Escaping from combat, or keeping villains alive

[green slime]

The biggest problem IMX is not that the actual enemy deciding to flee, it is those PC's deciding to persue through the woods at breakneck speed.

In order to disuade this You need to be pretty strict on how they give chase:

It is one thing to run away from a pack of rabid adventurers, all buffed and ready to go. It is another matter all together when the villian realises there is only one lone PC who has managed to keep up/decided to persue relentlessly.

Should the villian then turn on the PC, don't allow the others to automatically come to the rescue immediately. If the chase lasted for 10 rounds, then they are at least 10 rounds away, if they are somehow immediately made aware of their compatriot's predicament. (That isn't too say that the villian hangs around long enough to CDG the brave twit)

In fact, it is a fairly common tactic for above Intelligent opponents to attempt to lure those cocky adventurers into chasing what they think is a defeated foe, in an attempt to divide and conquer (as most adventurers will not have the same tactical speed across a battlefield). Often the result will be an ambush upon those following the "fleeing" indivdiuals, or a renewed attack against those slower in the "baggage train" (often the clerics).

Usually these tactics require high Intelligence, and real discipline to pull off well, but any opposing adventuring party will try these tricks.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Keep an escape plan in mind. My players always gave me crap about how my villains kept getting away, and its because I thought about it ahead of time.

If your villain is a spell caster, consider a couple spells like obscuring mist, or a wall spell. Even a simple illusion of a wall can slow down pursuit for a round or two. Of course, any wizard or sorceror will want Dimension Door or Teleport as soon as they can get it.

Rogues can set up the battlefield to their advantage - maybe a fight in a church, where the rogue can cut loose the church bell, and be pulled up to the top of the tower in one round, while the PC's have to dodge a ton of falling copper.

Mooks and summoned beasts with reach are great for controlling the battlefield. You can leave them behind while you run. I had a game where to follow the bad guys, the PC's would have had to brave AoO's from a Girallon and a Nabassu demon, both summoned. They didn't take the chance.

Potions of Flight, Capes of the Mountebank, witches' brooms, expeditious retreat potions - there are a gazillion ways to get away if you think of it ahead of time.

 

[Rhun]

I'm not sure why it is tantamount to suicide to flee from the PCs? In the campaign I have been running for about two years, it is a long standing joke that my players can never kill the BBEGs (or even some of the MBEGs) because they always flee before the heroes can get to them. In almost every single battle, somebody manages to get away.

I use a lot of lesser minions to screen my BBEGs' escapes, so maybe that is something you can think about? Of course, my players are fairly realistic, and won't open themselves up to AoO and such just to pursue an opponent. So maybe it has something to do with the players playstyle.

 

[Barak]

It's much easier if you plan the escape in advance.

For that to work, don't plan on fleeing when he's at 25% HPs. Plan to flee after, say, 4 rounds. In a hit-and-run attack, it's easy. You -know- when you want the BBEG to run, so even in early round, you position him to be able to run. You always have in mind "ok... So he'll run in 2 rounds.. Can't make him go there." Also, you'll keep back from using resources allies, because you know he'll need them to escape in a few rounds.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I loved green slime's advice here:

It is one thing to run away from a pack of rabid adventurers, all buffed and ready to go. It is another matter all together when the villian realises there is only one lone PC who has managed to keep up/decided to persue relentlessly.

Should the villian then turn on the PC, don't allow the others to automatically come to the rescue immediately. If the chase lasted for 10 rounds, then they are at least 10 rounds away, if they are somehow immediately made aware of their compatriot's predicament. (That isn't too say that the villian hangs around long enough to CDG the brave twit)

If the BBEG (or a close minion that flees with him) is a caster, throw up a few "walls of ___" that appear behind the first pursuer of the party. That should delay the party a few extra rounds as they try to figure out how to get around. If they are outside, getting around should just mean running around the end. Inside ... this tactic becomes much more menacing to the party!

Also ... if the party is good at staying together and the enemy can place a few Symbol of ____ traps you can really have fun here. Have the BBEG retreat in a circular path to the right or left. THe party will naturally want to take a direct route of intercepting him rather than follow along the circular route. Thing is ... the BBEG knows the direct route leads them through a few Symbols of Pain ... or Insanity ... or Fear ... or ... SLEEP! By God, that's a brilliant one there. If one or two of the party doesn't make their WILL save they have to choose between pursuit and being split up or staying together.

Try something like that. Not leathal to the party, but definately makes them think twice about pursuit.

For me, that is the key about getting BBEGs away. It is not in being able to get away. Rather, it is a mind game with the players. Throw a few tricks like that at them and they begin to be cautious rather than simple saying "GET HIM/HER!" If you can win the mind game, you can get the players to do most of the work for you through doubting their choices. Once that has happened, your BBEGs will be much more powerful than they actually are.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

This points up one of the more annoying aspects of using movies, etc., for story ideas with D&D. One of Robin's shticks was to surround a group with bowmen and call on them to surrender. Since a longbow at short range can kill the best armored, most experienced knight with one shot in real life only the most foolish (and soon to be dead) adversaries would refuse to surrender. (Then Robin and the Merry Men would feast, then humiliate, them.) But the players know their PCs can survive a few arrows, so they tend to be very reluctant to lose all their equipment and money. Many, in fact, will fight to the death rather than do so!

Sorry for not really contributing to the thread properly, but I felt it ought to be mentioned in case the opportunity actually arises.

 

[Agent Oracle]

My last campaign featured an end-battle in a small tower room. there were two exits, one lead to a balcony (and the exterior spiral stairway up) and the other lead to the interior (and a stairway down.)

The BBEG was a pretty powerful sorcerer with magic item that made him even more powerful (a ring of counterspell, preset for the party sorcerer's favorite offensive spell). The room was small and cramped, and the party was fighting the BBEG and one of his leutenants at the same time. The party couldn't get into any kind of tactical positioning at any time during the fight, but still managed to beat up the BBEG pretty badly (and his leutenant) So, as a final action, I had the BBEG (realizing he was near death) pull a "emergency escape" plan out of his hiney. He shot a flaming arrow (the spell) into an oil trough, then, he turned and fled through the inside door. The Leutenant, seeing what happened, turned and sprinted for the outside door, (drawing, and taking 2 attacks of opportunity in the process, he still survived). THe players took a round realizing that the oil trough was actually a kind of tributary that ran throughout the castle, and was burning out of countrol. They thought "we could chase the BBEG down the inside of the tower, and probably get whacked by the exloding castle, or we could chase the leutenant down the outside of the building...

They gave chase to the leutenant. he had a good lead on them, so he turned to taunt and yelled "You can either stop me, or save the girl"... refering to the hostage they had (kind of) forgotten in the tower... then the fighter let loose a bolt from his crossbow... Critical hit. maximum damage. I rolled a reflex check for the Leutenant (taking damage on a narrow stairway no handrails, it might not be rules standard, but it was part of that area)... he critically failed, and fell... about 70 feet to the ground.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

There are a huge number of ways to escape.

Out doors, the simplest solution is to use a potion of invisibility and a potion of flying. ITs pretty damn hard to pursue anyone under those circumstances.

Indoors it gets a bit trickier. running like hell while sealing doors behind you can handle it. It also gets easier if you have an elite corps of disposable and loyal body guards who can buy time with their lives as the villian runs away.

The biggest problem in keeping a villian alive is knowing when to run in the first place. Once your in melee, you dont really have much ability to guarantee your survival of any one round of combat unless you have enough hitpoints to withstand many hits from those attacking you.

So engage at range, have a good hide and move silenty check, have some diversions / distractions, and run at the first sign of danger.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Endur]

I'm thinking to base my game on a robin hood setting, and I don't want the merry men being cut down every time they try to rob someone. I want to keep 'Robin' alive till the end of the second session, but I don't want to just hide him entirely from the first session.

Robin Hood and the Merry Men don't typically engage in what we would normally think of as D&D combat. The typical Robin Hood encounter has the merry men surround some wealthy tax collector in the forest. The merry men demand the tax collector relinquish his ill gotten wealth, the surrounded tax collector gives up his loot. No combat; all intimidation and negotiations and sneakery, perfect for a Ranger, Scout, or Rogue. The idea is there are so many Merry Men, and they hide so well in the forest, that the tax collector does not dare resist.

If facing the Sherrif of Nottingham and his men, the Merry Band might fight a round or two in melee with staves or sword, but they prefer to flee, regroup, and engage on their terms, with the hail of arrows from hiding. Unless the Sheriff has something the Merry Men want, they avoid encountering the Sherriff's men.

The Merry Men are not about killing the enemy. They don't care about killing. They want to recover the taxes taken from the poor, so they prefer intimidation or trickery.

 

[Hussar]

Another way of doing it would be to give Friar Tuck a few levels in Druid and an entangle spell. At the levels you are talking about, that's pretty much all they need to get away. Heck, Robin with enough levels in ranger could do it as well.