Post/Author/DateTime	Post
findingfreedom 11-20-05, 10:06 PM	Hi guys. I've been running this campaign for a long while. Now keep in mind that it's quite heavy in the story-telling and "role"-playing aspects. My problem is that I find battle slowing down the pace of my sessions so much! An average battle takes an absurd amount of time! So I ask, How can I speed up battle? Does anyone have any house rules, or suggestions that I can use to make battle more interesting and fast-paced?! I would LOVE any help! Thanks! Chris
Vahenir 11-20-05, 10:15 PM	Use Mook rules*. *Mook rules consist of assigning 'one hit = one kill' rules to any non-essential NPCs, such as your average orc or hobgoblin.
The Mad Dragon 11-20-05, 10:27 PM	`throws a pen at the goblin` `goblin falls dead` so the pen IS mightier than the sword.....under mook rules :king:
Finarin Panjoro 11-20-05, 10:30 PM	Here are the things I've implemented to speed combat up. 1. Have everyone roll to hit and damage at the same time. If you miss ignore the damage dice. 2. Do not use minatures/markers or detailed maps. Describe the scene and play it old school using your imagination. If you need a very rough drawing to keep track of things that's fine, but precisely moving minatures takes a lot more time than just saying "I charge the troll". This puts a bit more pressure on the DM to remember positioning and adjudicate attacks of opportunity, area effects, etc. but it can be done. Monte Cook wrote an excellent article on playing without the battle grid. It's available at his site (www.montecook.com, sorry I don't have direct link). 3. Prepare a sheet of paper with lines and columns on it. Label the columns: Name, initiative, AC, hp, special. This can be made in even a simple word processing program or just hand drawn on paper and photocopied. If you know a fight is likely go ahead and write in the common combat info for all NPCs (AC, hp, atk, dam, saves, DR, SR, etc.). That way if you have several different enemy monsters or npcs you don't have to keep flipping through books for the usual info. 4. Have players prepare a spell list which includes the mechanics for their commonly used spells. That way when they use one they already have the info in front of them. 5. Any encounter with an EL of 4 less than the parties is assumed to be won with no damage or expenditure of resources unless unusual circumstances apply (the party is already nearly beaten, the bad guys have some advantage, etc). Just describe the battle briefly and move on. This greatly cuts down on random encounter time, but also allows the PCs to try things like negotiation, wild empathy, tracking, etc. Those are the biggies. Hope it helps. -Fin
Muaadeeb 11-20-05, 10:36 PM	Chris, At the start of the evening look over the players characters and insist that all combat related skills and weapon use be fully documented. Any time a die is cast by a player (or GM) the modifiers should be instantly known via documented character sheet or cheat sheet. Additional tips: Have a player keep track of all Players and NPC initiatives. I suggest giving this task to the most impulsive quick to action people at the table. Normally fighters make ideal initiative scribes. Have a player keep track of all NPC damage taken. I suggest giving this task to another fighter or a player who does not have a lot of spells/effects to look up. You made mention that your group likes to role-play. Make the combat an interactive monologue between your players and their foes. Even non-speaking animals and creatures have characteristics that can make them memorable and entertaining.
Silverthumb128 11-21-05, 12:47 AM	Stop rolling natural 1's? :D
Barloch 11-21-05, 03:10 AM	If a player doesn't know what to do, or is looking something up reccomend they hold action untill they find what they need, unless its absolutely nescisairy he go on that initiative (a spell that will stop the enemy monster so they can't harm the party perhaps). Then let them go as soon as the current monster/player is done doing his thing. If a character intents to not be involved in the combat (enemies are golems, the rogue will pry just hang back for instance) just drop him from the initiative and if he decides he wants to do something that isn't going to affect the combat drastically just let him do it whenever he decides. This is something you'll want to talk about with your players, ask them that if they intent to not be involved in combat and don't want to use time saying "uhhhh, I guess, I'll uhm, hmmmm, hold action?" you'll just assume hes avoiding the monsters as long as thats alright with them. If you trust your players have them roll up attacks and damages out of thier init and when you come to them it only takes a second to say "I hit x AC, if that hits I do y damage." Same with spells, like fireball "I did x damage to these guys, unless they make n reflex save to take 1/2 damage." As the DM also know your monsters! Don't spend a while looking at thier abilities saying "oh he could do that, or maybe that! Oh thats a cool spell!" make sure you know pretty well what the monster will use during combat with the party before you start gaming. You don't need to memorize everything, but it doesn't hurt to know the monstes feats spell-like and SU abilities and the spells it will most likely be using, if you forget look that stuff up while the players are doing things so you don't have to stall for time!
Monteblanco 11-21-05, 05:43 AM	[...] 2. Do not use minatures/markers or detailed maps. Describe the scene and play it old school using your imagination. If you need a very rough drawing to keep track of things that's fine, but precisely moving minatures takes a lot more time than just saying "I charge the troll". This puts a bit more pressure on the DM to remember positioning and adjudicate attacks of opportunity, area effects, etc. but it can be done. Monte Cook wrote an excellent article on playing without the battle grid. It's available at his site (www.montecook.com, sorry I don't have direct link). [...] -Fin This is a great time saver. I played D&D for years without a grid with a reasonable speed. However, I joined a table using it and the game was really slow as there were too much detail taking in acount. Considering that Monte Cook is one of the guys responsible for the tactical focus of the current edition, I find that he wrote such article at least ironical.
Milo HoBo 11-21-05, 07:43 AM	Avoid polymorph, or any other confusing rules. Only use summon spells that you (or the person that summoned) have already written down the statistics for, pre-game. Use fewer buff spells, because having alot of bonus' can be hard to remember. Have everyone develope strategies before hand so they can at least have an idea of what they're planning to do. I've had this problem before, as well. I also suggest that the grid, and minitures, be removed for story-based games. Only pull such out for major, really really important, and tactical battles.
Ash the blackcowl 11-21-05, 09:53 AM	I love the 3.x combat rules but I will agree battles can be long. I dont skip the low ECL battles because it gives the party the chance to woop up some mooks. I do however have a fairly good system in place to speed things up. 1. - I have initiative cards for all the PC's, NPC's and Monsters. When I have large groups of monsters of the same type I have them all go on the same initiative with the excption of leaders or special bad guys. The initiative cards are 3.5 cards and I just cycle through them. 2. ALL PLAYERS roll attack and damage dice at the same time no exceptions! 3. ALL PLAYERS keep a 3.5 combat card with there adjust attack and damage rolls that they modify based on buff spells through out the game. 4. I announce the next persons initiative one player prior so that person can be ready to go. 5. The initiative card for the bad guys has their basic combat stats on it for quick ref. 6. If things are still to slow use a clock to set time limits. Here is a quick list of things that you will have to control to keep combat moving. Not only are these important from a time point of view but also for creating a dramatic life/death combat scene. 1. YOUR PLAYERS MUST PAY ATTENTION TO THE SITUATION ON THE BOARD! Nothing is more frustrating than to have players not know whats going on. In my game if you snooze you loose your initiative. Have your players pay attention. 2. KNOW YOUR SPELLS AND SQ/SA. Spellcasters that dont know there spells are frustrating and slow the game considerably as they look up spell descriptions. Have them make quick ref cards. THIS ALSO APPLIES TO THE DM. Final Word: Real life combat is fast and furious. The life and death danger of the situation is magnified by quick critical descisions often made with little or know information all under the microscope of Murphy's law. Their is situation more tense than one where someone is actively trying to kill you. So make your players stress a little during combat. Push them to make decisions quickly instead of taking minutes to discuss their next move.
yellowdingo 11-21-05, 06:20 PM	By rolling all the dice for combat and noting the results, your players can then focus on the story.
findingfreedom 11-21-05, 09:47 PM	Oh! Thanks for all the replies. This is so much help! Can someone help me find the Monte Cook article about playing without a battle grid? I like that idea a lot, and the rest of this info will definately be applied to more important grid battles. Thanks again! Chris
ScipioX 11-22-05, 01:38 AM	Final Word: Real life combat is fast and furious. The life and death danger of the situation is magnified by quick critical descisions often made with little or know information all under the microscope of Murphy's law. Their is situation more tense than one where someone is actively trying to kill you. So make your players stress a little during combat. Push them to make decisions quickly instead of taking minutes to discuss their next move. I think this is the best idea right here. As long as all of them are reasonably experienced, requireing them to make snap decisions (as in under 6 seconds) leads to memorably hilarious encounters when people make less than brilliant moves from time to time. Exceptions should be made for inexperienced players, as you can't expect them to think quickly when they're still trying to learn the basic rules. Another exception should be when a PC's life hangs in the balance. Then the players should get all the help the DM can give them without breaking the rules. CR's should be lowered a bit if you adopt the quick combat method, since uncoordinated party actions are less effective than carefully planned ones. This system can lead to a lot of fun and dramatic encounters, and speeds up combat considerably.
DreadWizardDM 11-22-05, 03:36 AM	This is a VERY old school technique of DMing known as "hobgoblin" DMing. Basically you just wing everything. Let the players roll dice etc and do their thing and just make a split second decision without even checking monsters stats. If you want the PC to hit the monster just have it hit it and take some damage. If you want to do something to a PC just do it. Just gotta remember to make it fun for the players and not slaughter them outright. It is a game of give and take with this method and you should give 80 percent and take 20 percent. I do not reccomend this for high level characters and for players with years and years of experience but it works great for low level play.