D&D 5E How many combats does your 5e group typically have between long rests, if you have at least one?

[jrowland]

One problem with this poll is that it's not clear what an 'encounter' is, from the poll's perspective. The scenario you describe above is what I would think of as one encounter or one combat, with the opportunity to defeat the enemy in detail if you're stealthy and clever. Conversely, you can defeat them all at the same time with a suitable-placed Meteor Swarm, even the ones who are still sleeping/outside/putting their armor on/etc. As a DM, everyone I'm tracking both onscreen and offscreen as a potential combatant is part of the same "combat."

Well, in that sense then a whole dungeon one encounter! Any of the "locations" in PotA are one encounter if you consider that enemies can go get help the basis for the same encounter.

The thought is:

Trigger encounter 1. Enemy goes and gets help. Help returns triggering encounter 2.

The PCs options are:
a) Don't let enemy get away. Finish encounter 1 and start encounter 2 at their leisure.
b) Finish encounter 1 quickly before encounter 2 starts if possible.
c) "Let" encounter 1 and encounter 2 combine to deadly encounter 3
d) Run Away at any time
etc.

 

[TwoSix]

What's really interesting, and somewhat baffling, is the number of responses that chose 1-2 combats per day. Are these groups playing more story driven campaigns that have a lot of exploration and interaction, rather than combat?

Honestly, I would love to be a fly on the wall at the games where 6-8 combats a day are common. I just can't wrap my head around how it works. I can't remember going more than 4, maybe 5 fights before resting EVER, and I'm thinking back over a time frame of 25 years.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I did my first 6+ combat day in 5E last night, and in order to make it happen I had to cut out everything story-related and offer the players a pure hack-and-slash experience... I found it kind of boring and meaningless.

Honestly, I would love to be a fly on the wall at the games where 6-8 combats a day are common. I just can't wrap my head around how it works. I can't remember going more than 4, maybe 5 fights before resting EVER, and I'm thinking back over a time frame of 25 years.

Well, for one thing, you can let a 'day' span more than one session, so there's no pressure to speed through everything else to get all the combats in before your players turn into pumpkins.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Honestly, I would love to be a fly on the wall at the games where 6-8 combats a day are common. I just can't wrap my head around how it works. I can't remember going more than 4, maybe 5 fights before resting EVER, and I'm thinking back over a time frame of 25 years.

Then I bet it would melt your brain to hear that I found it typical with AD&D for groups of mid-level characters to start managing around 16 encounters in a single in-game day - and sometimes even managed to play out all of them in a single 6 hour game session.

 

[TwoSix]

Then I bet it would melt your brain to hear that I found it typical with AD&D for groups of mid-level characters to start managing around 16 encounters in a single in-game day - and sometimes even managed to play out all of them in a single 6 hour game session.

I wrapped my head in some ice, I'm good. (Although I feel a little woozy).

I just can't fgure out how 2 narrrratively jussify it, thats all. Like a sotry and stuff. Where are that mnny ememies alltogetheeer????? I have 2 think abou

 

[Rhenny]

Probably so. I did my first 6+ combat day in 5E last night, and in order to make it happen I had to cut out everything story-related and offer the players a pure hack-and-slash experience. "No, you can't even attempt to befriend that flying snake. No, you can't take the baker's hat--it disappears when you get to the next area. No, you can't ride that horse. Everything in the Corridors of Chaos exists only to die fighting you and give you XP and treasure. The horse is attacking you. Declare actions." I found it kind of boring and meaningless, and frankly I think my players will too if they do it frequently, but it seemed to scratch a certain itch for abnegation, letting the PCs test their capabilities and learn to work as a team.

There's no way I could fit in 6-8 discrete combats in a normal day that wasn't in the Corridors of Chaos. There's just not enough time, and my players aren't that aggressive. I'd probably have to run fifteen or twenty scenarios that day in order for 6-8 of them to turn into combats.

It is certainly true that groups will encounter more combat scenarios in dungeon crawl portions of a campaign (if the campaign has site based delves), and it is still possible to have 6-8 combats per day, when a 2 hour session has 1 or 2 combats and a lot of interaction and exploration...then the next session has 1 or 2 combats and the same interaction and exploration, etc.

To be honest, some days the adventurers will encounter only 1 or 2 combats. Other days they will encounter 3 or 4. On bad days, they'll encounter the equivalent of 5-8. Again, variety is more important to me than any fixed number. (Now I think I am understanding why the median number of encounters in the poll seems to be 3 or 4...it is to account for variety in different parts of a campaign or adventure)

I'm actually finding it much easier to balance combat, interaction and exploration with 5e than prior editions (although I have to admit, I haven't played 1e or 2e much over the past 10 years - and with those editions, I bet it is easier to achieve a balance than with 3e/3.5e and 4e).

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I wrapped my head in some ice, I'm good. (Although I feel a little woozy).

I just can't fgure out how 2 narrrratively jussify it, thats all. Like a sotry and stuff. Where are that mnny ememies alltogetheeer????? I have 2 think abou

Ah, well that is the easy party - those enemies were in and around different parts of a large dungeon complex.

So the narrative was, to put it basically enough to fit it in a single post which will make it look far more bland than it was at the table: Travel > end that day > start new day with an hour of exploration > outdoor battle > hour of exploration > find dungeon and enter > few minutes exploration > monsters > few minutes exploration including a trap > monsters > solve a puzzle over the course of about 30 minutes > monsters find the party > few minutes exploration > big monster > party takes a breather to recover > monsters come along > few minutes exploration > party finds macguffin, starts to leave > monsters > continues exiting dungeon > macguffin apparently was keeping undead at bay, now are attacking party > fleeing dungeon > undead outside too > taking a breather and deciding what to do > monsters from dungeon pursuing > bad choice made and more monsters run into > finally out of what appears to undead infested area, traveling back to safety for an hour > travlers along road met, macguffin seems to have driven them mad > escape to take a bit and decide what to do about macguffin's surprise dangers > recurring bad dudes show up, demanding macguffin > 2 hours traveling > wandering monster driven mad by macguffin, steals it and takes off > party pursues > defeat monster and its mate to reclaim macguffin > 2 hours traveling > meet guy that hired party to retrieve macguffin, he doesn't want to pay agreed price and tries to "finish off" the bewildered party - but they aren't nearly so bewildered as to actually get defeated. > set up camp, plan what to do with the macguffin tomorrow.

That's like 16 encounters over the span of a day consisting of 10 hours of adventure... and while not every day in an adventurer's life is like that one, some are. (typically the ones that represent the actual culmination of some adventure.)

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Well, in that sense then a whole dungeon one encounter! Any of the "locations" in PotA are one encounter if you consider that enemies can go get help the basis for the same encounter.

Sure. It actually makes more sense to think of it that way, otherwise you can wind up in a situation where the PCs are participating in multiple encounters at once, either collectively or individually.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Honestly, I would love to be a fly on the wall at the games where 6-8 combats a day are common. I just can't wrap my head around how it works. I can't remember going more than 4, maybe 5 fights before resting EVER, and I'm thinking back over a time frame of 25 years.

Well, I keep a full status log on everything. I'd give write you an overview over our LMoP game but I can't find the spoiler tag on this forum.

 

[jrowland]

Sure. It actually makes more sense to think of it that way, otherwise you can wind up in a situation where the PCs are participating in multiple encounters at once, either collectively or individually.

*emphasis mine*

I don't see that as a problem. It's a feature, not a bug.