Is it acceptable to declare the enemy dead when you get

>>54216669
Depending on when you get bored of combat, you should probably declare the game dead instead.

>>54216669

As the GM, you control how much HP the enemy has. So, sure.

If combat is slogging along, and you feel like it should have been over by now, you can go ahead and describe it dying.

It's not like the party is gonna call you out on not giving the enemy the proper amount of HP.

>>54216669
Yes, the point of playing is to have fun, hopefully you can rebalance future enemies so that that sort of thing happens less frequently.

>>54216680
I've been in many a lively game that had combat drag.
An unfortunate side effect of games that have too much rule bloat when it comes to combat.

>>54216669

Keeping a hand on pacing is important. If the interesting part of the fight is over, the players have clearly won and all that's left is whittling away some remaining HP or mook enemies, I don't think there's anything wrong with calling the fight there. Let people roll off for who gets the finishing blow and/or let the group decide if think one PC getting it is more fitting.

>>54216709
Then declare the game dead and switch system or declare the rules dead and homebrew it.

>>54216751
man, you sure are fond of dramatic declarations.

If you utilize your monsters right, you won't have to.

>>54216751
I think he meant a single instance of combat, not combat as a whole.

As for your question OP, I've done this before. If you're growing bored of a combat, have it last two more hits on the enemy (if there's just one), and then have him fall or run away. If there's multiple enemies, they bail when one more comrade falls. 90% of the time your party won't be the wiser.

>>54216669
M8, I dont even track hp on my stuff, just wait for things to feel right. Sometimes I do on big stuff, but only rarely.

Hell somethimes I have decide the outcome of a skill check, and roll the dice so my players think I am rolling

>>54217102
Anon, I am going to find you.

I am going to track you down, rape your dog, kill your family and skin you alive.

I know this is just me complaining that someone is having fun in a way I don't like, but I do not even care. I hate you THAT much. Your existence offends me on a molecular level!

Stop doing this shit, you obnoxious cunt!

>>54217102
>M8, I dont even track hp on my stuff, just wait for things to feel right. Sometimes I do on big stuff, but only rarely.
Same here.

>>54217215
Players always love it. They don't realize what's happening, but they know that they enjoy these combats more than combats with other GMs.

>>54217215

My god, you are hilariously mad.

>>54217102
>>54217231

As long as you can keep things feeling consistent, whatever works for you and your group. I don't trust myself to keep all those balls in the air and just fudge my way through all of it, so I keep track of HP and so on for the most part, even if I'll fudge the numbers to keep the combat well paced.

>>54217102

Do you still have them roll for damage, though?

Imagine them finding out after dozens of sessions that their carefully crafted characters with their DMG output skills and abilities aren't really doing as much of a difference as they think. It's like finding out your SO is cheating on you.

>>54217312
I wouldn't say it's like finding out your SO is cheating on you. More like discovering your accountant has been eyeballing your tax return forms.

>>54216669
That is NOT acceptable. There is a listed amount of HP for an enemy, if the players have not knocked that down to -10 then the enemy is still ALIVE. Stop being that bag of dicks DM who doesn't follow the rules that your players have to follow, it isn't fair.

>>54217384

The GM is not and has never been constrained by the rules. They are guidelines to support you and guide you, not restrict you. The rules only apply at the whim of the GM.

>>54217384
>if the players have not knocked that down to -10 then the enemy is still ALIVE

Actually when an enemy hits 0 HP a player decides if it's dead or unconscious.

>>54217384
>HP

Must be 18 to browse 4chan kiddo

>>54216669
if the players are about to get bored too, yes.

>>54216693
>HP
D&D out pls

>>54216680
OP is right, sometimes enemies are just HP sponges, so it is likely that someone at the table might get bored of hacking a bitch endlessly.

This is a good thread for suggestions to spice combat up, rev up those almonds, anon. It's time to activate them.

>>54217452
Anon, HP is older than /tg/.
Are you having a guffaw good sir?

>"I roll to grapple"
>"OK, everything dies"

>>54218611
wut

>>54218710

Grapple rules can bore anyone. If the GM ends the fight when they get bored, entering into a grapple first thing is an instant win.

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>>54218748
I dunno, I've had fun with them.

>>54218864
>>54218748
Good thread to ask, what system has the best grappling mechanics?

GURPS?

>>54218961
Good question, no fucking idea.
I have fun with grappling despite rules.

>>54216669
I too have played 4E

>>54218601
Yes but probably not the way you read it

>>54218961
DnD 3.5 when you actually read through them.

>>54219047

Try it with the MM3/MV math. HP bloat sucked, but they fixed it and the tactical combat is fucking great now. It's actually the system where I've had this problem the least.

>>54219062
too bad you can't consistently grapple anything other than children in 3.5e unless you specialize as a hyper-obese gargantuan tentacle-kin with 35 str.

>>54217417
>>54217423
>>54217452
Do I really only get 3 (You)s for my autismal rant?

>>54219084
why would you expect to grapple a bear? Come on bruh, be real

>>54219062
I recall one having it be very simple, and being able to end the grapple with judo flips and such. I forget the system though, I think it started with an M.

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>>54216669

>>54219272
To this image's credit, I'm actually struggling to think of a system I've played other than D&D where OP's problem was actually an issue.

>>54216669
most of the time, no. this kills all the player`s fun because you rob them of victory by their own hands.

>>54219309
Man have you PLAYED shadowrun.
It takes fucking forever. And you get to choose if you spend that time planning or fighting because you didn't plan, and each takes goddamn hours.

>>54216669
Just have them run away.

>>54219714
>cue players chasing the poor sod down because "we already blew half spell slots and several potions withering it down, there's not way in hell we're walking away without any XP now"

>>54219752
See, I just give xp at the ends of sessions.

>>54219588

It probably helps that I only ever played SR with veterans who knew the system like the back of their hands, but fights never lasted that long.

Then again, fights were either well planned curbstomps or unplanned total panicks where we tried to run away as fast as possible.

Still, I can see how that clunky as fuck system would get annoying if you actually tried to do a normal fight with it.

>>54219860
basically the only way shadowrun fights are fast is if it is a well planned execution, or if you are able to run away immediately.

Actually beating someone is going to take you a while.

>>54219309
Dark Heresy can be.
>Ok, I use a full action for all out attack
>Cool, I actually hit once...and he parried
>Ok, this hit finally went through without being dodged, aaaand his armor absorbed basically all of it.

>>54217102
I do this too. I only ever really keep track of bosses or other super important characters.

>>54217312
>Imagine them finding out after dozens of sessions that their carefully crafted characters with their DMG output skills and abilities aren't really doing as much of a difference as they think. It's like finding out your SO is cheating on you.

Honestly, whatever gives them the illusion of control is fine for me. I doubt there's any way they could ever find out since none of them have read the rulebooks.
I still make sure that they feel as if they're getting more powerful as they more often will one-hit kill minions or do more damage to tougher opponents.

The only time I ever have issues is when it's damage spread out to multiple members of the party, so I have to keep that in mind.

>>54220321
This sounds horrible and more complicated than just running HP honestly.

I'm not even sure why you'd play a game with intricate rules for resolving combat and flat out ignore them and make shit up instead. Just play some freeform if you want to do that. As a player in this kind of game, if I didn't clock it immediately because it wouldn't be hard to spot as soon as I did find out I'd leave. Being lied to isn't a pleasant experience and when you lose a players trust you've lost them from your game for good.

>>54216669
yes, you can also make him run, surrender, teleport, allah ackbar, or threaten litigation.

>>54218864
>that black mage
What the fuck.

>>54219309
To that image's discredit: OSR is D&D

>>54216669
If you're getting bored of combat as a GM the combat is clearly going on for too long, but declaring them dead I would avoid. Sounding the retreat is better.

Honestly though if this is a common problem, play lower CR monsters and instead just make them clever. Tucker's Kobolds are a good example of this. Just be sure to give XP and such if applicable, or have an excuse like a critical hit table.

>>54220684
>Being this mad over a group having fun

>>54223498
He is right, the other guy is autistic

>>54216669
Either make a good combat, or don't run combat.

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>>54216669
>when you get bored of combat as a GM

It's literally your job to make the game interesting for everyone as well as yourself, including the combat, so you've failed on a fundamental level if this ever happens.

Not only do I not track go, I don't even use stat blocks. I pretend to roll dice and then just kill my players

>>54217459
Oh fuck off already.

>>54220202
This is more of a gms fault. Only a handful of npcs have parry or dodge, while they should be spending full around actions to attack pcs.

>>54216669
Then make combat more exciting by adding in "You wing the creature in the shoulder with your blade, it stumbles", or "Your fireball blasts the creature, scorching its skin and burning the hair off it, and it recoils in pain and fear".

Quit making everyone so annoyingly tied to formula. You're not trying to get people home from orbit after their engines died, you're not trying to win an international competition, you're playing a fucking game based on imagination that's as interesting as you make it. So make it interesting.

>>54219309
Well, actually, every single one if you follow the rules to a T.

Combat should be role-played just like every other part of the game. It seems like autists have the biggest problem with this when combat begins, and I don't know why.

>>54225815

While what you say is true, and roleplaying in combat is a lot of the fun, if combat is mechanically boring the ability to RP doesn't always close the gap.

>>54225754
Not OP but me as a player kinda get bored of that.

My GM once described a whole attack like if it was an anime scene, or a videogame "special attack cutscene". My only reply was "How much damage?", like I couldn't give less of a shit about how he gets angry and makes a shockwave with his fists and then charges at me.

Just tell me the numbers.

>>54216669

Pacing is your job, but just declaring it dead doesn't really help with that because it falls so flat. My first personal recommendations are to either have your enemies cut-and-run when it's obvious how stomped they are.

My second is to have your players narrate out the end of fights, cut scene style, until they're used to you just prompting them with "how do you finish it?" to end fights. Then you can use that to wrap up the ones that outstay their welcome without just saying "okay, we're done."

>>54225942
I can see this being a problem if the game is text only. Otherwise, maybe it's because I'm an impressionable newbie but I'd really like something more than "roll full attack, roll damage" rinse and repeat.

>playing some Gurps like the subhuman trash I am
>GM described the game as a 60's era diesel punk in a very urban sprawl city. Think noir New York with low magic
>it's actually really fun, gritty low magic setting with occasional super science and your standard fantasy races
>all of the other players go completely ham on fantasy shit, edgy glaive gauntlets, plate armor, a fucking weaboo monk
>playing a WW2 vet who became a super science engineer after getting home
>stick to my engineering role 90% of the time, let the murder hobos deal with combat
>two hours into the first fight I finally decide that I've had enough of seeing the melee character dealing 2 damage a turn and mag dump a BAR on every enemy in the room, wounding five enemies, killing 3 outright.
>get called a powergamer
>game gets canceled because I "hog the spotlight"
You don't even have to be GM to declare combat over

>>54225710
Can't speak to 2e, but 1E DH doesn't have Parry as a discrete skill, so you're looking at like a 20%+ parry chance for almost anything and even untrained Dodge is going to be like 15%+.

>while they should be spending full around actions
Why? Half action aim and swing, sure, but Defensive Fighting or retreat to cover are both totally viable moves in 40k RPG's.

>>54220202
Funnily enough, end level 40k RPG's have almost the opposite problem.
>Did you Dodge the attack?
>No.
>Did your force field block it?
>No.
>Burn a Fate/Infamy point or die.

>>54216693
>As the GM, you control how much HP the enemy has. So, sure.
>If combat is slogging along, and you feel like it should have been over by now, you can go ahead and describe it dying.
this is probably the best way to do it

>>54217337
I'd rather deal with unfaithful SO than IRS, to be honest.

>>54225815
Probably because combat takes significantly bigger portion of book than everything else, so it looks like it is super important.

>>54216669
Since you're playing all the opponents, you can decide they don't want to continue the fight, and either have them attempt to disengage, or just break and run.