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Message: <blockquote data-quote="trav_laney" data-source="post: 3354652" data-attributes="member: 46508">I also hate how combat can bog down the gameplay.  These are a few tricks that we use at my table:1.  Multiply dice rolls.  Instead of rolling six d6's, we roll one and multiply the result by 6.2.  Static initiative.  Everyone rolls initiative once per day, and they keep that initiative result until they rest.  Characters who do not like their result can "adjust" their Initiative by using a readied action in the next battle.3.  Two dice, one throw.  Whenever a character makes an attack, he throws the damage dice at the same time as the attack rolls.  The results are announced in-game like this: "My rogue moves to flank, and makes a single attack with his short sword.  He hits armor class 16.  If that's good enough to hit, he deals 4 points of weapon damage and 12 points of sneak attack damage."  Obviously, different-colored dice are imperative.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />4.  Average hit points.  Whenever a character levels-up, he gains the average hit points per level (instead of rolling).  These results are always rounded down for gameplay, but the decimal points are still recorded...much like having one-half of a rank in a skill.  (Okay, so this really doesn't apply to combat.  But I was on the subject of shortcuts, and well...)5.  If I am running combat with a horde of monsters, I don't roll all of their initiatives.  I make one roll on d20, and add each monster's Init bonus to the same roll.  For multiple monsters of the same type, I adjust the result by +/- 1 from monster to monster so that I don't have to deal with identical initiative scores...otherwise, in the event of a tie, the one with the highest dex goes first.These are the only ones that we are using in our game at the moment, but I am always looking for new shortcuts.  And I absolutely love mhensley's suggestion for making Grapple, Trip, and Disarm ACs.  Pure genius!  I'd like to see a similar mechanic for opposed caster checks...maybe a Spellcraft DC to dispel or counterspell?</blockquote>

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