When do you make your action choices?

[Rechan]

I was reading the Essentials thread, and I've seen this issue crop up a few places.

So I'm curious: when you're in combat, how long does it take you to make the choice what you're going to do, what power you're going to use, etc? And when do you make that choice - before your turn, or do you wait til it's your turn before you start thinking about it?

It's been a while since I played. But I typically knew exactly what I was going to do long before it got to my turn. So when I was up it was 'boom boom boom' as far as decision execution. Granted, I was playing a leader (but a leader who could pull many different effects out of their hat - go bard!). Same when I played a striker - I knew my plan of attack, the power I'd use, and my general target several persons' turns in advance.

Sure I'd take into account if 'that guy is wounded' or 'suddenly that guy moed out of range'; usually if the battlefield changed outside of my plans I would have to make a decision, or if there was no good choice at that time I'd feel stuck.

 

[malraux]

Generally I have a plan formed based on the battlefield ready to go from the end of my initiative until the person immediately before me screws up by either moving into the space that I needed to occupy for it to work correctly, moving some of the bad buys out of the area, or getting in the middle of the area of effect and complaining about low hit points.

 

[delericho]

I choose my action while the previous players are taking their turn. Barring a major upset, I have my action all ready to go as soon as my turn comes up.

When I'm running the game, I have a standing rule that you have to at least start declaring your first action of the round within 15 seconds or you lose your turn. ("Delay!" is a valid choice. But even that has to be declared; if the 15 seconds expires you lose your turn; it doesn't default to a delayed action.)

 

[cpendlet]

Often I am in the exact same position as malraux.
Occasionally I can't decide what to do until my turn comes up (need to heal the silly bloodied striker that wondered off by themselves but don't really want to get out of heal range from the defender who is also down on hit points but not bloodied yet and I don't want to burn an action point to move). Obviously playing a leader (sun domain warpriest - Bask in the glow of the almighty Pelor ).

 

[OnlineDM]

I love players who are ready to go when their turn rolls around. If all of your players are like this, combat doesn't drag. Combat slows down when it gets to a player's turn and they START thinking about what they want to do.

Ideally, a player is thinking about what they want to do while everyone else is acting. At least, that's the way I try to play. Once my turn comes up, I'm declaring what I'm doing right away (unless the person right before me has drastically shaken things up).

 

[Dice4Hire]

In our group we have tow people (including me) who know the rules well and usually know what we want to do before our turn starts. So far, so good.

The next player does not know the rules well, but can play his character decently. He has a tendency to stick to at-wills and spam the same one round after round even when it is not always the best choice. He also tends to roll hi dice before he announces the power, a problem when his two at-wills target either reflex or AC.

The last player is new, and tends to lose concentration quickly. He ha not really learned the game too well yet, though his is improving, so occasionally states actions that are impossible, as he is not paying attention. He usually takes half of a round's time all by himself.

My preference is to be ready when your round comes up and have dice in hand, if at all possible.

 

[Mengu]

Here is me, with a hypothetical dwarf paladin with a game plan for my turn. I am currently dazed. If I makes my save, I will move, minor to supercharge my weapon, and charge the lich in the back and mark him, then action point and dail. If I fail the save, I'll wail on the giant ghoul next to me with a power that marks him, and save the AP.

I roll a save at the start of my turn. I fail, Bob gives me a reroll with +2, I make it, great. Bob reminds me something happens when I make my save, shuffle shuffle, aha, my allies gain a +5 to saves until the start of my next turn. I move over to here provoking from the ghoul, oh he hits me, and what? He slows and weakens with his opportunity attack? That's bogus. I have to stop here and can't get where I'm going, and the damage bloodies me. Fine, I second wind as a minor, and that gives me a save, then I'll attack. I fail my save, awesome. No matter, I attack. I miss. Wait, my PP gives me a +2 when I second wind, oh, doesn't matter I rolled too low, I miss anyway. Darn, now I don't have a minor left to mark him. I was hoping to save this for the lich, but Action Point. Bob says I get +13 damage if I hit, +9 temps if I miss. Too bad I'm weakened. Oh wait, I get to make a save when I action point from my PP. Woot, success. And I still have the +2 to hit from second winding. I swing and I hit for 36 damage and the ghoul is under my divine sanction. That bloodies him already? Cool. He leaks gas when I bloody him as a reaction? Not cool, what kind of ghoul is this? Enemies within 2 squares? Phew, that's just me and Bob, everyone else is safe, could have been a lot worse. 29 fort? Yeah that hits can't do anything about that, but I do get me some temps. Ongoing 10 poison? Pah, that's nothin'. I get a save at the end of my turn anyway, what's with this stupid design immediate reactions dealing ongoing damage. Any who, here is the end of my turn I roll a save against the ongoing, a 6, I fail. No wait, I'm a dwarf, I succeed. Done. Wait, what was the aura for the ghoul? I take 10 necrotic when I end my turn in his aura, got resist 5, so my temps go away. Done. For real this time.

By the time you hit paragon, there is so much stuff going on, any plans you might have fall apart in a split second. 30 second turns hypothetically sound reasonable, but in practice it's hard to realize unless you're a ranged striker with little interaction necessary, and even then, if you're not interacting with the rest of the field, you're not being very efficient tactically.

 

[Dross]

As with others above, make a decision as soon as possible after I've finished my go. Have a plan and a couple of backup plans.

Plan B because "no plan survives contact with the enemy".

Plan C because "no plan survives contact with your allies".

Then think of running away because "no plan survives contact with the the dice".

B & C occur more often the longer the battle lasts.

 

[wlmartin]

The game for me flows very quickly in the early levels.
During Heroic, it is more important to play at the pace you feel comfortable with rather than to think every move out.

Don't spend 30 minutes planning on how to take down a small group of goblins because
a) You don't have that many moves to pick from
b) They don't have that many moves to pick from
c) The chance of dying is minimal at lower levels

Just act quickly to get the encounter flowing fast

However when you hit Paragon, there is more that can go wrong if you don't make the moves carefuly so spend a little longer. Still don't spend hours deciding.... some moves can feel better and more RP'ed if tacticaly thought out but deciding for 20 minutes who is going to open a door to a room you fear may be trapped or full of monsters is just wasteful

 

[Kzach]

I'm a strategist by nature so when I play I like to play characters that have interesting options both in and out of combat. So I watch the game like a hawk and keep adjusting my plan as other people have their turns and I'm usually always ready with a plan on my turn.

I've only ever been in one group, however, that strategised IN CHARACTER whilst combat was going on. It was so much better than, "Slide him to this square where I can get use my X nova ability so that next round Pete can use his Y ability!" It was this group where the combat flowed the fastest because everyone was on the same page rather than being individuals at the same table.