D&D General Run Away!

[aco175]

Seems like a cop-out to just drop things when the players all yell, "Run away".
"You all manage to flee to safety and the monster just slithers back to its lair." I guess the DM could narrate some of the fleeing or have the players roleplay some of the escape.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I told players when begining my GREYHAWK campaign that not all combat encounters they face needed to be fought to the death, that some would be easy, other hard and some even tougher than they can handle and therefore depending on the circumstances parlying, surrendering, running away,could all be options for them or their enemies to opt for.

So far they ran away once, when a band of norkers arrived where the wyvern they had just defeated landed, having them attracted by the huge kill on their territory. Outnumbered, and having just finished a hard encounter, as they decided to turn heels back and flee.

 

[delericho]

Running away suffers from the lack of effective escape mechanic.

I use a rule where if the entire group declares "Run Away!" in a suitably Pythonesque manner, they get away.

They may need to change their armour afterwards, though.

 

[Shardstone]

My fleeing mechanic.

One play intiates by taking the disengage action and moving away from the combat. They then scream for everyone to flee.

The rest of the party makes a DC 15 ability check of their choice, representing how they are trying to do something tricky, clever, or athletic to get away. More then half the party needs to succeed but, no matter what, the party gets away. Why? The check determines how much time you buy for yourself.

If over half the party succeeds, you buy an hour of time before the enemy finds you. If over half the party fails, you buy only 1d10 minutes instead. Has made for some fun games and allowed me to do more crazy combats.

 

[Reynard]

Seems like a cop-out to just drop things when the players all yell, "Run away".
"You all manage to flee to safety and the monster just slithers back to its lair." I guess the DM could narrate some of the fleeing or have the players roleplay some of the escape.

Depends on the monster. If the PCs invaded a creature's territory and it was attacking to drive them off -- mission accomplished. If the monsters are intelligent and don't want to die themselves, they too might well let the PCs escape. Some other type would certainly try and hunt them down (but you can do that with other mechanics, not staying in initiative).

 

[BookTenTiger]

I've seen this phenomena in my D&D games too. I think it must just be part of the way certain assumptions are built into the game... Running away doesn't feel like a "victory" compared to other resolutions to the conflict. Even sneaking by an enemy feels more satisfying than fleeing.

One thing I've done before is designate an area of the map for retreat. If all the characters end their turn in the retreat zone, then they successfully flee. This has helped in adventures with ticking clocks or difficult odds. It also helps plant "retreat" as a viable combat option in the minds of the players, because there's a physical zone they can place their miniature in.

It's funny, I started a campaign with an adventure in which the characters were trying to rescue an old tortle from a monster called the Wolf King and his Nachthund- archers and witches who could turn into wolves. I created a big map with different forest clearings they'd have to navigate. The characters were Level 3, and I didn't want the enemies to actually be that big of a deal. The "Wolf King" was a reflavored CR 5 demon with some illusion magic, but I described him as this massive wolf with a glowing crown of fire. The Nachthund were all CR 1/4 Drow or other low-CR enemies who, as a bonus action, could turn into CR 1/4 wolves.

But something about the description of this giant, talking wolf (who literally only cast illusion spells during the combat) and the archers and witches turning into wolves terrified the players, and they spent the whole adventure fleeing from clearing to clearing with the old tortle in tow! It made for a super memorable and fun adventure, and the Wolf King became an ongoing NPC in the campaign.

 

[Stalker0]

Death is fleeting, cowardice is permanent.

 

[commandercrud]

If players act that way it's the DM's fault. They think the DM won't kill their PC. Probably because they never do. Kill a few. They'll learn and start to run.

 

[Reynard]

But something about the description of this giant, talking wolf (who literally only cast illusion spells during the combat) and the archers and witches turning into wolves terrified the players, and they spent the whole adventure fleeing from clearing to clearing with the old tortle in tow! It made for a super memorable and fun adventure, and the Wolf King became an ongoing NPC in the campaign.

I LOVE it when that happens. So satisfying as a GM.

 

[Agametorememberbooks]

One thing I’ll do, so as to not entirely eliminate the initiative mechanic, is that if my players have initiatives that are stacked in a row, I’ll let them trade out who goes in what order. So let’s say my bard has a 16, the rogue a 15, and the fighter a 10 on their initiatives. Let’s also say that there are no monsters between 16 and 10. I’ll let the players swap out who goes in what order sorta like signaling one another with head nods, gestures, etc.

Since they’re all in a row, they tend to think more like a coordinated team, and when it comes to a deadly/threatening combat, they’re more comfortable with making a tactical retreat b/c they‘re all doing it at the same time.

I’ve also found it makes them far more effective in combat, and I’ve been able to throttle up the CR of my encounters a little more…which is more fun for me.