Before creating the 2014 version of Dungeon & Dragons, lead designer Mike Mearls set goals for the new, fifth edition. He wanted the update to play fast. “You should be able to play a complete adventure in an hour. Not a single encounter, not a character creation session, but a complete scenario that would strike any reasonable player as an adventure with a beginning, middle, and end.”

Whether fifth edition landed the 1-hour goal depends on how slight an adventure can count as complete. Designer Shawn Merwin gained a reputation for writing 1-hour “mini-adventures” or “episodes” for Adventurers League. Typically, these scenarios featured a single obstacle such as a fight. Whether or not fifth edition reached the high bar for speed of play, gamers switching from fourth edition loved how much faster the new game played. Only the original game played faster.

However, at least since Mearls left the D&D team in 2019, the game’s designers stopped emphasizing speed of play in their D&D design work.

A quick speed of play stems from countless tough choices to avoid mechanics that seem fun and only slow play a little. Starting with the release of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything in 2020, the designers began welcoming character abilities that slowed play. For evidence, compare two similar abilities: The Bardic Inspiration feature from the 2014 Player’s Handbook and Flash of Genius from Tasha’s.

Bardic Inspiration lets a bard give a creature a Bardic Inspiration die. When the inspired player needs a boost to a D20 test, they can roll the die and “add the number rolled to the d20, potentially turning the failure into a success.” The person making the test controls when to roll the die. No discussion needed.

The design of Bardic Inspiration seems a bit awkward. Why not just let the bard interrupt with a word of encouragement when someone rolls a near miss? Because the feature’s designer considered speed of play and opted to avoid interruptions.

The artificer’s Flash of Genius feature offers a similar boost to a roll. “When you or another creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an ability check or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to add your Intelligence modifier to the roll.” The difference seems slight, but now many rolls become a topic for discussion. Every time a player makes a roll that seems almost good enough, they share the number with the artificer and jointly consider whether the roll merits using Flash of Genius. One such interruption hardly slows play, but add a few and the wait between your turns lengthens a couple of minutes.

Now add a cleric using Tasha’s twilight domain to the turn order. While using the Twilight Sanctuary domain feature, the cleric can give creatures who end their turn within 30 feet temporary hit points equal to 1d6 plus cleric level. Now every character’s turn ends with a reminder to add temps and with an extra die roll. If the ability just skipped the roll, then it would play a little faster, but the designer ignored speed of play.

Taken alone, these class features just add minor delays, but they show a key point: Small delays that occur frequently add up to a significantly slower game. Taken alone, a d6 roll to add hit points takes a few seconds. Multiplied by every turn, it takes minutes.Although the fourth edition earned a reputation for slow play, the team tried to streamline play. For example, they noticed that characters who make multiple attacks in series tended to slow the game. Each attack started with a choice of target followed by its own to-hit and damage rolls. Instead of attacks made in series, fourth edition favored powers like Thicket of Blades where players could roll every attack at once along with one damage roll. These powers skipped saving throws too. Fast!

In a typical D&D game, no game mechanic happens more frequently than the process of making an attack, so faster attacks mean shorter waits between turns. This led the 2014 design team to make average damage the standard for monster attacks. Fewer damage rolls means a faster game. Designer Monte Cook once said, “If you can look at something that happens 20, 30, 50 times during a game session, and eliminate that or decrease it hugely, you’re going to make the game run faster, more smoothly. That idea is now a big part of my game designer toolbox.”

Clearly, the designers of D&D 2024 update ignored such considerations when they created Weapon Mastery. Now with Weapon Mastery, push starts a discussion of where foes should land, nick means choosing a second target and tallying their damage, topple adds another saving throw, and so on. Alone, none of these steps take long. Together, every turn drags a bit longer until players start pulling out their phones to pass the time between turns.

As a goal for fifth edition, Mike Mearls aimed for a game where “character complexity doesn’t spill on to the table and slow the game down. It’s OK for someone to have a complex character. It’s irritating if that character takes significantly longer to resolve typical actions.”

Some gamers defend the extra time devoted to making Weapon Mastery attacks by arguing that many spells take even more time to resolve. While many spells take time, many spellcasting turns go faster than the fighter’s. I favor wizards and spend most of my turns concentrating and rolling a single cantrip attack. Even when a wizard launches a fireball that affects an average of 3 targets, the player rolls damage as the DM rolls three saves at once. The process goes faster than a fighter who targets three foes with an extra attack and a bonus action attack. The player makes three separate attack rolls, three damage rolls, and perhaps forces a couple saves. Every step requires more discussion than, “Take 8 damage.”

The challenge of creating a fast game matches the challenge of eating healthy at the buffet. Designers face countless tempting, flavorful design ideas that just add a few seconds to an attack, no more than 30 seconds to a turn. Just one treat can’t hurt. The team behind D&D 2024 faced an extra challenge because management insisted on an update with enough new character features to entice players to replace their old books. No one sells cauliflower at a carnival.

Is the candy worth the slower game?