How many 19th-level encounters in six hours?

[Noumenon]

I really have no idea how long high level combat is going to take in 3.5. In a six-hour session with one to two hours of skill challenge and roleplaying, how many encounters do I need to prepare?

The 4E rule of thumb is one combat per one hour, and that's very handy. But 3.5 sounds like it can range from "one combat takes five hours" to "Velendo calls down earthquake on the entire dungeon, next!" Should I prep four desired combats, and one filler in case the others don't last long enough? Or should I have twelve encounters like a first-level one-shot would?

We should be on the quick end of combats -- my players are vets and they bring statblocks if they're going to change into a fire elemental, I actually look up all spell-like abilities and summarize them on the monster's index card. But you can't much speed up a dispel magic.

 

[Ourph]

This is really, really dependent upon the class make-up of your group (especially at such high level) and what type of creature is involved in the encounter. A stand-up fight against a single tough monster might take no more than 10 minutes, whereas a battle against multiple, complex monsters (like several high-level demons with lots of spell-like abilities) might take two or more hours.

Should I prep four desired combats, and one filler in case the others don't last long enough? Or should I have twelve encounters like a first-level one-shot would?

Four sounds about right for a scripted session. Twelve definitely sounds like overkill unless you are planning more of a sandbox style game where the PCs could run into any of the twelve, but probably won't get through more than 3 or so in the session.

 

[Crothian]

It also depends on the players. Are they prepared and organized? Or do they take a while to figure out what they are going to do, have to look up spells and abilities, are constantly forgetting their bonuses and take time to compute what they roll.....

 

[coyote6]

If it's a one-shot, that likely means the players won't be familiar with the characters. That would lead to things taking longer, as 19th level PCs can have a lot of options and abilities, leading to a lot of character sheet examination, looking stuff up, and pondering of options. How familiar are the players with high-level characters?

I'd suggest trying to make the characters as streamlined as possible -- i.e., don't load up on magic items, feats, and other things with a lot of special powers; concentrate on stuff that adds to existing abilities, so you can factor everything in beforehand. Maybe give each of 'em a couple of items with on-use powers, but include the write-ups with the character sheets. Don't refer the player back to Sandstorm, Magic Item Compendium, and both DMGs; they'll be juggling books and flipping pages forever.

If you're picking spells for casters, don't load up on short duration buffing spells that everyone will have to remember to add (or not add; once a player gets used to adding in something, they may start to assume it's up). That will take up more time, and make fights last longer.

Similarly, in the adventure, don't include any anti-magic areas, and go easy on the dispel magic effects.

PS: Crothian is 305 posts from 50k. I'm dazed for one round.

 

[Stoat]

When I ran high level 3E, each combat took about an hour. If your players are unfamiliar with their PC's or just naturally indecisive, plan on longer.

Note that four 19th level PC's versus one CR 19 monster will probably go pretty fast. Even if the monster does drop to a save or die spell, the fighter will be knocking out a quarter or more of its hit points every round.

 

[Noumenon]

PS: Crothian is 305 posts from 50k. I'm dazed for one round.

When he actually gets to 50,000, prepared to be dominated as well. (I think that's his plan...)

Similarly, in the adventure, don't include any anti-magic areas, and go easy on the dispel magic effects.

I guess I'll save my CR 15 Bloated Beholders I made until I'm a little more familiar. That's smart.

 

[Lancelot]

3.5e is hard to estimate. From experience with the Age of Worms campaign, we were lucky to squeeze 3 combats into a 5 hour 19th-level session. Most sessions were "1 combat per 2 hours".

However, Age of Worms was very carefully designed to prevent most "save-or-die" situations. Monsters had heavy anti-magic protection, were generally immune to save-or-die (undead, etc), and often were "pre-buffed".

A less prepared or complex encounter could be over in 60 seconds. I despised DM'ing high-level 3.5e for those reasons, and only did so if I was using a prepped module (thanks, Paizo). Hours to craft an encounter with a complex, templated creature with magical buffing and items that might help prevent it from getting imploded in the first round, only to have some random warmage whack it with a couple of orb spells for 200 points of damage, followed by a hasted frenzied berserker / hulking hurler combo chucking a 400 point boulder at it. Bah humbug.