D&D 5E Bravely running away

[Quickleaf]

The obvious thing missing from those rules is any (very realistic) result where some of the PCs escape while others do not; i.e. the party has been split up with some of them still in combat or captured or killed or whatever.

Indeed, that was a deliberate choice; with 5e players I’ve gamed with “leave a man behind” never seems to be something they consider acceptable - those situations always become fights IME.

OSR is another story. Then you’ve just got to run faster from the owlbear than your slowest party member

So there’s 2 ways to add that with these rules. 1) players opting to stay and fight (or, for example, petrified PCs) simply don’t roll for the Retreat, and they are not involved in the retreat at all. Easy peasy. 2) include a “the party is separated” bullet point on the list of consequences.

 

[TiQuinn]

Then their characters should die. They will learn not to be overconfident next time.

Ah, so you do accept the concept that running away when necessary is a viable option.

 

[S'mon]

Difficult in-character decisions are one thing, but this is you looking at the friend across the table from you, and deciding for them whether they still get to play their character or not. That's a whole different level of difficult.

It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.
The people I like playing with take character death in good spirit.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

Ah, so you do accept the concept that running away when necessary is a viable option.

Running away is a completely unviable option, yes. Fleeing should be done in-between combats - once you've realized you're outmatched its too late to do anything about it.

 

[TiQuinn]

Running away is a completely unviable option, yes. Fleeing should be done in-between combats - once you've realized you're outmatched its too late to do anything about it.

Huh?

 

[S'mon]

Then sometimes the PCs will lose, and when PCs lose they tend to all die. If your players a cool with re-rolling frequently, that's not a problem.


Agree.


Then their characters should die. They will learn not to be overconfident next time.

Even in my less skilled player groups, losing rarely means TPK. One or two PCs may well be lost.

 

[cbwjm]

Hang on, I got house rules for that... slightly Dungeon World-esque

Retreat
When the party chooses to retreat from danger, at any point on a player’s turn they make a group initiative check versus the passive initiative of their foes. A PC who is unable to move does not roll. A PC who is encumbered, carrying another PC, or slowed suffers disadvantage on the roll (i.e. they cannot escape unless group, I dunno, stuffs them in a bag of holding). A PC who had an escape plan in advance or who took action during the scene to facilitate escape gains advantage. Same goes for the monsters/NPCs.

If half or more of the PCs succeed, they escape. Otherwise, the scene continues and escape is no longer an option unless circumstances change. However, if they escape, for each PC who failed the check, the party must pick one:
• The party has been split up, and possibly lost.
• The party abandons the treasure or loses a significant item.
• Each PC takes damage equal to a single opportunity atack from the monsters/NPCs.
• Even if the monsters/NPCs could not, or chose not to, immediately pursue, they’re out there looking for the party.
• The party lands in some new sort of trouble

I like this a lot, nice and simple and works well with the 5e system of advantage/disadvantage and I like the use of making it a group initiative check. The penalties for suceeding the group check but failing the individual check is great, sounds like it is slightly expanded on retreat rules someone mentioned earlier.

 

[ezo]

Then sometimes the PCs will lose, and when PCs lose they tend to all die. If your players a cool with re-rolling frequently, that's not a problem.

Sometimes they do lose, but it isn't often. Most creatures in D&D aren't much of a threat now they are 5th level. Only the rarer and more powerful foes or very large groups tend to make them sweat at this point.

In my current campaign, I've had two PCs and one NPC die. The first was a "DM PC", my character, at 1st level, due to very bad luck and a nat 1 on a failed death save.

The second PC was at level 3. The player was foolish in this case and didn't withdraw to allow the other PCs to tank against the ghost.

The NPC was at 5th level, but he was only a CR 1 creature, so not quite the equivalent. Failed fireball took him out.

Then their characters should die. They will learn not to be overconfident next time.

This sort of thinking leads to players wanting to long rest after each encounter. Not going to happen.

You never know if the next encounter will be deadly or not--and if you aren't at full strength, your chances of failure are just that much higher. Such is the life of an adventurer.

 

[Distracted DM]

After the first few melee swings where the opponent is hitting you on a whim and yet you're lucky if you can touch it, it's very likely time to start looking for an exit strategy.

Lol well that's the part about telegraphing, and that if this is the case then the party shouldn't be in combat at all unless they INSIST on it even after the GM says "this guy seems beyond your skill."

But just to entertain the in-combat "if you can't hit him and he can hit you easily" point, if it's Pathfinder 1e and you have a +10 to attack and you miss on a roll of 18, yeah you know you need to get out of change something up immediately. ACs can go crazy high. But with 5e's flat math, most enemies will have an AC under 20. The CR17 death knight has AC20 if they have a shield- that's pretty hittable at any level. And if the GM is saying out loud "I rolled an 8, plus his +11 to hit..." to give a hint to the party to GTFO, then they probably wouldn't even be in that situation because that GM probably would've said/telegraphed the danger earlier.

 

[Nefermandias]

Then their characters should die. They will learn not to be overconfident next time.

Indeed. We should remind ourselves that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.