How long are your combat rounds taking PER PLAYER? Speedchess vs slowChess

[Emirikol]

How long are your combat rounds taking PER PLAYER in middle levels (4-8)?

Do you play a fast combat game or a slow combat game? How do you think your game compares to others?

jh

 

[3d6]

I don't know how it would take longer than 1 minute at 4th-8th level. You probably only have one thing you can do each round, so there shouldn't be more than 3 die rolls per turn under normal circumstances.

 

[Crothian]

Each turn seems to take under a minute. And that seems to be the speed of other games I've seen.

 

[cmrscorpio]

For the most part, my players take about 30 seconds, with the exception of when alot of dice are being thrown around, like during AoE spells with damage and saving throws hitting multiple creatures.

 

[Galethorn]

30 seconds or less, because we play True20. The question is usually 'Do I charge, or do I attack with a ranged weapon?' or 'Do I set him on fire, or do I mentally dominate him?' and the answer usually involves making one or two D20 rolls on the player's part, and one on my part as GM. Generally, fights take 1-5 minutes per round, depending on the number of combatants.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

About 10 seconds in that level range. We play 1e.

 

[wayne62682]

Usually about 2-3 minutes. I'm generous in that I allow the players a bit of time to think of things instead of pressuring them. Pressuring == mistakes. A lot of folks give the old "In combat you don't have time to think" speech, but D&D is still a game, so if it's between friends who the Hell cares if we think a little? It's not like it hurts anything, in fact its more fun when you can set up nice tactical maneuvers without relying on dumb luck.

 

[ThirdWizard]

1-2 minutes at that level because in the current game I play in (level 5 last session) each player controls 2 characters, so you can't get as much thinking done between turns. That's for a normal combat. Throw in some interesting terrain, options, and a combat with no clearcut best strategy and time can take longer. Those are usually reserved for end combats, though, and don't happen too often in one session.

My 13th level game probably takes about 1-2 minutes for non-casters and 3-4 for casters, with the same proviso that everyone controls 2 characters.

 

[Thomas Percy]

30sec-1minute,
but DM reaction, rolls and description is another +/- 1 minute,
so 1 rd = 2 min.

 

[Monstrosity]

Used to take a minute or more when I played D&D, as the players often forgot to think about their action and spent a long time thinking about it. Now that I'm playing Savage Worlds, it usually takes about 15 seconds.