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<blockquote data-quote="Paul Strack" data-source="post: 4668239" data-attributes="member: 71340">My combats last about an 60 - 75 minutes. I run 5-6 hour sessions, typically 2-3 combats and a mixture of skill challenges and role playing for the balance of the session.My group has 7 players, but only 5-6 show up for a given session. We have every PH1 class except a Cleric, but group composition varies from session to session. The Paladin, Fighter, Wizard and Warlord attend every session, but the Rogue, Warlock and Ranger are variable. I've noticed that fights go faster the more Strikers there are in the group. Things have gotten much faster now that the group is better at teamwork.The PCs just reached 6th level. Early in the campaign, the encounters varied from Level+0 to Level+2, but now I have to throw Level+2 to Level+4 encounters at the group to keep them challenged. I never throw trivial encounters at the group, since I find they are just boring.We do a lot of prep in advance of the game. All attack bonuses and damage rolls are pre-calculated for all characters (PC and monster). I try to have the maps prepared in advance. I generally have the minis for the adventure set aside for easy access. I am doing 2 hours of prep time per hour of play (10 hours prep for a 5 hour session), but I also update the PC character sheets as well.I've recently had the monsters start to run away when it was clear they were losing, but the party's fighter won't let anyone run. If I terminated fights at this point, though, it would probably shave 15 minutes off of each battle.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Paul Strack, post: 4668239, member: 71340"] My combats last about an 60 - 75 minutes. I run 5-6 hour sessions, typically 2-3 combats and a mixture of skill challenges and role playing for the balance of the session. My group has 7 players, but only 5-6 show up for a given session. We have every PH1 class except a Cleric, but group composition varies from session to session. The Paladin, Fighter, Wizard and Warlord attend every session, but the Rogue, Warlock and Ranger are variable. I've noticed that fights go faster the more Strikers there are in the group. Things have gotten much faster now that the group is better at teamwork. The PCs just reached 6th level. Early in the campaign, the encounters varied from Level+0 to Level+2, but now I have to throw Level+2 to Level+4 encounters at the group to keep them challenged. I never throw trivial encounters at the group, since I find they are just boring. We do a lot of prep in advance of the game. All attack bonuses and damage rolls are pre-calculated for all characters (PC and monster). I try to have the maps prepared in advance. I generally have the minis for the adventure set aside for easy access. I am doing 2 hours of prep time per hour of play (10 hours prep for a 5 hour session), but I also update the PC character sheets as well. I've recently had the monsters start to run away when it was clear they were losing, but the party's fighter won't let anyone run. If I terminated fights at this point, though, it would probably shave 15 minutes off of each battle. [/QUOTE]

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