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Tips and Tricks to speed up gameplay.
- Thread starter Joker
- Start date
Use multied colored dice for different attacks.
Come up with Combat Expertise and Power attack cheat sheets. Just pick you values your comforable with and keep those numbers handy.
Roll Damage ahead of time. I usually have 10 damage numbers written down, and I just cross those off as I hit.
If your a wizard, KNOW YOUR SPELLS! THere's nothing more aggravating when a wizard has to look in his book because he doesn't know what his spells do.
Have the DM say whose going next in combat, so they can get ready.
Feel free to skip ahead if needed. If the fighter just hit 4 times, but you know its not going to kill the creature, go to the next person while the fighter gives you a final damage total.
Come up with Combat Expertise and Power attack cheat sheets. Just pick you values your comforable with and keep those numbers handy.
Roll Damage ahead of time. I usually have 10 damage numbers written down, and I just cross those off as I hit.
If your a wizard, KNOW YOUR SPELLS! THere's nothing more aggravating when a wizard has to look in his book because he doesn't know what his spells do.
Have the DM say whose going next in combat, so they can get ready.
Feel free to skip ahead if needed. If the fighter just hit 4 times, but you know its not going to kill the creature, go to the next person while the fighter gives you a final damage total.
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
Use a battlemat. Amazing how quickly that sped up play for my group.
Some of the common suggestions, by the way, don't work all the time. I've seen smart people who can't do the "roll multiple colored d20s at once" - we're not all math wizards. (Well, they can, but then they have to do the math separately for each d20, which means the only time you're saving is the minimal amount of time the die would be airborne.)
Some of the common suggestions, by the way, don't work all the time. I've seen smart people who can't do the "roll multiple colored d20s at once" - we're not all math wizards. (Well, they can, but then they have to do the math separately for each d20, which means the only time you're saving is the minimal amount of time the die would be airborne.)
Dross
Explorer
Roll dice ahead of time (if allowed by the DM as some do not like this), add and then be ready to say your results. 30 seconds instead of 2 minutes each round saves a lot of time. If you do not use all of them, so be it.
Have someone markl the order and warn people ahead of time that their turn is next (or remember who you go after).
If you have two attacks and the first one hits on a 19, then a 21 will typicall hit, so do not ask if a 21 will hit (there is up to 15 seconds each time this is asked). Also try to remember what ACs you have hit, then simply say: "Hit on a 21 for 17 points of damage."
Cheat sheets are good:
spell lists for save DCs and types, ranges, damages, duration, casting time,
attack and damages: have your common ones all added up with common modifiers for foes noted (trip, sunder, disarm, power attack, etc)
Special abilities written somewhere on your character sheet so no need to read books.
Pay Attention! Know what is going on so that things do not need to be explained to you each round.
Have someone markl the order and warn people ahead of time that their turn is next (or remember who you go after).
If you have two attacks and the first one hits on a 19, then a 21 will typicall hit, so do not ask if a 21 will hit (there is up to 15 seconds each time this is asked). Also try to remember what ACs you have hit, then simply say: "Hit on a 21 for 17 points of damage."
Cheat sheets are good:
spell lists for save DCs and types, ranges, damages, duration, casting time,
attack and damages: have your common ones all added up with common modifiers for foes noted (trip, sunder, disarm, power attack, etc)
Special abilities written somewhere on your character sheet so no need to read books.
Pay Attention! Know what is going on so that things do not need to be explained to you each round.
Festivus
First Post
- Roll your d20 and your damage dice together.
- Roll all your attacks together.
- Use spell cards or spell sheets that list out details.
- When casting a spell, be as informative as you can... Casting Fireball, Reflex DC17 for half fire damage yadda yadda
- Remember whom you follow in order and think of what you are going to do right after your turn.
- Have the DM use a time limit for a turn... if you can't decide within x amount of time, you automatically delay until you can think of what you want to do.
- Set aside ruling questions until after the game... unless it's a sicilian clause thing where death is on the line, then look it up.
- Count in tens of feet rather than fives. If you are moving a long ways on a battle mat, use two fingers and count across pairs of squares. It's easier and faster to count by tens than fives.
- Pay attention. Keep distractions like TV, music, comptuers, ebay, children, etc out of the gaming area.
I prefigure just about every AC or Attack Bonus/Damage combination that I'm likely to need & have those ready on my character sheet.
As others have mentioned, I make attack & damage rolls at the same time. When I have the matching dice, when making multiple attacks, I roll all attacks together.
When I DM'd 3e, I used simple initiative cards. (The more complex one's slowed me down rather than sped me up.) Each PC & each monster (or monster group) has a card. They are stacked in initiative order. Actions that change a combatant's place in the initiative order moves their card in the deck. Lasting effects get a card with a duration to be decremented each round.
As others have mentioned, I make attack & damage rolls at the same time. When I have the matching dice, when making multiple attacks, I roll all attacks together.
When I DM'd 3e, I used simple initiative cards. (The more complex one's slowed me down rather than sped me up.) Each PC & each monster (or monster group) has a card. They are stacked in initiative order. Actions that change a combatant's place in the initiative order moves their card in the deck. Lasting effects get a card with a duration to be decremented each round.
Hussar
Legend
Great stuff. Particularly the paying attention bit.
Something that can really speed things up is if the party actually talks about given tactics beforehand. Create a fairly standard SOP response to typical threats and work out the numerical changes beforehand. If the fighter is getting enlarged all the time, then write down the effects instead of asking each and every time.
Something that can really speed things up is if the party actually talks about given tactics beforehand. Create a fairly standard SOP response to typical threats and work out the numerical changes beforehand. If the fighter is getting enlarged all the time, then write down the effects instead of asking each and every time.
just pay attention and have at time limit. make sure the players know the initiative order. If thier turn comes and they dont have a clue what they are doing, or know what thier action is but not the details of the spell, feat or magic item then they lose a spot in initiative, each time someone else finishes come back to the people who werent ready.
As a DM make sure your NPCs actions are all set. After your players keep losing turns to monsters who actually know what they are doing and how they are doing it (because your actually paying attention and prepared) you'll find they pay attention and have thier info ready very quickly.
As a DM make sure your NPCs actions are all set. After your players keep losing turns to monsters who actually know what they are doing and how they are doing it (because your actually paying attention and prepared) you'll find they pay attention and have thier info ready very quickly.
delericho
Legend
There have been several threads on this before, and there's a lot of good advice earlier in this thread to.
One thing that really helps is to have at least one PHB per two players, plus one Spell Compendium (and other heavily-used spellbooks) per two casters, at the table. Plus, the DM should have a dedicated copy of any and all rulebooks he's likely to need, which the players are forbidden to reference.
Try to eliminate the need for the DM to look up rules, especially in combat. If you know your Wizard is going to cast Disjunction, look the spell up in advance, and hand the PHB to the DM at the same time as you declare the action. That way, if he decides he needs to reference the rules, they're already to hand. If he doesn't, you've not really lost anything. (Likewise, Fighters using Grapple, Monks using Quivering Palm, and so forth.)
In general, remember that the most intensive part of D&D is the combat sequence, and during a combat the DM is 'on' 100% of the time, while each player is only 'on' 20% of the time (in a 'standard' 4-PC party). This gives each player 80% of the round in which to do various things to speed the game for the whole. So, use that time.
I would echo the advantages of cheat sheets, spell cards, and an initiative caller. But the #1 piece of advice I've seen so far in this thread is for players: pay attention!
One thing that really helps is to have at least one PHB per two players, plus one Spell Compendium (and other heavily-used spellbooks) per two casters, at the table. Plus, the DM should have a dedicated copy of any and all rulebooks he's likely to need, which the players are forbidden to reference.
Try to eliminate the need for the DM to look up rules, especially in combat. If you know your Wizard is going to cast Disjunction, look the spell up in advance, and hand the PHB to the DM at the same time as you declare the action. That way, if he decides he needs to reference the rules, they're already to hand. If he doesn't, you've not really lost anything. (Likewise, Fighters using Grapple, Monks using Quivering Palm, and so forth.)
In general, remember that the most intensive part of D&D is the combat sequence, and during a combat the DM is 'on' 100% of the time, while each player is only 'on' 20% of the time (in a 'standard' 4-PC party). This gives each player 80% of the round in which to do various things to speed the game for the whole. So, use that time.
I would echo the advantages of cheat sheets, spell cards, and an initiative caller. But the #1 piece of advice I've seen so far in this thread is for players: pay attention!
