How much time for a decision

[Presto2112]

I've been involved in a couple of games where in a high pressure situation like combat, the DM only allows you a certain amount of time to decide on an action (for argument's sake, 10 seconds). Is this generally how everyone else plays as well or are other DMs a bit more lenient?

 

[EricNoah]

I give the players as much time as they need; they're usually pretty impulsive though and so will go with whatever occurs to them first.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I'm more lenient for the most part, depends upon the circumstances. If they are caught still checking into some information from the books or something becasue everyone else went quickly, I'll allow them the time they need. If they are newer players, I'll allow more time. If they are asking me questions to clarify the situation, I'll allow more time. For the most part I allow about 30 seconds or so, but I don't actually time it. If a player is just standing there staring at the map, completely unsure of what to do, or is counting off exact numbers of squares, I'll pressure them into making a decision quickly.

 

[Elf Witch]

That is how we do it and it needs to be done or we would never get through a combat.

It adds to the exictment if every action takes forever and is seriously pondered it does not feel like a combat but rather a long dull chess game.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I don't have a fixed time limit. On occasion, I need to tell a player "Okay, this is taking too long," but it's a rare event, and we go by how things feel, rather than an actual timer.

 

[James Heard]

It depends on how many players I've got in the room, and honestly a bit on how much I'm stressing over the pacing of my game. Stressing the players out with 3 seconds to tell me what they're doing certainly creates a specific environment of excitment (and a needed one if you've got over 12 players a lot of times), but it's tiring for me too. The more important the encounter the more likely I am to stretch things out for consideration, to be fair I usually set up an encounter and call a 5-15 minute break so players can talk strategy first.

 

[drunkmoogle]

Many players/GMs (myself included, in both respects) find that slow combat takes away from the tension and feeling of the game. Excruciatingly slow combats can be extremely boring, especially when a player takes longer than 30 seconds to come to a decision.

When combat is slowed, the other players often go off-topic and chat it up, slowing the game down more. It's a downward spiral for those who game to GAME more than they do socialize.

I enforce the 10-second rule. It hasn't come up, but I'm probably going to give my players "time-outs" to strategize after a certain level, say 10 or so, due to the vast number of options out there.

To answer your question I've seen GMs run slower combats more than I have fast combats.

 

[Presto2112]

I'm more lenient for the most part, depends upon the circumstances. If they are caught still checking into some information from the books or something becasue everyone else went quickly, I'll allow them the time they need. If they are newer players, I'll allow more time. If they are asking me questions to clarify the situation, I'll allow more time. For the most part I allow about 30 seconds or so, but I don't actually time it. If a player is just standing there staring at the map, completely unsure of what to do, or is counting off exact numbers of squares, I'll pressure them into making a decision quickly.

I should have clairified that. If a player has to look up a rule or feat or spell for specific wording, that time is forgiveable. It's the "stare at the character sheet looking for something to do" time that is counted off before the DM decided "no action this turn". It kind of makes sense, too. If a person did that in actual combat, they get the butt handed to them.