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Tips for faster DnD combat with large parties: ban pets and summons, and minimize table talk during combat.
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If you're running D and D for a large
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party, you're going to notice that
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combat takes a lot longer. You have to
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pad encounters with more enemies to keep
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things challenging and your players
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turns take a lot longer just because
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there's so many more of them than the
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game typically expects. A party of four
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already has fairly long combat in fifth
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edition, so extending that to six
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players makes things considerably more
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complicated and makes things take a
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whole lot longer. But there are a few
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things that you can do to speed things
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up despite the size of the party. My
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first thing would be just ban pets. No
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pet classes, no familiars, no summons.
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Anything that adds an extra creature to
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the field. Just agree with the party.
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Hey, there's already six of you. We
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don't need more bodies. Just let it go.
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Now, obviously, that's going to take out
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some things like the paladins find steed
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and pact of the chain warlock. So, you
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may have to come to some compromise
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there. But in general, banning the
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additional bodies from the field means
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that there are fewer turns to take care
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of, which means combat runs faster. It
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may also be helpful to limit players to
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simpler character options so that on
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their turns, they're not taking a super
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long time to ponder like which button do
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I push, which spell do I cast, yada
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yada. Maybe instead of wizards, you
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encourage folks to play warlocks. And
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limiting those choices will remove
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analysis paralysis. It will encourage
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players to decide from a smaller list of
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options more quickly. and get on with
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their turns. Encouraging your players to
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avoid chatter during combat can also
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help a whole lot. It does add a lot to
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the play experience at the table to be
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able to talk and strategize with the
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other players. But if things are slowing
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down too much, you may just need to
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limit that to some degree. When you have
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six or more people at the table, all
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with differing opinions, all with
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different ideas about what should be
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done on a character's turn, that's going
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to turn into a really lengthy discussion
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that eats a lot of real world time.
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Sometimes you just have to let people
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make mistakes on their own. Or maybe
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what they're doing makes a lot of sense
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to them and you would have done
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something different. And that's okay.
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Just let it go. Let players have their
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own turns without offering feedback. And
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you can discuss it away from the table
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when time isn't quite as precious.
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