D&D 5E So what % of D&D IS combat?

[Jer]

Interesting, my experiences have been entirely the opposite.

I listen to after action reports of my kids D&D games and they're full of things like "they spent a half hour trying to figure out how to tame the owlbear" or "they wanted to see if the goblins had any information about the caves and ended up bribing them instead of fighting them". The kids are allright.

OTOH - my nephews want to do nothing but fight when they play, which frustrates my kid and my niece who plays in that game to no end. Not coincidentally, I think, my kid and my niece both watch D&D streams on YouTube or listen to D&D podcasts, my nephews do not. So they're picking up how to play the game in different ways.

 

[payn]

I listen to after action reports of my kids D&D games and they're full of things like "they spent a half hour trying to figure out how to tame the owlbear" or "they wanted to see if the goblins had any information about the caves and ended up bribing them instead of fighting them". The kids are allright.

OTOH - my nephews want to do nothing but fight when they play, which frustrates my kid and my niece who plays in that game to no end. Not coincidentally, I think, my kid and my niece both watch D&D streams on YouTube or listen to D&D podcasts, my nephews do not. So they're picking up how to play the game in different ways.

I think consuming podcasts and things like critical role are likely to help alleviate the pure combat notion. I also think that folks assume they are much much more popular than they actually are. Lots of folks wander into D&D from videogames too, which are pretty much non-stop combat.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I put 1/3 (33.3%), it just feels right for me...

One third for combat, one third for exploration, one third for social.

That's not to say the game always plays out like that, but sessions and campaigns can focus on any of the pillars. I've played in long running campaigns with a fight about every 4th or 5th session, and I've run games with a fight every session.

Because every table is different, one third makes sense to me.

 

[Nebulous]

If it isn't scheduled for 6 hours, it isn't worth it to me.

But, we only meet to play typically every other Saturday, so we try to do a "double session" each time.

Well, during the pandemic we switched to online only, so I could run 2 games a week for two hours each, so that's still 16 hours a month, it's just spaced out. There were some weeks I squeezed in a third game with a non-DnD system, like Alien, but that's a bitch prepping and running three groups in a week, and sometimes the same day back to back.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Well, during the pandemic we switched to online only, so I could run 2 games a week for two hours each, so that's still 16 hours a month, it's just spaced out. There were some weeks I squeezed in a third game with a non-DnD system, like Alien, but that's a bitch prepping and running three groups in a week, and sometimes the same day back to back.

If shorter sessions work for you that is great, but they don't for me. If all I have is 2 hours, I'll just watch a movie or read or whatever. Also, IME with shorter sessions, but the time everyone finishes chit-chatting and such you have already lost too much time.

I can get together with friends to do whatever, but if I am playing D&D, I want to actually play and that requires sufficient time to enjoy the game and actually accomplish something.

 

[iserith]

D&D, in a functioning group, has as much combat as there needs to be.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Strange question. Is your game primarily a dungeon crawl? Or a Critical Role style campaign? Or a series of occasional one-shots?

How much of D&D is combat is going to be entirely based upon the DM and player's style of play. I don't think the rules explicitly support an optimal % of combat in a one-size-fits-all situation.

 

[Morrus]

Strange question.

I think it's a very reasonable question given recent events. Not strange in the slightest.

 

[Parmandur]

For me it tends to be higher, generally, as the longest standing group I’ve played with is focused on combat. But it also depends on edition. For us the entirety of 4E was easily 95-99% combat. After the literal first few minutes of the first session of roleplaying and getting a quest, etc the entire rest of our time playing 4E was nothing but combat and rests between combats. Combat simply took too long so it took all our time at the table. We played 4E from release up to the 5E playtest.

That matches my experience, except I dropped out of RPGs instead of continuing with 4E.

 

[hawkeyefan]

The answer is Jell-O per cent.