Timed Combat

[Thalia]

The other day my group was tossing around a hypothetical notion: Timing a player's thinking time during combat...

Kinda like Speed Chess, I guess, or whatever it's called.

The idea came up because often players hum and haw for far too long and the combat drags on interminably. We reasoned it could make the combat much more exciting, introduce realistic 'errors' into people's tactical thinking, and speed things up a lot. Perhaps a 30 second limit?? Perhaps a character with a higher 'tactical rating' could get longer to plan...the disciplined fighter/paladin type, for example, or the lawful neutral mathematically-minded wizard (as opposed to the wild fireball-tossing sorceror or the severly chaotic theif)? Barbarians raging may only get 10 seconds...this sort of thing.

Has anyone implemented something like this in their game??

Any thoughts?

 

[James McMurray]

My group doesn't have a hard and fast rule, but if someone is taking too long, I'll nudge them along.

If yo make a rule for it, I'd base the prep time on the character's dexterity and intelligence. Perhaps the average of the two * 2-4 seconds? And of course, they'll be able to think about their next turn during the other players' and enemies' turns.

 

[heliopolix]

One of my freinds GM'ed a campaing and here's what he did: At the begginnign of every round, players got 30 sec. to organise their tactics. After that, only the player whose turn it was got to talk pertaining to the battle (OOC bs'ing still allowed, but quietly). when he called your character's turn, you'd better have exactly what you were doing thought out, or you forfeited that turn. ditto for absent by bio-break or snack-run. Also, you missed any AoO you got to take if you werent paying attention when he called it. The system sounds kinda harsh, and YMMV, but it really sped things up. It also made the 30 sec. coordination bit really important, b/c wasting that and trying to strategise out-of-turn had a nasty tendancy to let the monsters foil the plan perfectly.

 

[Legildur]

This exact issue has been bugging me as a player for a while now. I've had visions of using 1 minute egg-timers (or similar), or maybe a chess clock, or any number of countdown devices.

In the end, I just decided to do something myself and encourage other players to follow suit. If I feel that I want to spend more time thinking about a possible action then I just Delay. It usually only costs me the one initiative position and reflects the additional thought required to react to a changed tactical situation.

 

[Li Shenron]

One of us uses this kind of time limitation when he is the DM. But not on a regular basis, just when he thinks we are taking too much time, he says "stop", or otherwise gives us 5 seconds to act or lose the turn.

But I have to say I don't like the thing much, it's very stressing. Furthermore I like talking about strategies and such a rule used regularly would let us miss interesting arguement. Of course, if players stop to often to discuss, then the DM should have them realise that the whole game is hampered by this...

 

[dcollins]

The idea came up because often players hum and haw for far too long and the combat drags on interminably. We reasoned it could make the combat much more exciting, introduce realistic 'errors' into people's tactical thinking, and speed things up a lot. Perhaps a 30 second limit??

I agree, 3rd Edition combat with its tabletop emphasis can take far too long... hours to play out a few seconds of combat. As DM I don't have a timer... but if a player takes too long, staring and musing at the battlemap when it's their turn, I give them a "6 count" (count down from 6, simulating the 6-second round their PC has to decide). I usually only have to do that once or twice in any gaming session.

I also try to prohibit pre-measuring distances (for movement, ranged combat, spells, etc.) for similar reasons. It really spoils my taste for the game when someone takes out a spell template and sits there triangulating the exact point to catch the most monsters and just barely miss any PCs, or moves a mini this way, then that way, like it's chess before actually deciding.

When a turn comes to a player, they should promptly call their action. They should have been thinking about what to do before it got to their turn.

 

[Li Shenron]

I also try to prohibit pre-measuring distances (for movement, ranged combat, spells, etc.) for similar reasons. It really spoils my taste for the game when someone takes out a spell template and sits there triangulating the exact point to catch the most monsters and just barely miss any PCs, or moves a mini this way, then that way, like it's chess before actually deciding.

Unfortunately, 3.5 edition promotes this way of playing A LOT. It's hard to play 3rd edition without a battlegrid and once you have rules like AoOs for which position on the grid makes a huge difference, the consequence is that players starts measuring all the time...

 

[Grazzt]

I also try to prohibit pre-measuring distances (for movement, ranged combat, spells, etc.) for similar reasons. It really spoils my taste for the game when someone takes out a spell template and sits there triangulating the exact point to catch the most monsters and just barely miss any PCs, or moves a mini this way, then that way, like it's chess before actually deciding.

When a turn comes to a player, they should promptly call their action. They should have been thinking about what to do before it got to their turn.

Ditto. I don't generally time the players (though we did experiment with something like that in the past), but if a player starts taking too long, I do "gently" remind them that we are in the middle of combat, blah blah blah.

Players should be required to be ready on their turn (they have plenty of time whilst the other players or opponents are acting). I mean it is supposed to be combat...whirling swords, slashing claws, etc. You wouldnt stop in the middle of that for 2 or 3 minutes to think about what you were gonna do next.

And no premeasuring distances. That annoys the hell outta me, so I don't allow it.

 

[jgsugden]

In my game, players have a reasonable period in which to decide on an action (10 to 15 seconds) before I give a warning. About 5 seconds later, I inform them that their character has delayed.

I have one player that, when left without 'motiviation', will take up to 5 minutes to decide on what to do.

If you're finding that players are taking too long, it is often not because the players are slow. It often has more to do with the players not knowing the rules well enough to figure out what they want. Start encouraging them to get to know the rules relevant to their character. Ask them questions about their spells, "Hey, Bob, what is the range for your charm person spell? Close? So what does that calculate out to in feet for your sorcerer?" "Hey, Tim, what are the steps you need to take to start a grapple? A touch attack first ... then what? What bonus does the enemy get if it is huge?" If they get familiar with the rules, the combats tend to speed up.

Another thing you can do is suggest that PCs begin to decide on their actions while other players (or you as the DM) are acting. They may need to change their plans, but having a tenative plan in place really keeps things moving. As a DM I *always* have a tactical plan for my encounters written up in advance. This allows me to jump right into the action. If the PCs throw something unexpected at me, I often need to adjust the plan, but the 30 seconds of extra planning outside the game may save 15 seconds inside the game ... and game time is far more precious than planning time.

 

[Davelozzi]

I don't use a timer, but if a player isn't ready on his turn within roughly 10 seconds or so I just hand them their initiative card and tell them that they're delaying. Then they can hand it back and jump back in whenever they're ready. It works pretty well. We have seven players so keeping things moving quickly is essential.