How long should a fight last?

[Ramos]

The question is quite simple-how long should an average encounter (an encounter with ECR=party ECL) last? And how long should a PvP fight last between characters of equal ECL?

The answer is not that simple. There are many things than practically end an encounter outright. For example a good fighter's full attack can deal enough damage to take out a Balor in one round. A wizard's spell with a save-or-die/lose effect can do the same. On the other hand, there are effects that prolong a fight or leave an encounter unresolved. Darkness. Invisibility. Teleportation. The dreaded Ethereal Jaunt.

Mechanics aside, the longer an encounter lasts, the more epic the feel and, if it is done well, the better it is. Now if a PC ends it by going nova or a monster draws it out indefinitely, it becomes a bit lame.

I think it is best-for tabletop games-that encounters last between 5 and 15 rounds while for PbP games between 3 and 8 rounds. What do you think?

[Citizen Joe]

Combats should last:
CEIL(SQRT(EncounterCR x AVGCharacterECL)) + 1 rounds

[Chaos Bringer]

I've been in both situations pretty recently, and i think that your figures are just aobut right. One of the first dungeons my current party went through involved about 40 gnolls (10 or so of them children) and due to poor party positioning and just metric ton of gnolls, it took FOREVER. Like 3 hours realtime. I couldnt even count the number of rounds that fight must've took. We did eventually kill them all, but it was just annoying. According to the DM the whole thing was our own fault as just about every gnoll in the place gathered at that room since we set off every alarm on the way down. The best part was when all the gnoll pups circled around the long way and ambushed myself and the other casters standing in the back row. Cleric tank FTW!

[Raolin_Fenix]

It's all situational.

I've had equal-CR fights end in a single round, due to good planning, positioning, tactics, and no small amount of fortune. One of my party-members pulled off a one-shot on a boss with two natural 20's in a row (we were using the critical chart rules from 3.0), and the rest of the party mopped up his familiar instantly.

On the other hand, the last combat I was in lasted three full playing sessions, averaging around six or seven hours each. We stormed a drow stronghold. Many perished, including the paladin's cohort and my character in the first of the three sessions (I brought in a second one mid-battle in the second session). That translates to roughly eighteen hours of solid combat, though it was technically broken up into two encounters when we had to break down a door to chase down the stragglers and finish off the boss.

Needless to say, it was a blast. Ridiculously tedious at the time, of course, but looking back... man, that was awesome.