It took me a while to fine tune the tweaks but I’ve cobbled together a system that maximizes fun, while streamlining the drag.

First, everyone always does max damage, unless specified otherwise in their power (as in a Miss effect that does half damage). That includes monsters.

When a crit is rolled, weapon dice are rolled and added to the max. Weapons with high crit (or is it brutal) as a keyword roll their weapon dice twice. Also, dice are rolled for the extra d6s that players get from magic items on crits.

That cuts down on the dice rolling, which speeds things up. It prevents someone rolling a 19 with their daily and snake-eyes on the damage, which also speeds things up. And it has the same effect as reducing hit points on the monsters, while not making encounters a cakewalk for the PCs. If anything, combat is more intense.

A monster crit can really turn the tide.

Another thing I do is having monsters run away. Not all of them do. Skeletons and such just don’t have that built into their OS. But Kobolds, Goblins and most other monsters can recognize when their number’s up and have no problem high-tailing it. It’s up to the players to find a way to prevent an enemy from escaping. That’s just as tactical as taking the high ground.

I also adjust the solos somewhat. I lower their defenses by -1, their HP by 30% and up their damage by 1/2 their level. I usually give them some sort of attack or damage increase when bloodied as well. It makes them more Boss-like, as in an RPG, which I’ve found to be fun.

I also use LOTS of minions. I don’t keep monsters around if they’re dropped to 1 HP and the fight’s decided. Some just die. Others pretend to be dead or lose consciousness.

Mike Mearls suggests making artillery monsters into minions once their frontline has gone. I haven’t had a chance to test this yet because my artillery monsters tend to flee once the frontline is defeated.

And another technique I’ve used is setting up events at various turn counts. Some beneficial to the party, some not. So, say I’ve written that the Kobolds get reinforcements on Round 3. I’ll take a ten-sider and announce that when the die counts down to zero something will happen.

Each turn I drop the die by one, until it reaches zero. At that point, I place reinforcements entering the battle.

I also set up some things with terrain once in a while. Nominally for the players to exploit. But if the players don’t then I have the monsters do it.

I’ve found that when I play with smaller groups, we get a lot more done. My ideal group is 3-4 players. The ideal session should be 3 encounters: a basic “warm-up” fight that serves as the hook, a skill challenge, and the final boss battle loaded with entertaining gimmicks.

I’m sure there are some morale rules that can be extrapolated from this interaction.

Another thought on “Stop fighting to the death” is that if you are worried about the enemies always running away or always being captured and tortured for information, then don’t. Only the GM knows the hit points (typically). And if a fight should just be called, but the monster has 10 hit points left, just let him die anyway. Now, if you have players who keep rigorous track of all damage dealt and from when the monster is bloodied calculate it all out, you might need to let them know what you are doing. But if you explain, “Hey, if we can cut the last 10 minutes of boring slog form the end of 4 or 5 encounters, then we can fit an entire extra encounter in.”

But I definitely call fights early all the time (might need to consider less hp or something). It can just get so anticlimactic when all the encounter powers, and dailies people want to use are used up, and everyone if just at-willing the thing for 2 or 3 rounds. Sometimes sending in reinforcements makes it exciting, but only when used rarely. Usually, once the end is pretty inevitable and interest is waning, I go into “next big hit will finish it” mode and hope for a dramatic roll so that it can end on a high note.