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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 5175040" data-attributes="member: 30022">I've tried the 1/2 monster HP and x2 damage thing, and it's a little too lethal. It wasn't to speed up encounters, though. I was running DL 10 ("Dragons of Dreams") and wanted to created an other-worldly nightmare where everything seemed much more lethal. PCs were dropping like flies, which was the intention. However, to counterbalance, they had "bonus lives" which represented dream images of themselves. They would only die permanently if they lost all of their "bonus lives". [...I guess you'd have to be familiar with the Dragonlance module DL 10 to understand entirely what I'm talking about here...]I'm currently playing in a campaign where our DM feels somewhat like yourself, and has decided to decrease monster HP by 25% (easy enough to do, given that it's simply half their bloodied value). In exchange, they typically do 1 "die" more damage (no increase to static bonuses). So, an ogre might swing for 3d10+5 damage, rather than 2d10+5 damage. It seems to be working out well.As a regular DM myself, though, I don't feel the need to do this. We did a session last night where 6 players completed 6 combat encounters, a skill challenge and various non-combat obstacles in under 4 hours. Each combat was taking, on average, less than 30 minutes. That included a solo, and a swarm of approx 20 opponents (only half minions). There's plenty you can do, as a DM, to make combats go much faster. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have the creatures flee or surrender after "losing" most of their number, or just hand-wave that the remainder are defeated without loss.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Roll once for initiative for all monsters, and perform all their actions in a single "turn" (rather than rolling individually for each type).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Implement "auto delay" for the PCs. This is especially important for large groups like mine. If the player doesn't state quickly what they're doing on their turn, you go to the next PC. If you've come up to the monster's turn, they auto-full-defense and lose their turn.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monsters use the same tactics as PCs: gang up on a single target. Knocking out one PC (even if they're healed back to their feet) speeds up a fight, rather than spreading damage around. It also makes it much more exciting. "Whoa! Jack's down... CLERIC! Everybody else - keep the beasts off him..."</li> </ul>...but if all else fails, try the -25% HP / +1 dice trick mentioned above. It might work for you.</blockquote>

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