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

[CleverNickName]

@Morrus, you little thunder-thief!
Just kidding; I like your poll better.

 

[Maxperson]

I voted 41-50%. In my experience in actual game time played, combat is probably 20-30% of play. However, the amount of space devoted to the combat rules, plus the primary method of gaining treasure and XP(and therefore levels), boosts combat above its weight class.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

@Morrus, you little thunder-thief!
Just kidding; I like your poll better.

...reads "Limit Break Dancing" title under @CleverNickName ...

There's a joke about a "Poll-Dancer" somewhere in this...

 

[Guest 7034872]

In AD&D back in the 80s, we likely could've arrived at a statistically meaningful answer to this question, but in 5e today, I think the percentages vary as widely as individual campaigns vary (even within the same group, as Osgood noted), so I doubt the distribution plot would show any meaningful clusters.

 

[CleverNickName]

...reads "Limit Break Dancing" title under @CleverNickName ...

There's a joke about a "Poll-Dancer" somewhere in this...

 

[Ovinomancer]

You can use whatever metric you want when voting. Playing time, amount of rules text, space on character sheet, whatever you feel best answers the question.

So, what percentage of D&D is about combat?

No lemon curry option. The question is largely meaningless -- I cannot answer it for my own games because I haven't kept stats, so any answer I give will likely be heavily biased by my most recent sessions and my thinking on the topic. And so what if we find that D&D is X% combat -- what does this tell us?

 

[Argyle King]

More than half; less than 90%.

I voted for 71-80.

Certainly there are groups for whom that's not the case. Even so, as I said in the other thread, I believe there are mechanical aspects (D&D style HP, linear 1-20 advancement, +N items) of the game which skew play toward approaching problems (and rewards) a particular way.

That's not a bad thing though. Different games are built differently for a reason.

 

[Morrus]

And so what if we find that D&D is X% combat -- what does this tell us?

Does every conversation have to be a matter of import?

 

[Ovinomancer]

Does every conversation have to be a matter of import?

Nope. Does my opinion stop you from continuing this one, just because I find it silly? Go, be silly, have fun!

 

[Greggy C]

You can use whatever metric you want when voting. Playing time, amount of rules text, space on character sheet, whatever you feel best answers the question.

So, what percentage of D&D is about combat?

So everyone is using a different unit of measure... so then I'll go with 90% of your brain power.