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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aenghus" data-source="post: 4667890" data-attributes="member: 2656">The OP asks for real-time measures for 4e combats. It does occur to me that different people will start and stop the clock for this measurement at different points.  The decision point on whether combat will take place at all can take varying amounts of time in different campaigns. Combat setup can take varying amounts of time, longer if minis or tokens have to be picked out there and then, a map is drawn etc.There's also the subjective factor, that if a person thinks combat is dragging on they will tend to inflate the time, and vice versa.As regards my experience, combat times have gradually reduced as my group and I have come to grips with the system. My group composition is Dwarven  talent fighter with craghammer/shield, Tiefling cha-paladin with bastard sword/shield, halfling dodger rogue, human taclord and human staff wizard, now at level 5. The party is a little low on doing damage, particularly as the rogue isn't much of a team player and doesn't get sneak attack a lot of the time. (This has been commented on and is improving.)So I think average combats take maybe 80 mins,  quickest being 30 mins for small encounters they get the drop on, and longest being major encounters that drag on due to high enemy ACs and low rolls - I think the longest was three and a half hours.Steps I'm taking to speed things up - get minis ready beforehand, colour coded with paper clips- prepare maps beforehand when possible- whiteboard with magnetic markers for initiative, announced by a player, - power sheets printed out for my players- get players to roll attacks and damage at the same time- end combat when the conclusion is obvious, by fleeing, surrender or cleanup at the cost of some healing surgesExisting issues - the main one is player and DM decision time, some players are slow to decide what to do., and I struggle with it as well  Practice does improve things but there's a limit on what can be done and still keep the game enjoyable for everyone. I haven't set hard time limits for decisions yet, but may need to in the future to keep things flowing.I do think there will be a huge difference in combat tempo between groups with tactically-minded combat-optimised PCs using teamwork and synergy, and more casual groups with combat-unoptimised PCs who possibly like to mix combat and roleplay.</blockquote>

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