Faster combat in D&D

[helenedwards]

So, I had an idea for faster combat in D&D. I think combat takes way too long in the game myself, so consider this; all monsters and players have only 1 hp, and all weapons deal 1 damage (no damage roll, just a flat 1 damage.) I would probably adjust the AC of certain monaters given this system. What do you think?

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[Shoryu Magami]

There's an old Tabletop RPG board game called "Hero Quest". Basically lets you create your own levels but it has a regular campaign mode included in the manual as well for people to play. While you can customize the stats however you like in your own levels, the campaign levels made every single monster, including bosses, only have 1 health point. Depending on what class you picked for your characters, you'd have 8/7/6/4 health points. Honestly, it all made the game too easy; I actually customized the bosses to have more health points and did the same with a few of the special enemies too, specifically for that reason. Then again, I usually always run these sorts of systems using my own rules rather than following procedure (when I sometimes work with Tabletop RPG ideas that is).

I've got pretty much no experience with D&D itself, so I'll leave my comments at that.

[Vor]

If you feel the combat in D&D is too long, why are you even playing D&D in the first place? I mean, that's kinda the whole point of the whole thing - gathering items, levelling your character, making them stronger for the fights ahead.

Making everyone have 1 HP and lowering the damage to 1 seems pointless and over-simplified to me. Consider this, it will make having different weapons redundant, wielding a dagger will be the same as wielding a two-handed greatsword. Also, how are you going to balance spells? By your logic, a level 1 magic missile will do as much damage as a 3rd level fireball. What's the point in leveling a character then or having different classes and play styles?

Seems to me like you're better off just switching the format. If you want to RP, you can remove most of the gameplay systems and just settle for a singe dice roll to determine success/failure. Alternatively, there are more narrative focused rulesets that have significantly faster combat than D&D, Savage Worlds and Edge of the Empire (my personal favourite) to name a few.

[BrokenPromise]

D&D will always be slow, and dumbing it down like that is not the answer. 4th edition rules have "minion" enemies that only need 1 hit to kill, and they do make for some interesting encounters.

Me? I made my own rules. What really made things feel fast is that everyone takes their turn at the same time. Not only does this prevent everyone from awkwardly waiting while everyone contemplates their turn, it also lets everyone discuss their next turn together and actually use strategy instead of independently respond to threats. I did this by making cards, and everyone plays their card at the same time. There was a "speed" stat that determined who actually got to attack and move first, and combat advantage was completely reworked to allow for "moving duels" like you see in the movies. It wasn't very balanced, but everyone was very impressed with the flow of combat.