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How Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?

by Mike on 2 October 2023

The answer? Don't worry about it.

Ok, you probably want more advice than that.

Recently Hayley M., a Patreon of Sly Flourish asked:

Combat encounter length: It depends, of course, but do you or your players have a base expectation of how many rounds feels too few or too many for a main story-related fight? You often talk about buffing hit points on monsters and villains, is that because you expect them to last a minimum number of rounds?

I don't know if there's a base expectation. I think many DMs and players expect the answer of roughly "three" – maybe more for big story-moving fights like boss battles.

Like many aspects of the game, I tend not to think about how many rounds a battle should go. Like Gandalf, I think a battle should end precisely when it means to.

As Hayley says, it depends. You don't want a battle with two bandits outside of a hideout to take three rounds. That encounter can be over in the same amount of time it'd take you to roll initiative. You also don't want your massive three-phase pinnacle boss battle to be over in three rounds. Climactic multi-phase battles might go six or nine rounds.

I don't think it's useful to worry about how many rounds combat takes. Instead, I think it's better to focus on the feeling, the pacing, and the beats of your game. Keep your hands on the dials. Know when monsters have overstayed their welcome and turn that hit point dial to 1. Don't just "call it right here."

GMs tend to worry too much about aspects of the game that really don't matter to the fun and story of the game. The number of combat encounters per long rest, the exact details of encounter balance or combat difficulty, or how the characters might bypass an encounter we intend for combat – these details aren't the critical criteria for a great session. They build a desired but often stale structure around an otherwise free-flowing game.

Ignore things like the ideal number of rounds and focus on building interesting situations for the characters to explore however they choose. Maybe a battle takes half a round. Maybe it takes nine rounds over an entire session of the game.

The real question is:

Are you and your players having fun?

More Sly Flourish Stuff

This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Running Cities in D&D and The Wardenwood Caverns – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 5 Lazy GM Prep.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Note the characters' resistances. Attack them with those resistances.
The higher level the characters go, the more monsters you'll want to throw their way.
Single monsters typically can't stand up to a group of characters above 6th level.
Give characters several meaningful paths through a location.
Highlight the story and game effects of notable features in big combat arenas.
Build vertical combat arenas.
Give each magic item a story and unique property or effect.