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chasing

radferth

First Post
Under 3rd ed movement rules, it seems very easy to escape from foes the same speed at you. If you are willing to allow an opportunity attack as you run at full speed (x4), then a foe of the same speed must run at x4 to keep up with you, which means they can't attack. Am I missing something?
 

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That is correct. That is where you get into endurance races. If your endurance runs out then suddenly you are not going to outrun that creature... but if its endurance runs out you are safe.

I do not know the exact rules on how long you can run.

How can you relate D&D to Football? Well let us say you get behind someone and you need to tackle them. Well how do you handle this? SUpposedly at the end of your run you should be able to make a trip attack. Well also once an opponent passes the AoO range he/she suddenly goes 120 minus movement made already, thats 40 yds. If that really happened on a football field you would always have TDs everytime someone 'broke free'. Without some kindof running tackle feat this just seems unreal in D&D.

Football is a good example of how tumble works but for chasing and tackling it doesn't make much sense. Opinions?
 

On a chase we break it off of combat rules and use RP supported by judgement. Two people with even speeds will make opposed dex checks to edge out an advantage of 5-10ft or so during the run. If they win twice in a row they can try to stop or attack the other person. Con checks if they do it for awhile.
 

Lord Ben said:
On a chase we break it off of combat rules and use RP supported by judgement. Two people with even speeds will make opposed dex checks to edge out an advantage of 5-10ft or so during the run. If they win twice in a row they can try to stop or attack the other person. Con checks if they do it for awhile.

Yuck. Sounds too 2nd editiony. *shudder* ;)
 
Last edited:


The current rules seem quite sensible to me.

Say I'm fighting my enemy Bob, and we have the same speed. Bob takes off running, and a split-second later, I take off after him. He started running first, so he gets a slight lead. Assuming we started out in adjacent squares, he is now a little more than 5' away from me-- just beyond reach of a melee weapon. So I can't hit him unless he slows down (or I somehow manage to speed up).

After a couple rounds of sprinting, we start making Con checks. If Bob fails first, he must slow down, and I can catch up and start hitting him. If I fail first, I can't keep up, and Bob probably gets away.

In a real-life chase, if Bob's Dexterity were higher than mine, maybe he could open up an early lead. But that wouldn't help much, since we're sprinting in a straight line, and I can keep coming after him. If he gets tired before I do, I can still catch up and start bashing him. In pursuit on open ground, stamina (represented by a Con check) is far more important than a short-term burst of speed.

[houserule]
As for diving tackles, I treat this as a special case of a grapple. I allow a grab attempt to be made during a sprint, as long as the target is denied his Dexterity bonus to AC. If the attacker fails, he falls prone, one square short of the target. If he succeeds, both characters fall prone in the target's square, and then they make opposed checks to see if the attacker can maintain his hold.
[/houserule]
 

Let's start with this situation:

A
Z

Z runs away from A, provoking an AoO and moving 120 ft away. We now have this:

A

(120 ft)

Z

On A's turn, he runs after Z.

(start)

120 ft

A
Z

Looks very much like the first situation, doesn't it? If Z runs away again, A gets another AoO. If the attacks of opportunity don't wear Z down, the endurance rules might.
 

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