How many rounds should a good encounter last?

[Emirikol]

4E is supposedly going to retool encounters. I get the impression that combats may take a bit longer as it has been hinted at that there will be fewer "build-up" encounters and more "important" encounters stressed. In several high level 3E games I've played in, the combats are over in a round or two (Ahem, Age of Worms)..it seems the mid-levels have the longer combats (in my experience) and the mid-levels are what I believe they're not calling "the sweet spot" right? In ours, a difficult encounter averages about 5 rounds. Is that typical?

It makes me wonder then, how many rounds should a good encounter last? 5 rounds standard for all level encounters?

I'd like to compare my experiences to others.

jh

 

[jasonbostwick]

I don't have my player's logs here with me right now (I could give some actual statistics if I did) but at level 4, five rounds per encounter seems about right to me. There are some outliers (first round crits, getting a surprise round and then winning initiative and getting multiple sneak attacks in; long fights against large skeletons with high ACs and DR that the player's couldn't overcome) but overall it works out to about 5 rounds a fight, which I think is pretty appropriate given the relatively limited tactical options available to most builds in 3e. You wouldn't really want combat to keep going for another 10 rounds if all you were doing was full-attacking each turn.

Increasing the length of each combat makes a lot of sense in 4e; there are more tactical decisions for each character to make, and it allows for a level of resource management in choosing when to use per-encounter abilities.

 

[Stalker0]

I consider 5 rounds a good encounter. That means people had plenty of time to move around and fight, get to throw out cool abilities, etc. It also makes damage over time spells and debuffs spells acceptable, any shorter than that and their not usually worth the time.

 

[3d6]

I think it depends a lot on the complexity of the system. When I'm playing µ20, my version of microlite20, a 10 round combat doesn't take all that long, so that's a fine duration for an encounter. When I'm playing 3.5e, with Bo9S and other rules expansions, a 5 round combat would probably be too long. Judging from what I've seen of 4e, they should be aiming for 3-5 round combats as the norm.

Basically, I don't think a regular combat should take more than 15-20 minutes of real time, so the more tactically useful options a PC has, the shorter the combat should take in rounds.

 

[NaturalZero]

My ideal answer would be "some amount of rounds greater than the average number in a 3E combat." It can be disappointing when you spend a lot of time statting up the perfect BBEG, have a strategically sound encounter planned out, and then have the climactic battle last a whole 2 rounds.

Over the years ive found that often times i have to have a flow of mooks that appear on the scene during encounters that varies based on how well the group is doing in order to make some battles more epic. It would be nice if 4E provided a way for monsters to last a little longer so i dont need to articially inflate their numbers on the fly in order to give them a chance to whip out some cool powers.

 

[billd91]

Longer than it takes to smoke the cigarette afterwards.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I am not sure if its important how long the encounter really lasts within the game time. 1 round, 4 rounds, 8, 20 rounds, doesn't matter that much. The question is if everyone had the feeling of having done "enough". Every character and NPC should have been able to take a few actions. Thus I think more rounds are generally good, but these rounds had to be filled with alot of activity.
But if it are too may (assuming a static encounter where # of NPCs doesn't change much) that goes on too long will probably feel boring again, simply because at one point you just rehash what you did in the previous rounds.

So, 5-10 rounds sounds usually nice. 1-2 rounds combat suck, unless you where just attacking a few weakling guards and expected to dispatch them fast.

 

[Nine Hands]

I've noticed with SWSE that combats tend to last more "rounds" than normal, due to the lowered number of attacks, ability to pile on mooks, etc.

With Destiny Points major characters have the ability to survive in combat longer or PCs can take down enemies with relative quickness.

Overall this seems to make the combats feel longer while actually taking less game time. I've found that I need to be VERY prepared for a game session because characters can roll through stuff with relative real time speed.

 

[howandwhy99]

None, if at all possible.

EDIT: I've noticed that when we're doing it right, in OD&D, combat is invariable short, even just one round. When we screw up it takes a lot longer. It's more exciting for a viewer perhaps, but the chances of someone dying also go way up. It's better to win decisively because it's better to win. I think our group cares more about winning though than showing off.

 

[Alnag]

30 minutes of real time, 5 rounds maximum.