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<blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 4702163" data-attributes="member: 9789">I thought I'd chime in again after some interesting developments that made a difference in combat time for our group.This weekend we went through 2 &quot;sessions,&quot; one long and one short.&nbsp; The long one only had 2 combats and lots of RP, but the combats took a long time (I'd guess two hours or more each, aka &quot;normal&quot;).&nbsp; The short session had 3 combats and no RP, and the combats were MUCH faster (average of 1 hour, 15 mins, aka &quot;fast&quot;).There were several things that were different between the two sessions:&nbsp; first, I as a DM was using my own encounters for the &quot;long&quot; session and pre-made encounters (Dungeon Delve) for the &quot;short&quot; ones.&nbsp; This made a big difference:&nbsp; flipping around referencing lots of different places for monsters really slowed me down, while the Delve has EVERYTHING on two facing pages.&nbsp; I was honestly surprised by how much this helped.&nbsp; I would advise any DM to actually copy and paste ALL monster stat info onto one piece of paper and/or electronic document and use that when you run the encounter.&nbsp; You don't need to purchase pre-gens but the concept is good; keeping everything together helped me a ton.&nbsp; Also, I noticed that the pre-gen encounters used fewer enemies that were tougher, whereas I tend to use more enemies that are weaker.&nbsp; As long as you can still reasonably hit the monsters, clearly fewer monsters is faster.Another difference was that between the two sessions, the players leveled up.&nbsp; After reading about the PHB2, I let all my PCs take the Weapon/Implement Expertise feats.&nbsp; This, I think, made things slightly faster because they could hit more often.&nbsp; I know it was only 5% more, but in one battle I particularly remember one enemy was only hit because of that 5% about 4 times.&nbsp; Another major difference was our warlord:&nbsp; he really respec'd and rethought his character, and when he started his new level he was MUCH more effective (at making others effective).&nbsp; Thus, the &quot;tactical&quot; nature of battle was increased, the PCs did better, and the fights were shorter.I don't think I'm mentioning anything too new to this thread, but this is some (admittedly empirical) evidence that some of the suggestions are right on target:&nbsp; better tactics, better builds, and most importantly a better organized DMs can make a really big difference.As an aside, I have been using initiative cards (made from 3x5 index cards) and our own types of markers - which honestly work better than anything I've read/heard about - for a while, and I cannot imagine trying to go back and play without them.&nbsp; These both speed things up a great deal - which I think also reinforces the whole &quot;anything that helps the DM makes battles faster&quot; principle.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="evilbob, post: 4702163, member: 9789"] I thought I'd chime in again after some interesting developments that made a difference in combat time for our group. This weekend we went through 2 "sessions," one long and one short. The long one only had 2 combats and lots of RP, but the combats took a long time (I'd guess two hours or more each, aka "normal"). The short session had 3 combats and no RP, and the combats were MUCH faster (average of 1 hour, 15 mins, aka "fast"). There were several things that were different between the two sessions: first, I as a DM was using my own encounters for the "long" session and pre-made encounters (Dungeon Delve) for the "short" ones. This made a big difference: flipping around referencing lots of different places for monsters really slowed me down, while the Delve has EVERYTHING on two facing pages. I was honestly surprised by how much this helped. I would advise any DM to actually copy and paste ALL monster stat info onto one piece of paper and/or electronic document and use that when you run the encounter. You don't need to purchase pre-gens but the concept is good; keeping everything together helped me a ton. Also, I noticed that the pre-gen encounters used fewer enemies that were tougher, whereas I tend to use more enemies that are weaker. As long as you can still reasonably hit the monsters, clearly fewer monsters is faster. Another difference was that between the two sessions, the players leveled up. After reading about the PHB2, I let all my PCs take the Weapon/Implement Expertise feats. This, I think, made things slightly faster because they could hit more often. I know it was only 5% more, but in one battle I particularly remember one enemy was only hit because of that 5% about 4 times. Another major difference was our warlord: he really respec'd and rethought his character, and when he started his new level he was MUCH more effective (at making others effective). Thus, the "tactical" nature of battle was increased, the PCs did better, and the fights were shorter. I don't think I'm mentioning anything too new to this thread, but this is some (admittedly empirical) evidence that some of the suggestions are right on target: better tactics, better builds, and most importantly a better organized DMs can make a really big difference. As an aside, I have been using initiative cards (made from 3x5 index cards) and our own types of markers - which honestly work better than anything I've read/heard about - for a while, and I cannot imagine trying to go back and play without them. These both speed things up a great deal - which I think also reinforces the whole "anything that helps the DM makes battles faster" principle. [/QUOTE]

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