggy, they get jumped over. Like Psion, if a combat is a done-deal, I just handwave it. No sense in tracking down half a dozen turned zombies, no sense rolling dice to finish up a combat against a wizard whose minions are all dead and whose spells are all spent ... just pop back out to Cinematic Description Mode.

I tend to play with software (DMGenie) to help me implement and track combat ... coupled with my timeclocking, I like my combats to be snappy snappy snappy. Usually it's ME who takes the most time at the table because I have to adjudicate everything AND think for all the foes, but I'm usually planning ahead in my mind and I keep my own 15 second limit.

I prefer Grim Tales/D20 Modern combats, though, with lower MDT saves and a little more threat but otherwise similar to D&D.

--fje

 

[ForceUser]

I like gritty, cinematic combat. I don't like location-specific damage, though, and limbs getting hacked off. That's too realistic for me. I prefer the abstractness of hit points.