Slow Player

[orchid blossom]

(No, that's not too short! Remember that every player has time to think about his next action during the entire round of combat for all other PCs and NPCs/monsters, which gives them several minutes already.)

Generally I agree with this. But I find, especially when playing a spellcaster, that I've got my action all planned and then something changes the couple turns before mine. A party member might get in my lightning bolt line, or step into the planned area for an area of effect spell. Or someone just goes down and my action goes from "cast offensive spell" to "Dimension door this guy out of danger."

So I guess I'm saying be aware that even though we've had everyone else's turn to plan our actions, sometimes they end up tossed out the window. It's another good place for that delay (unless the baddies go right after you.) If I can't figure out what to do fairly rapidly, I delay to figure it out.

Another possibility Sayburr at the Kenzerboards uses: Everyone states in one sentence at the beginning of the round what he plans to do. If he wants to do something else when it's his turn, he gets a -2 to everything.

See my comments above. Ouch. That would make it difficult to respond to changes on the battlefield.

 

[Cap'n Needles]

We had a guy like this playing with us once, we used a one minute "hourglass" from a pictionary game to limit his decision making time. It was still an awfully long time, but this fellow had some difficulties dealing with people socially, so there wasn't much grumbling about the solution, which did work rather well. After that, the hourglass was known as the Dave-omiter, and is brought out every now and then as a reminder when the game is lagging.

 

[StalkingBlue]

Generally I agree with this. But I find, especially when playing a spellcaster, that I've got my action all planned and then something changes the couple turns before mine. A party member might get in my lightning bolt line, or step into the planned area for an area of effect spell. Or someone just goes down and my action goes from "cast offensive spell" to "Dimension door this guy out of danger."

So I guess I'm saying be aware that even though we've had everyone else's turn to plan our actions, sometimes they end up tossed out the window. It's another good place for that delay (unless the baddies go right after you.) If I can't figure out what to do fairly rapidly, I delay to figure it out.

Yup, that's what I do when I play a spellcaster. I also try to cut spellcasters a bit of slack when I DM of course, for precisely that reason. In those situations, I always find it helps to say things like, "Oh hell, there I am getting ready to Lightning Bolt and now *you* [other player] step into my path!" when that happens. It focuses my mind as the spellcaster's player and alerts the DM that I may need a few instants to adjust my tactic if my turn is about to come up.

But I still expect casters to be ready to act within seconds after the start of their turn. We use a battle grid, and all that squares-counting for placing area spells causes more than enough time lag for my taste. Fortunately I've just house-ruled magic in the Midnight game I run in a way that makes area spells on the whole a lot less interesting. That happened for quite another reason (of course!), but I'm expecting a nice spin-off as to time spent counting squares.

See my comments above. Ouch. That would make it difficult to respond to changes on the battlefield.

Yup. Everybody declaring actions at the beginning of the round would make Improved Initiative the most wanted feat in the book, seeing that whoever wins initiative has the best chances of getting their stated actions - for the losers on initiative, the situation on the battlefield might already have changed. Not to mention it must be an absolute headache for a DM running more than, say, two enemies in any battle. I often run battles with a dozen or more enemies against the PCs. How am I going to remember every action I was planning for every NPC and monster on the grid at the beginning of the round? Take notes?

 

[Zhnov]

Slow

We had a slow player. He was a bit slow outside of the game too.

We spent some time coaching him outside of the game, and had him list all his possible actions on an index card, for easy reference during the game. Lastly, we had him select default actions to take, for times when he could not make up his mind.

Despite his "slowness", he was extremely fun to have in the game because his playing style was unique.... and funny - a natural comedian who found a funny side of every situation.

Default actions help. Often, "Default = swing sword"

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

There is a simple solution.

If you dally our DM counts down 5-4-3-2-1 and declares "You Delay." On to the next character in Initiative. This is perfectly fair and reasonable. The player can jump back in and act as soon as he knows what he is going to do.

We actually use 3x5 cards as initiative order aids. The DM cycles through the cards. He hands the card to the Delaying player. The player offers the card back to the DM when he wants to act, and the DM lets him at the next legal opportunity. (Ready actions work in a similar way.)

There is something about holding that card in your hand that focuses the mind. Delaying is often an optional choice for spellcasters because you may want to wait for enemies or allies to bunch up a bit more.