Looking for ideas: Streamlining combat

[Yitzi]

I'm planning an overall system remake (to be posted here in the hopefully not-too-distant future), but there's one point that I don't think I'm the best choice to deal with. There will tend to be far more encounters per adventure than in standard 3E/3.5 (perhaps not quite as many as earlier editions, but pretty high), so it will be highly desirable to streamline the combat encounters (which are the ones that tend to take the longest real-time), as even in 3.5 there seems to be some level of dissatisfaction with how long it takes. So the questions are: What are the major contributors to battles taking a long time in 3.5, and what are some ideas to fix it? I do plan to keep the attack roll/damage roll system, but because there will be so many changes some smaller changes will probably be ok.

[NeoSeraphi]

Generally speaking, the problem with combat taking too long in 3.5 is the sheer amount of conditional modifiers you have to apply to the general modifier you already have written down on your character sheet.

"I have +7 to hit normally!" "But you're shaken, since you failed your save against the dragon's Frightful Presence." "No big deal, that drops me down to +5." "Hey wait, I'm using my Inspire Courage ability, remember? That's another +1 to hit and damage." "Okay, so I'm at +6." "Wait, aren't we flanking? It's hard to tell because we're fighting a huge creature who occupies 20x20 squares, but I think we're flanking." "Okay, so that's another +2, so now I'm at +8..." "Great, so roll your dice." "Okay, I have a total of 17 on my attack roll. Do I hit?" "...No, his AC is higher than that." "Wait, I stunned him last round, so he's got a -2 penalty, and he's denied his Dexterity bonus." "...Crap. Okay, hang on...yes you hit." "Great, so now I have to calculate my damage..."

[chrisrawr]

That seems to be more of a players not marking down their modifiers or paying attention during the game. This can be rectified by the DM making note of these things on an encounter sheet, and players passing around a sheet of paper with enemies marked and known statuses displayed.

Or you could just ask your players to put away their apple products, smartphones, laptops, and gameboys during other people's turns.

[Yitzi]

Generally speaking, the problem with combat taking too long in 3.5 is the sheer amount of conditional modifiers you have to apply to the general modifier you already have written down on your character sheet.

Well, that's easy to fix; as chrisrawr said, keeping a running total of current modifiers (perhaps even with something as simple as slips of paper with numbers on them placed on the appropriate spots) would solve that quite adequately. Should be no more trouble than keeping track of HP.


Or you could just ask your players to put away their apple products, smartphones, laptops, and gameboys during other people's turns.

Actually, my planned system would make it more important to pay attention during other people's turns anyway, due to a new "reflex" system that lets you sometimes take pre-specified actions during another's turn in response to a particular stimulus.

[chrisrawr]

Well, that's easy to fix; as chrisrawr said, keeping a running total of current modifiers (perhaps even with something as simple as slips of paper with numbers on them placed on the appropriate spots) would solve that quite adequately. Should be no more trouble than keeping track of HP.



Actually, my planned system would make it more important to pay attention during other people's turns anyway, due to a new "reflex" system that lets you sometimes take pre-specified actions during another's turn in response to a particular stimulus.

You mean like readied actions :smallbiggrin:?

[Yitzi]

You mean like readied actions :smallbiggrin:?

Extremely similar, but instead of having to spend an action before doing it (and therefore wasting your action if the stimulus doesn't happen), it happens and then costs your next action (of the appropriate type).

Of course, that comes at a cost: It has a chance of failure, and if you've trained a reflex it activates under the appropriate situation whether you want it at that case or not (unless you ready an action to prevent the reflex.)