Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gideonpepys Dec 20, 2010 11:04:12	I'm searching for a quick and easy solution to the long(ish) combats of 4th edition. I'm well aware that this is an old chestnut, but I have 7 players in my group; they are at 18th level at the moment, and combats can last well over an hour. Ar first I toyed with simply reducing monster HPs (below what the latest updates have seen, even) but I found that this severely reduced the threat the PCs faced each encounter. What effect would this simple fix have on game balance: Both players and monsters add half their level to damage rolls. Any help; or will there be unforseen problems with this approach?
#2 pluisjen Dec 20, 2010 11:11:34	Will make multi-attackers and area-attackers significantly more powerful then single attackers. If you want to upgrade damage, a flat upgrade is usually best (such as +25% or +50% on all attacks) rather then adding a fixed amount to each hit.
#3 hardsteeldragon Dec 20, 2010 13:19:44	I still prefer the approach where all creatures just have 50% their hir points. It makes the combat a lot faster but may be not completely balanced (because of abilities that heal a flat amount, maybe have to half those too).
#4 CrimsonAssassin Dec 23, 2010 13:21:02	the group and I usually roll a d4 to determine which body part hits. 1 = body (-1 AC until end of next turn, non-cumulative) 2 = arms (drops weapon if equipped with one) 3 = legs (cannot shift until end of next turn) 4 = head (damage is doubled.) We call this the precision roll.  Some attacks don't get to use this ability such as a wizard casting burst spells or if a power specifically says that you knock someone in the head and such.
#5 slobo777a Dec 24, 2010 7:48:14	the group and I usually roll a d4 to determine which body part hits. 1 = body (-1 AC until end of next turn, non-cumulative) 2 = arms (drops weapon if equipped with one) 3 = legs (cannot shift until end of next turn) 4 = head (damage is doubled.) We call this the precision roll.  Some attacks don't get to use this ability such as a wizard casting burst spells or if a power specifically says that you knock someone in the head and such. Interesting idea, but the extra rolls and tracking likely make combats longer rather than shorter. Adding the effect to some powers but not others probably affects balance of play, as does targetting weapon-wielding classes exclusively with option 2. I looked at options for change monsters so that they all have half hitpoints and double damage a while ago, and did some computer simulations to see what the effect was in a very simple combat - blogged here: community.wizards.com/slobo777a/blog/200... The end result was a similar challenge to the PC on average, and the fights were easily much faster. However, the problems it brought up were: Combats were more swingy, with more risk of TPK, but even more chance of swinging to the "too easy"  PC abilities that grant damage resistance or temp hitpoints are weakened. Monster abilities that grant the same are strengthened.  . . . if anyone wants I can do a similar analysis of tweaks to damage/hit points for PCs and for monsters.