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<blockquote data-quote="Ourph" data-source="post: 5117416" data-attributes="member: 20239">The main reason this particular combat felt grindy was (IMO), that the fight started out with 11 combatants (5 PCs, 6 monsters) taking turns in round 1 and there were still 11 combatants taking turns in round 8. Not only did this mean that the fight was very much the same from round to round (it didn't feel like any progress was being made) but it also meant that the monster's turn was just as long in round 8 as in round 1, which means more time for the players to wait around while the monsters go. In addition to the things you point out, the lack of focused fire also meant the PCs weren't taking advantage of flanking and were more exposed to monster tactics that disrupted the PC's effectiveness (tactics that would have been less prominent if there were fewer opponents dishing them out). Fighting monsters one-on-one makes it more likely that PCs will go down and spend several rounds out of the action until they can be healed. Focusing fire and reducing the number of opponents early in a fight can really reduce the chances that any PC will go below 0hp, which makes for a huge gain in the overall number of PC actions available in a particular encounter.It definitely came down to player's choices. The main reason that particular fight felt grindy was less about the total number of rounds or the total amount of real world time it took to finish and more about the fact that it didn't feel as if any progress was made during the first 8 rounds of the encounter. Then, by the time the monsters were on their last HPs, the players were reduced to chipping away at the last few HPs with At-Wills.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ourph, post: 5117416, member: 20239"] The main reason this particular combat felt grindy was (IMO), that the fight started out with 11 combatants (5 PCs, 6 monsters) taking turns in round 1 and there were still 11 combatants taking turns in round 8. Not only did this mean that the fight was very much the same from round to round (it didn't feel like any progress was being made) but it also meant that the monster's turn was just as long in round 8 as in round 1, which means more time for the players to wait around while the monsters go. In addition to the things you point out, the lack of focused fire also meant the PCs weren't taking advantage of flanking and were more exposed to monster tactics that disrupted the PC's effectiveness (tactics that would have been less prominent if there were fewer opponents dishing them out). Fighting monsters one-on-one makes it more likely that PCs will go down and spend several rounds out of the action until they can be healed. Focusing fire and reducing the number of opponents early in a fight can really reduce the chances that any PC will go below 0hp, which makes for a huge gain in the overall number of PC actions available in a particular encounter. It definitely came down to player's choices. The main reason that particular fight felt grindy was less about the total number of rounds or the total amount of real world time it took to finish and more about the fact that it didn't feel as if any progress was made during the first 8 rounds of the encounter. Then, by the time the monsters were on their last HPs, the players were reduced to chipping away at the last few HPs with At-Wills. [/QUOTE]

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