How long do your battles take

[derelictjay]

Usually they take about 10-20 minute, but lately (because the baddies were undead, and the cleric had the sun domain), and some very good rolls on the turn checks, the undead were dust by the second round.

My group runs with alot of tactics and some descriptions for combat. If anyone slows down combat its me the DM, as I look for how the minions I chose would react to the tactics at the players are using. My players also don't try to influence (too much at least) what another player is going to do, rather giving suggestions in character.

 

[sniffles]

I don't allow the players to discuss each other's tactics or moves in detail. Each player takes his or her turn, other players can, within the six second round, shout out advice such as - 'flank this guy' "lightning bolt him' etc but there is never a committee meeting on every move. I think that would drive me batty (and at least half of my group too).

Maybe my group should try that. We tend to spend too much time trying to decide what to do. Everyone knows the rules pretty well and tries to optimize their actions. Plus we have some people with more than the standard number of attacks per round, or a lot of options for different types of attacks. One player has to keep all his optional attacks on note cards. We're all paranoid, too - we bend over backward to avoid getting our PCs killed. :\

Our last session consisted of two back-to-back combats. The whole session was about 3 hours. We have a party of six 8th-level PCs. I did nearly fall asleep between my turns. The player with the note cards got distracted and didn't bother planning his action until it was actually his turn, then had to sort through his cards to figure out what he was going to do.

OTOH, I've played a lot of Hero system and RuneQuest, and neither one of those are any faster.

 

[Quasqueton]

but you are playing to the audience.. you have to get your accolades.

the other players respond with laughs... ooooos.. and aaahhhhs... and jokes or serious dialogue of their own.

we let the BBEG in the last fight say his whole prepared speech before we hacked him to pieces...

Oh, well if you include random movie quotes (appropriate to the action, of course), whoops for critical hits, praying before rolling saves, etc., yeah, I can see 15 minutes per round.

I don't allow the players to discuss each other's tactics or moves in detail. Each player takes his or her turn, other players can, within the six second round, shout out advice such as - 'flank this guy' "lightning bolt him' etc but there is never a committee meeting on every move. I think that would drive me batty (and at least half of my group too).

Yep. I enforce a "no talking in character until your action" rule during combat. I've found this not only cuts down on half-hour strategy discussions between turns, but it also keeps people in character even during battle.

Quasqueton

 

[sniffles]

Oh, well if you include random movie quotes (appropriate to the action, of course), whoops for critical hits, praying before rolling saves, etc., yeah, I can see 15 minutes per round.

Yep. I enforce a "no talking in character until your action" rule during combat. I've found this not only cuts down on half-hour strategy discussions between turns, but it also keeps people in character even during battle.

Quasqueton

What about talking out of character? I often find that what slows down combat for me is getting suggestions from all the other players about what I should do with my action.

 

[Quasqueton]

What about talking out of character? I often find that what slows down combat for me is getting suggestions from all the other players about what I should do with my action.

We try to keep out of character talk to a minimum anyway. [This is more theory than practice sometimes, though. ]

Quasqueton

 

[diaglo]

Oh, well if you include random movie quotes (appropriate to the action, of course), whoops for critical hits, praying before rolling saves, etc., yeah, I can see 15 minutes per round.

yup. that's us.

Yep. I enforce a "no talking in character until your action" rule during combat. I've found this not only cuts down on half-hour strategy discussions between turns, but it also keeps people in character even during battle.

3.11ed for Workgroups got rid of that rule from the 2000ed. talking IC can occur at any moment during the round now.

 

[palleomortis]

I can only guess. We usually get to level two befor one of us comes up with a new idea of how to run a game, and then we get new characters and start up againg. But at that level, it usually take a good 20 min. So at level 6-9, I can only imagine.

 

[Quasqueton]

D&D [gold edition, revised] got rid of that rule from the D&D [gold edition]. talking IC can occur at any moment during the round now.

No, it can't. What part of "I enforce a 'no talking in character until your action' rule during combat" don't you understand?

Quasqueton

 

[diaglo]

No, it can't. What part of "I enforce a 'no talking in character until your action' rule during combat" don't you understand?

just making sure you were houseruling it. and not just falling behind the times.

 

[Quasqueton]

just making sure you were houseruling it. and not just falling behind the times.

I haven't been behind the times since I played AD&D1 in the 90s.

Quasqueton