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<blockquote data-quote="Xetheral" data-source="post: 8336636" data-attributes="member: 6802765">I would say 0-2 combats per adventuring day is the norm at my table, with a very high variance. The variance stems largely from two factors: how willing the PCs are to resort to violence against particular foes, and how organized the opposition is. I think the highest number of combat encounters in one adventuring day was nine or ten, but that involved the PCs knowingly assaulting a prepared enemy who had layered fortified positions to fall back to and the discipline to pull off orderly withdrawls.Combats at my table tend to last much longer than is the norm, however, with 6-7 rounds being a short fight. It's not unheard of for some combat encounters at my table to last 20 or more rounds. The main reasons combats take longer at my table are that they often take place at much longer ranges than I typically see at other tables, and because just about every fight is far beyond &quot;Deadly&quot; in DMG terms. Anything less usually either means it's a stupid, mindless, or fanatic foe willing to fight without overwhelming odds, or the PCs managed to corner an inferior foe and opted to annihilate them rather than accept a surrender.But despite being long and ostensibly Deadly+, my encounters tend to not be particularly dangerous, as the PCs do a good job of only engaging when they have an insuperable advantage. Indeed, despite the comparative rarity of combat, a great deal of table time is spent by the PCs trying to get such a strategic or tactical advantage in case achieving their goals does require violence.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Xetheral, post: 8336636, member: 6802765"] I would say 0-2 combats per adventuring day is the norm at my table, with a [I]very[/I] high variance. The variance stems largely from two factors: how willing the PCs are to resort to violence against particular foes, and how organized the opposition is. I think the highest number of combat encounters in one adventuring day was nine or ten, but that involved the PCs knowingly assaulting a prepared enemy who had layered fortified positions to fall back to and the discipline to pull off orderly withdrawls. Combats at my table tend to last much longer than is the norm, however, with 6-7 rounds being a short fight. It's not unheard of for some combat encounters at my table to last 20 or more rounds. The main reasons combats take longer at my table are that they often take place at much longer ranges than I typically see at other tables, and because just about every fight is far beyond "Deadly" in DMG terms. Anything less usually either means it's a stupid, mindless, or fanatic foe willing to fight without overwhelming odds, or the PCs managed to corner an inferior foe and opted to annihilate them rather than accept a surrender. But despite being long and ostensibly Deadly+, my encounters tend to not be particularly dangerous, as the PCs do a good job of only engaging when they have an insuperable advantage. Indeed, despite the comparative rarity of combat, a great deal of table time is spent by the PCs trying to get such a strategic or tactical advantage in case achieving their goals does require violence. [/QUOTE]

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