5e Average Combat Length?

[Galach]

Hello and good evening everyone.

Right now, I am entering a period of my life I won’t have many free time anymore, so I will be reducing drastically some activities and, sadly, my weekly RPG session will be one of them.

Since my focus is on DMing (because for me DMing is much more fun than being a player), I will host a monthly game session, probably 6-8 hours long, with a much more focused approach than my past games had.

For example, I won’t use random encounters, travel scenes our downtime activity scenes anymore, and will focus only on combats, roleplay interactions and exploration scenes that really add to the game – I will take an approach much like a TV series episode: a somewhat confined environment, with a strong theme and right out in action.

While I have a strong idea on how to handle the roleplay/exploration parts of this approach, combat is much trickier, because it depends heavily on dice rolls. I plan to use the concept of “outs” and “morale” to make things short when I need that, but to have some idea of average combat length will be nice to help me build those game sessions.

So, I would like to ask my fellow FG users: which is the average time length of a d&d 5e combat in your personal experience? How many rounds? Any caveats, things that bog things down, and also any advices?

I would appreciate it very much

[Zacchaeus]

Depends on so many factors; the number of characters; the number of NPCs; how complex the attacks are (spellcasters for example); the level of experience of the players/GM - to name but a few. I think in a 4 hour session I would expect about 3-4 combats with six characters (less players than that though).

[damned]

You may or may not find you get value out of shortening the combat up - a lot of players really enjoy that part of the game.
How long does combat last? It can last a lot longer than it ought.
Consider using the Combat Timer if you feel that it is taking longer than you want it to.

[LordEntrails]

As said, it depends....

Most of my combats with 4 PC's last about 45-75 minutes. I've heard other DMs state their players complain if an encounter lasts more than 3 rounds and ~25 minutes. I've had one combat last ~6 hours and ~25 rounds and my players loved it.

[Full Bleed]

I've found 5e to have much faster/shorter combat encounters than previous editions. I think we once even had a string of something like 10 encounters where none exceeded 3 rounds. It became something of a running joke and the GM had to go out of his way to try and throw some longer encounters at us. I find it's really a question of whether or not the player "burn" their best abilities quickly. Do that and a decent group can tear up most level-appropriate encounter with a quickness. And given what many opponents tend to be able to do in a short amount of time (I mean, freaking Kobolds have Pack Tactics!), you almost feel obligated to roll that way or suffer the consequences. Further, given the short and long rest mechanics, it's fairly easy to "recharge" and get ready for the next encounter.

[lostsanityreturned]

In the games I run combat tends to go for a solid 1-3 hours.
That said if the players were more, adept, I could see most combats cut down to 30m-1h.

I do tend to run relatively large combats though.

One thing you can do is use the combat timer extension.

[JohnD]

I've had a couple of large combats take 3+ sessions and over 9 hours to resolve from start to finish, but those were big set pieces with 8 PCs and close to 50 antagonists.

In 5e I've found that not much goes beyond about 5-7 rounds, one way or the other. How much actual time that takes up I guess is down to individual style of the DM and the players themselves.

[Nilram the Grey]

I find combat takes 2-4 rounds depending on the difficulty level of the encounter and with four PC's. In FG that usually takes 15-30 minutes. I spent two practice sessions teaching my players how I wanted them to run things in FG and we take advantage of all the automation we can. In that time the guys still find time for one liners and other running comments that are specific to the characters and their history together. We are only 3rd level, and I don't have lots of experience at levels higher than 5th yet.

[Topdecker]

I've been at it since OD&D and the length of combat is, as always, highly dependent upon the level of the party. It goes from the tossing of rocks, to the hurling of boulders, to the grinding of glaciers, and finally to a slow finality brought on by the march of continental plates colliding. I've always regarded this as a design failing, but most players seem to enjoy the stability, safety, and maybe even the predictability of higher level play.

Anyhow, there was a reason that the XP tables in OD&D only went to level 10.

Top

[Nilram the Grey]

I should have been clearer. We have all played since the 1979. We just don't have experience with 5e beyond 5th level.

I have noticed that 5e scales damage output more than it scales AC and to hit. That makes me think the length of battles will increase less than it has in some additions. I've already noticed that creatures that required 1-2 hits now generally always fall with 1 hit going from 1st to 3rd. The party can also take more than 2 hits now from the same creatures, but those creatures still hit almost as often as they used to.

[Topdecker]

Well, you should be happier with it than 4e for sure. I really enjoyed the elegant changes and prefer 5e over all previous editions. However, after finishing a year-long campaign, I elected to move on - combats were longish, but the real problem (and this is not new to D&D) is that the sense of danger / dread diminishes as player level increases. (Of course, I'd be dishonest if I didn't admit to having the beginnings of what _could_ be a D&D campaign swirling about in a proto-formative state...)

[Nilram the Grey]

Yeah, we didn't like 4e. We played it for a year. Interesting perspective that you have. I am worried about killing the party given the encounters in the canned module I'm working from. Many creatures they will fight will take half their hp in one hit. It is a given they will be hit considering 5e's shallow hit/AC curve. Did you have a lot of magic items? I'm trying to follow the average magic rates people have calculated and published online. It is clear that magic can quickly alter the power curve.

[Topdecker]

It was a magic-weak campaign. I don't think that the ranger had a magic bow until 9th level - he had to settled for a smattering of arrows. First magic items started showing up around 4th level. I think they had one magic ring between them at 15th level. They often got items that no one could use or otherwise wanted and the ranger traded 3 or 4 such items for a bow. Anyhow, magic was not abundant.

At 5th level, you are on the cusp of the power band for the players. By 9th level, things will have changed a great deal. Once multi-attacks and some feats come in, they will take off.

[Galach]

Hello everyone, and thanks for the insights! I had problems with my computer and stayed away from the internet last week. I will eagerly read all your posts now =)

[ddavison]

I think the key to having shorter combats is not to pair the players up with constantly challenging encounters. I've often seen DM's spend additional effort coming up with scenarios or bad guys that the players will have a hard time defeating and this generally makes combat drag out longer. The idea is that players would be bored if they are cutting through everything with ease. I think this can be offset by having them run through more and more encounters with an adventuring day. They still feel happy with their character ability to defeat foes and they still get depleted over time. More challenging encounters can be reserved for epic conclusions of quests and it makes it stand out even more when that happens. As with any decision, you would need to control pacing to prevent a constant retreat, rest and repeat technique. I've personally found that this is not a problem unless players are going into every combat fearing death if they are not fully rested.

[Galach]

I agree with you, Doug. We, DM's, are so often worried about throwing epic stuff on players that we have a tendency to over use challenging combats. I, myself, have a huge problem in creating small scale and quick combats.

Other thing that constantly break things in my games is my inability to forgot verisimilitude for the game's sake. For example, last time I DMed Lost Mine of Phandelver, a low intelligence character, in heavy armor, started to run in the goblin cave, making a lot of noise. I could just thrown a goblin scout party on the group, but I have a strong conception that goblinoids are highly militaristic, tactical and organized, also at least e bit intelligent (a conception acquired after DMing Eberron for almost 10 years), and soon the players were completed surrounded and fell ins 3 rounds of combat.

When I build my own adventures, I try to avoid this kind of thing by establishing an "out", a situation or condition when hostile NPCs will flee or surrender. I also try to avoid encounters too close of each other, to not fall in the trap of "well, hostiles on the next room heard the fight and will join the fray" - in published adventures like Lost Mine of Phandelver, Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat is very hard to find an excuse why hostile npcs won't react to the sound of combat near them.

Anyway, now I am planing my one-time-a-month-marathon-session to be something between 6 and 8 hours, and I am breaking it in the following pieces:

2 short combats of easy or medium difficulty;
1 hard or deadly combat;
1 or 2 hazards or traps, which must be navigated with roleplay and skills
1 or 2 social encounters, a situation where players must use skills to navigate a tricky situation involving important NPCs (the outcome will shape future interactions and the campaign development)
The rest of the time will be destined to roleplay and encounter opportunities created by the party.

I am also preparing generic encounters tied to PCs backgrounds or hinting possible and future developments of the campaign, to throw at the players if I suddenly see myself under-prepared (if players navigated my content very fast), or if they somehow avoid completely what I have prepared (this way I won't need to railroad them to keep things going).

My first session is scheduled to happen on the second weekend of March, and after running it, I tell you guys how it had gone.

[bawsr]

Depends on the group I am running. Most of the combats take between an hour or two. sometimes more. One part is 11th levels the other party is 9th levels.

Keeping people on task is more challenging on fantasy grounds I have found :) If I am in the room with them I can convince them to pay attention and see when they are distracted. One game we have cameras and that doesn't help as much as I would expect :)

It is often we only get one combat done in 3 hour session.

[Answulf]

Personally, I try to keep combats to around 30-45 minutes, but large battles sometimes go longer.