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What does 5E do well?
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8310099" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>My take on the length of combat in 4e (at endgame in particular) was that it was the combination of some/all the below:</p><p></p><p>* GMs spending Encounter Budget poorly. You should be spending a hefty chunk of the EB on Hazards that must be navigated. They help fortify Team NPC positions and PCs can be force moved into them (and vice versa). There should always be Minions as well. These two EB approaches create dynamism, decrease overall HPs to ablate, and create asymmetric problem solving for the PCs and stunting opportunities.</p><p></p><p>* Have alternative Win Cons that aren’t “get rid of all Team monster HPs.” Rescue NPC and get them out of there, transit the crumbling bridge, get the thing and get out, defeat the ritual, close the portal, etc.</p><p></p><p>* Just too many damn people. My games were always either 3 PCs or 2 PCs + Companion Character. Our rounds were inside a minutes a Turn for PCs and probably 1.5 minutes for me (at most). So you’re talking 6 minutes per round top end when you include Off Turn actions and interactions.</p><p></p><p>* Analysis Paralysis. These players (a) shouldn’t have ANY off turn actions and (b) if the 1 minute Eggshell timer goes off, there is a “script” (like a board game monster) that they do.</p><p></p><p></p><p>—————</p><p></p><p>All told, our fights were 5-8 rounds, so 30-48 minutes (probably averaging 6.5 rounds so a bit under 40 minutes). Our sessions were 4 hours. Scenes were typically 3:2 Skill Challenges to Combat. A Skill Challenge Scene would take 20ish minutes. Typically we’d get in around 2-3 Combats and 4-5 Skill Challenges (about 6-7 scenes) with the rest of the time being set-up, interludes, and post-session conversation about what just happened (DW End of Session equivalent where we went over Quests and XP).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8310099, member: 6696971"] My take on the length of combat in 4e (at endgame in particular) was that it was the combination of some/all the below: * GMs spending Encounter Budget poorly. You should be spending a hefty chunk of the EB on Hazards that must be navigated. They help fortify Team NPC positions and PCs can be force moved into them (and vice versa). There should always be Minions as well. These two EB approaches create dynamism, decrease overall HPs to ablate, and create asymmetric problem solving for the PCs and stunting opportunities. * Have alternative Win Cons that aren’t “get rid of all Team monster HPs.” Rescue NPC and get them out of there, transit the crumbling bridge, get the thing and get out, defeat the ritual, close the portal, etc. * Just too many damn people. My games were always either 3 PCs or 2 PCs + Companion Character. Our rounds were inside a minutes a Turn for PCs and probably 1.5 minutes for me (at most). So you’re talking 6 minutes per round top end when you include Off Turn actions and interactions. * Analysis Paralysis. These players (a) shouldn’t have ANY off turn actions and (b) if the 1 minute Eggshell timer goes off, there is a “script” (like a board game monster) that they do. ————— All told, our fights were 5-8 rounds, so 30-48 minutes (probably averaging 6.5 rounds so a bit under 40 minutes). Our sessions were 4 hours. Scenes were typically 3:2 Skill Challenges to Combat. A Skill Challenge Scene would take 20ish minutes. Typically we’d get in around 2-3 Combats and 4-5 Skill Challenges (about 6-7 scenes) with the rest of the time being set-up, interludes, and post-session conversation about what just happened (DW End of Session equivalent where we went over Quests and XP). [/QUOTE]
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