How long do your battles take

[S'mon]

I voted 30-45 for party 6-9th; that's for CR = party level though, EL+2 probably 45-60, anything more over an hour unless it's a lone BEG (splat). At 10th+ fights routinely go over an hour.

 

[Hussar]

I'm in the hour plus category, but, mostly because I play over OpenRPG where it's difficult to reach over and smack the snot out of the wingnut that's contemplating his navel and holding the rest of us up.

While I'm not a complete fascist about this, it got bad enough to institute a shot clock. If I don't see something within 40 seconds of announcing a turn, the player forfeits that round. It seems to have worked fairly well. Considering you can macro all or at least most of your actions in OpenRPG, I will never understand why I'm staring at dead air so often. My current batch of players seems a little more on the ball, so, things are picking up.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Anything from 15 minutes to 2 1/2 X 4 hour sessions... It's high level stuff (16-17th) and some turns/actions can take quite a long time!

Still, it's all good stuff!

 

[diaglo]

most of the fights in the story hour in my sig take less than 3 rounds in the campaign. but around 45 minutes to an hour in real life.

longer battles take longer time.

i'd say 15 minutes real time / round of battle is about average.

 

[JamesDJarvis]

at level 6-9 major encounters that result in a battle can be all over the board 5 minutes to 2 hours. I can usually tell it is goibg hard on the PCs whenit hits round 5.

 

[Henry]

I'm with James. It can vary; some exceptional battles take 10 to 15 minutes, but on average a good climactic encounter can take up to one hour to finish (and last about 10 to 15 rounds).

 

[DonTadow]

Does anybody put a time limit on player's actions? I do. Because I always give a list of the next three up, I expect my players to be ready by the time i get to them. I hate getting to them and their like "hmmm let,s see what should i do". IF that happens I just tell them to hold their action to keep the combat going.

 

[Quasqueton]

i'd say 15 minutes real time / round of battle is about average.

Wow! Why? What takes your group 15 minutes per round? [And this is not directly only at diaglo. Several responders here have suggested similar times.]

I (as a Player) was in one group that had time per round like this. The Players took forever to make up their minds and do anything on their turn, and the DM didn't force them to think and go faster. Every move a PC made in a round was a group discussion and committee meeting.

"I'll move over here and attack this guy."

"You could go over there, between those guys and maybe get a cleave."

"Or you could charge up to the mage and keep him from casting."

"OK, I'll go over here and attack the mage."

"You'll take an attack of opportunity from those two guys moving between them."

"Oh, well I'll move up between those two guys."

"You can't reach them with one move, you'll have to charge."

"But you'll take an AC penalty on the charge."

Etc., etc., by god, etc.

I timed one example: six 8th-level PCs vs. six normal skeletons took 2.5 hours for 5 rounds. Yes, you read that correctly: two and a half hours for six 8th-level PCs to take down six normal (human) skeletons.

We were investigating a "fort". My rogue climbed up the side, to the roof, to check for a way in. The other 5 PCs stayed out on the ground waiting for my scout report. I found stairs down into the fort and kipped down them to see if anyone was at the bottom. Six skeletons were there and started coming up to me.

The DM had the entire group roll initiative, even though I was the only one actually in the situation. Every PC took action on their turn. They started pulling out rope and grapple hooks, running around the outside of the fort, and generally trying to do *something* even though they didn't even know anything was going on up on the roof. My rogue tried a couple rounds to fight off the skeletons (rogue with dual slashing weapons is not real effective against skeletons). The other PCs were like the Keystone Cops in their attempts to get up on the roof and/or run around below looking for trouble. They would discuss actions each PC should take, whether to cast fly or feathers or just climb up. They'd question the DM on whether they could see into the arrow slits, and try different angles to see in. It was absurd. I had taken out 3 of the skeletons by the fourth round when the cleric made it to the roof and destroyed the other 3.

Two and a half hours to play out something that should have taken maybe 10 minutes. (And only that long because it was a rogue versus undead.)

It was like this for every battle. *Every* PC *had* to be in *every* round of *every* battle, regardless of their ability or need to participate. No one ever said, "I just delay" or "I'll just do nothing this round".

The straw that broke the camel's back in this regard was when we had just finished a fairly major battle. Two PCs were seperated from the main group, and were fighting some beefy mooks. Had the rest of the group just sat idle for a while, those two PCs could have wrapped it up in a couple more rounds. But everyone *still* had to do *something* during their turn. One of the Players had his PC race around the dungeon complex, alone, looking for enemies to fight. When he wanted to search a fireplace he found, during his turn in the round, and the DM let him, I cursed and said, "I gotta go." I never went back to that group (though combat time was not the only problem I had there).

If your real time per round gets above 1 minute per PC, you may want to take a close look at what everyone is doing in that time.

Quasqueton

 

[Hussar]

As I said before, I've run into the "dither" trap with my players as well. Drives me straight around the bend when I sit on my posterior for a minute or two and then get:

Player: (after a full minute of nothing) I attack with my sword.
Me: Ok, roll.
Player: (another minute passes) (Finally rolls his attack)
Me: You hit.
Player: (dead air and crickets chirping) (Rolls his damage dice)
Me: You damage the mook. It's still standing. Is there anything else you want to do?
(Dead air for another two minutes)
Me: Ok, next turn.
Player: (Immedietely) Oh hey, I wasn't finished my turn. I still wanted to move.
Me: GLARG!!!! (Begins bashing head against computer screen)

That's when my shot clock got initiated. If you cannot complete a full turn in 1 minute, I don't want to play with you no more. )

 

[diaglo]

Wow! Why? What takes your group 15 minutes per round? [And this is not directly only at diaglo. Several responders here have suggested similar times.]

we roleplay it.

so not all of the description is just : "I attack with my sword."

more along the lines of taunts and warnings and description of heroic leaps in the air. and battle cries and so forth.

plus the spellcasters choosing spells. and cursing, right now, drow spell resistance...

so there are more decisions to make with more options.. plus more description to play the character right based on character concept.