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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 3184807" data-attributes="member: 3586">G'day, all!The correct answer for my group was 3 hours, as several people deduced (especially Allan).A few notes:Role-playingThis group isn't heavily into role-playing (as in, speaking in-character with NPCs). They are capable of it, certainly, but conversations tend to be primarily aimed at the information needed from the NPC in question rather than pleasantries. There were all of 3 interactions in the game: the Cleric with his patriarch at the beginning of the session, the group with the town speaker & head of the watch, and the group with Jorr the ranger. All didn't take very long at all; I'd estimate the first was about 5 minutes, the second two no more than 10 minutes each.The group is, of course, influenced by my own views on the game. I tend to emphasize the plot & story (and action) over interactions, although I've been known to run sessions of nothing but role-playing. This is, however, not one of those adventures. At least, not yet! I expect in a couple of sessions there'll be a lot more role-playingCombatsThe first combat lasted about 7-8 rounds, aided by effective use of the fireball spell. There was a nice moment when the hobgoblin cleric, invisible, healed the hobgoblin fighter. Immediately, the party's cleric used a dispel magic to remove the hobgoblin's protection and all ended swiftly after that.The second combat, against the hydra, began when the party wizard fireballed a not-so-innocuous terrain feature it was hiding behind. The entire combat lasted about 5 rounds, with the cleric and fighter entering melee with the hydra and chopping it into little bits, and the wizard fireballing it from time to time.The third combat, against the manticore, I have described. It was short.The fourth combat, against the hobgoblins and goblin worgriders lasted about 6-8 rounds, and mostly involved melee and thrown weapons, with some spell back-up from the wizard.The fifth combat, against the minotaur and the bugbear wizard, was very interesting. The bugbear blinded the party's wizard in the first round of combat, and thus Adam took no further part in the battles this game. The minotaur went down on the first round before it could take an action, as both the rogue and the fighter criticalled it. (Bow and longsword). After that, the bugbear kept retreating and lightning bolting the party, rendering the cleric and rogue unconscious. The wizard happened to be next to the rogue, and healed him with a potion; the rogue did the same for the cleric, and the cleric kept the fighter alive until the bugbear was slain. About 6 rounds, I think, in all.The final combat, against the worg riders, was a random encounter at night. Adam was still blind, so I thought nothing against setting the goblins all together ready to engage the party. The Rogue, who has one level of wizard, caught them all with a colour spray and which knocked out half of them for 5 rounds! After that, it was effective melee from the fighter and cleric - the combat lasted about 5 rounds in total.We use miniatures and a battlemat. I have a pretty good grasp of the rules. (I better - I've been running 2 sessions a week this year!) This, obviously, helps in getting the combats going quickly. Then too, these combats weren't full of special manuevers.Mind you, I'm getting a lot of practice in the grappling rules of late. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />My players also tend to stick to the basics: Cast a spell that they understand. Move quickly on the battle grid. Hit something with a sword. Hit something hard with a sword. (Most of the fighters in my campaigns precalculate common Power Attack values. It really speeds things up!)I also don't spend a lot of time adjudicating spell effects. I trust the players to know what they're doing. I did look up colour spray during the session, but that was it. After you've run as much D&D 3.5e as I have, it's not hard to remember how common spells work. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />A few notes on higher-level combats5th-7th level is easy. By 15th level, it gets slower. Later that night, I ran the latest session in my Age of Worms campaign - we've reached the Library of Last Resort. In a 3 hour session, we only had two combats and a lot of debate over what the best spells to use to solve the problems were. (Or to gain when levelling up). Mind you, it was a slower session than normal. Still...The first battle was against a Night Twist, and it was quick. It was easy. I killed two of the four PCs, and then the druid kept hitting the tree with lightning until it died whilst making all his Will saves. The second battle was against a Cleric, 2 tiefling monks, 1 efreeti lord, 1 advanced nightmare, and one horned devil. That didn't really last that long, but did demonstrate to me why I prefer MM4, and the problems with such battles: they are way too complicated.The trouble is the special abilities. When you're looking at a very high level Cleric, plus a Efreeti Lord plus a Horned Devil, they all have spells that they want to use. The choice is overwhelming. I really didn't run that combat well. (Mind you, the party played well. Have you ever seen what phantom stag (SC) can do? Wow!)A battle with 6 horned devils is simpler because you only have to worry about one set of stats. Or, even, 2 horned devils and 4 high-level fighters, because the fighters only real tactic involves simple combat. High-level spells are the greatest cause of slowing down a combat for me, because (a) I haven't memorised what they do and (b) there are so many choices to make.For those interested (and not afraid of spoilers), you can find session reports here:* <a href="http://merricb.multiply.com/journal/item/122" target="_blank">Age of Worms</a>* <a href="http://merricb.multiply.com/journal/item/121" target="_blank">Red Hand of Doom</a>Cheers!</blockquote>

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