D&D General How often do your sessions end mid-combat?

[Marc_C]

Never. I prefer ending the session a bit short rather then start a combat we won't finish. Starting a session with a combat is the best thing to get the players into the game.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I actually really enjoy ending in the middle of combat when playing online, since set-up is so easy. Starting a session at the top of initiative order is really fun!

In face to face games I try not to, simply because setting up the map and minis takes a while.

 

[aco175]

Starting a session at the top of initiative order is really fun!

This is how I started the last few campaigns right after introducing the PCs.

 

[Stalker0]

Just a few times, after lots of and lots of years dming I've gotten pretty good and gauging when we can start combats and finish them vs just wait until next time to start them.

 

[GM Lent]

Never. Add me to the list of "we will end early if the other option is cutting off mid-battle" people.

We don't use miniatures, so I don't have a boardgame to set back up, but even with TotM it's just too hard to get back I to what was going on - especially if we play only one every week or two.

It's way easier to cut off sight before or right after a battle and pick up from there.

 

[D1Tremere]

I like to end on something important, like the start of a battle or big revelation. The next game can then start with excitement and a high level of interest to build from. Ending mid-combat is rarely a good idea.

 

[tetrasodium]

very very rarely. I'd rather insert some exploratory filler lore or chat than end mid fight

 

[Blue]

In the groups I'm in, we find it pretty easy to avoid ending mid-combat. Sometimes we'll end a few minutes early, sometimes we'll end a few minutes late, but the majority of it is the DM controlling the pacing so as not to start a long combat near end time.

When it happens it's usually not as a mistake in timing, but rather a big climatic showdown or maybe arc-ender that just going to be that long and that dramatic.

 

[Shiroiken]

IMO outside of emergency situations, ending a session in the middle of a combat is a failure of timing by the DM. The difficulty of avoiding it, however, is heavily dependent on how flexible the end time is. Most games I've played have had very flexible end times, giving the DM a lot of leeway to pick a good stopping point. If a game revolves around real life events, such as babysitting, then this can make it much harder to time right. Fortunately my current group has a 4-5 hour session window, giving the DM plenty of time.

 

[humble minion]

IMO outside of emergency situations, ending a session in the middle of a combat is a failure of timing by the DM.

I don't think so really.

Players have agency, they can start combats unanticipated by the DM almost whenever they like (or delay by a couple of real-life hours the start of combats that the DM had planned for, with the same effect).

We occasionally finish sessions mid-combat these days, and while it's not ideal, as others have said the VTT makes it easy and clean, because we can just start straight up again without messing about for ages getting maps and minis and spell durations etc organised. It did happen much more back when we were playing 3e, because combats took a lot longer then, especially at higher level, but we were all younger at the time and more able to stretch a session out a bit longer to finish off.