D&D 5E Speeding Up Combat

[Mistwell]

1) Run Theater of the Mind, rather than using miniatures and a grid. IME, players who have a grid are more likely to want to nit-pick "optimal" moves, which are seldom much better than the obvious plays.

This, more than anything else, will speed up your game. It does take a session or two to get used to doing it. But, if you can spend that time, it will dramatically speed up your game.

 

[iserith]

In my experience, seeking and obtaining player buy-in on getting their **** together and acting on their turn instead of thinking about it is what speeds up combat the most.

The grid alleviates questions that arise as to fictional positioning, but does increase tactical considerations during decision-making, so it's a wash in my view as far as time goes.

 

[robus]

As others have mentioned it does matter where, exactly, the time is being spent in your combats. But this article was a revelation to me as far as getting the rounds to go quickly.

Edit: and, of course, do you know why the monsters are still fighting? What is their motivation to fight to the bitter end? And if they are going to fight to the bitter end and that foregone conclusion is known then mop it up. "The creature continues to try and put up a fight but finally succumbs to your relentless onslaught and dies. Have some XP"

 

[ProphetSword]

None of these answers help me. Not saying the advice is bad. The issue is not the players, as they are pretty quick in their decisions. The number of combats aren't the issue as they vary based upon what happens from session to session, and some sessions have none.

I have mostly noticed that enemies with more than 100 hit points take a while to kill. Maybe the party isn't doing as much damage as they should. Oh well.

 

[Unwise]

None of these answers help me...

I have mostly noticed that enemies with more than 100 hit points take a while to kill. Maybe the party isn't doing as much damage as they should. Oh well.

So how are monsters having less HP, or PCs doing more damage not addressing the issue?

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

None of these answers help me.

That indicates that you have either not read all of the answers given, or you have misinformed those of us providing answers as to what your problem actually is, because literally every avenue of speeding up combat has been offered.

I have mostly noticed that enemies with more than 100 hit points take a while to kill. Maybe the party isn't doing as much damage as they should. Oh well.

Which is exactly why I gave the suggestion that perhaps your players are being more frugal with their limited resources such as spell slots, rages, combat superiority dice, and so forth than the enemies they face require for the pace you wish to set.

 

[Azurewraith]

It sounds to me like your pcs just aren't up to the snuff of the monsters you throw at them i mean 100hp is nothing and should only take 2 or so rounds to blow throw. What is your party set up looking like class levels and feats and relative gear also knowing if casters are blasters helps.

 

[Celtavian]

Theater of the mind does run a lot faster. Though some players hate the lack of a grid and miniatures since it seems to enhance the play experience for many.

Given any further information as to why your combats seem too long, I'd go with lower hit points, higher damage. Fast, furious, and deadly combat can be fun.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Has anyone made a stream of game that shows some really fast combats? I'm talking about 5 rounds against multiple opponents in 15 minutes or less. (Because there are people doing it that fast.)

I've sped mine up quite a bit, but I'm not yet as fast as I want to be. At this point I think I'm going to actually have to see what the speedster groups are doing to get much faster.

 

[Celtavian]

My combats have speeded up immensely from Pathfinder. But I could run Pathfinder combats relatively fast. It was often the players that slowed things down because it took them a while to make choices. 5E has limited their choices making combat faster.

The reason I can run combats as quickly as I do has more to do with memory than any tactic I can offer. I memorize everyone's initiative. I quickly go around the table. I know exactly what the monsters are going to do each round and waste no time having them execute their actions. I memorize the attack and damage modifiers of all the monsters. I can pretty much run the game in my head without looking at the books very often. If I miss something because of an unusual circumstance, I don't worry about it. I keep going to keep the combat going. It's very hard to offer advice that amounts to, "Use your memory more efficiently and make sure you know everything you'll need to know so you don't waste time looking at the books."