How can we alter combat in 3.5 to make it better?

[backpackjack]

I'm wondering if playgrounders have suggestions for improving combat in 3.5. I find it cumbersome, as do many people. I think there has to be a better way to keep it exciting but also make it less of a hassle and definitely less time consuming. Thanks

[Cidolfas]

You could try playing a Tome game. Everyone basically has save-or-dies or does enough damage to kill a monster of equivalent CR quickly. Combats take around two rounds and are quite intense. It might not be your thing, but if you want you can take a look on The Gaming Den.

[Chrono22]

Do you mean combat in regards to special attacks, or the entire combat system?

Cause if it's the former, I suggest adopting pathfinder's combat modifier system. It vastly simplifies special attacks, doing them is so easy and quick by comparison.

If you wanted to make 3.5 combat fast paced.. well, the onus is on the players to know what their actions are going to be before their turn begins. If you have to, force indecisive players to delay and skip over them until they decide on a course of action.
Using the pathfinder CMD rules, as stated above, also helps. So does using a group initiative.

[ShriekingDrake]

I'd third the notion to check out those pathfinder rules for the special attacks.

Also, have players put their spells on cards, so you can read them quickly.

[akma]

Roll damage die and attack die in the same time.
And generally simplier combat rules. For exemple, deciding that saves and SR apply to every spell, so that you won`t have to check if the spell allows a save and SR.

[Hawriel]

Get rid of the desending attack bonus for multable attacks. Really this is one of the things that hurt the fighter the most. Eather make all attacks at full BAB or give a flat penalty based on how many attacks are made. My group does -1 for every attack if more than one is made.

Caster players should have a spell book. That is a note book and a card with all the spells their character knows (arcane) or casts the most (divine). Basicly make a cheat sheet. That way the player has in hand the spell they want to cast and does not have to dig through the books.

GM screan. Pathfinder made a great GM screan. Use it for very easy to look up mods for what ever you need.

Group initiative for NPCs. Or in there are alot of NPC make small groups.

Archers, Melee, leader, caster, melee on left, melee on right, or the unique npc. Unique as in the one hill giant teamed up with a group of orcs.

Ban cell phones (unless its mom, wife, ect), laptops (unless used for the game), any other activity not apart of the game.

There is no bathroom.

Make sure food is taken care of befor the game.

[Merk]

Let people make all of their attacks in a standard action.

[SPoD]

Let people make all of their attacks in a standard action.

I'll go a step further and eliminate multiple attacks entirely.

Instead, make weapon damage variable based on BAB. For every time your character would have an extra attack, add your weapon damage again (so for a 13 Str character, a sword does 2d8+2 damage if your BAB is +6, 3d8+3 if its +11, etc.) Every round now has two rolls, even for a 20th level fighter: one attack roll and one damage roll. You will suffer a lot of overkill on weak monsters, but your fighter is gaining the ability to move and do full damage on the same turn. And you may need to rethink damage reduction.

Of course, I find that combat is slowed down more by spellcasters than warriors anyway, so this may not work.

[Knaight]

I'm wondering if playgrounders have suggestions for improving combat in 3.5. I find it cumbersome, as do many people. I think there has to be a better way to keep it exciting but also make it less of a hassle and definitely less time consuming. Thanks

So, dissecting this, your goal is to simplify combat so that it goes faster, while it stays exciting, correct?

If so, scrap 3.5 combat entirely. Its slow, its cumbersome, its not very well designed, and its not even all that interesting. There are better combat systems for d20, with the most obvious being Iron Heroes, but there are also systems elsewhere that you can borrow. 3.5 is a joke, considering how long it takes to resolve one would expect something more akin to the Burning Wheel system (which, while cumbersome, works very well and makes combat interesting).