D&D 5E Fleeing

[Psikerlord#]

I see what you mean. I just don't like mechanics like that because one PC specialises in it and suddenly the whole group has a get-out-of-jail-free card. Hell, if there's no consequences to using it, they'll use it in every combat to essentially port out rest up and port back in.

Yeah I mean there needs to be a cost, and ideally (I think) the chance of escape should be good but not guaranteed. So there is a risk to using it, but players know it's in their back pocket if they really need it. And the looser you get with "balanced encounters", the more they'll need it.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Players tend to approach D&D from an offensive POV these days. It's all-or-nothing victory. But that's not how the 'real' world works. It can be just as fun escaping a terrifying monster (if you're lucky) as defeating it.

I understand that players will whine that you, the DM, put them in an unwinnable position and will trivialize the warnings you gave them. I have grandkids that don't enjoy going to the old-time video arcade with me because the games I played as a kid are much harder (until you master them) than the games they play today on their phones. It's really a matter of what players are looking for. If you make it clear to them that your world is a dangerous place and that you'll be fair but not necessarily balanced, and they accept that, then you're good to go.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Players tend to approach D&D from an offensive POV these days.

Oh, it was pretty offensive back in the day, too.

 

[TheNoremac42]

My PCs hardly ever flee from combat and generally don't stop stabbing until all the NPCs are dead. The only time I remember someone running away was the level 5 rogue when he got separated from the party and had 3 skeletal minotaurs on his tail. I've seen players with single digit level characters pull a win from encounters that would normally be deadly to even level 20s.

I remember one time they aggroed a swarm of about 30 CR 3 creatures (5 PCs at ~ lvl 6). They killed them all with two fireballs from the wizard and two rounds of Spirit Guardians from the cleric.

I was left speechless for a couple minutes.

I got them back next session with some mind games, though.

 

[77IM]

I try to set up a precedent by having NPCs flee when they are down to about HALF their number, or when their leader is killed. I emphasize that the PCs get full XP for routing enemies. This speeds up combat considerably, but also shows that in my games, the expected outcome of combat is for the losing side to flee (or sometimes surrender), not get wiped out.

 

[S'mon]

I try to set up a precedent by having NPCs flee when they are down to about HALF their number, or when their leader is killed. I emphasize that the PCs get full XP for routing enemies. This speeds up combat considerably, but also shows that in my games, the expected outcome of combat is for the losing side to flee (or sometimes surrender), not get wiped out.

For a lot of NPCs I go with "Are we losing? Run!"

Of course they may not realise they're losing until too late, and it varies by monster - orcs are more aggressive than goblins, say. Human commoners will likely flee immediately.

Times when it makes sense for NPCs to pursue are fairly few IME. Eg I've been going over an old Wilderlands PBEM where Dearthwood orcs ambushed a City State slaver convoy (with several PCs) and won, but lost 7/12 in the battle. The 5 remaining orcs I am assuming are not likely to pursue the fleeing PC & NPC survivors, some of whom could still be dangerous, when there's a bunch of corpses to loot and captured slaves to take back into Dearthwood.

 

[77IM]

That reminds me of another good tactic for encouraging fleeing: metagaming. Sometimes, the DM should just come right out and say to the players, using words, "If you flee, these guys won't chase you."

Some people consider this type of metagaming to be "cheating" or immersion-breaking, but I don't. It's just the most direct solution to the problem of information asymmetry between DM and players. If you want, you can wrap this declaration in a Wisdom (Insight) check and say it's something your character would know, to make the information-transfer in-game. But at the end of the day it's really just the DM explaining to the players how the setting works.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Just as a point of interest, most casualties in muscle powered warfare came after one side routed and were cut down while fleeing. Running away let a few escape, but generally didn't preserve the unit. D&D, while not exactly realistic, still does have a combat engine that tries to do a decent job, so it's unsurprising that fleeing is generally lethal to at least one other PC. If you want to change it because the focus of D&D isn't realism, go for it. I usually don't have monsters pursue if they've been hurt or lost a decent number, myself. Sometimes, though, it's blood that's needed.

 

[Tony Vargas]

In genre, heroes tend to win battles. And D&D handles that moderately well.

In genre, when heroes don't win the battle, they tend to either either get away, or to be captured and escape later. D&D doesn't handle that at all well.

Capture scenarios in 3e and earlier were potentially worse than death, because there's always Raise Dead, but losing your all-important magic items...
And, yeah, 'Fleeing' has generally been a bad option, in most eds, there was little to go on besides movement rates (in 1e there was an 'Pursuit & Evading Pursuit' section, but it came down to comparing movement rates, and dropping food or treasure to distract pursuers) and the monsters were often faster than all the PCs, and at least one PC was usually quite slow.
In 3e the DM might decide to use skill checks to resolve a pursuit, but he was on his own as to how - if you went with everyone making endurance checks to keep running or checks to hide from pursuers, you'd almost always get at least one failure, and the gig was up.
4e added skill challenges, which, once they were fixed up, could be used with good results, but weren't specific to the issue (they could be used for a chase scene or escaping a capture scenario, but they could be used for a lotta things), and introduced group checks which fixed the one-failed-checks-blows-it-for-everyone problem with stealth or endurance or whatever.
5e quietly kept group checks and has some sort of chase rules, but I haven't dusted 'em off yet, and I couldn't find them in the SRD at a glance... :shrug: ... as with everything else in 5e, the DM is always free to just declare an action successful, so if you want to let the PCs escape, just narrate success when they try, or use a simple group check if you're OK with it going either way.

 

[TheNoremac42]

tl;dr

• Chases go in initiative order
• Quarries can make a Stealth check to hide every turn, providing the Hide action is available
• Participants can freely Dash 3 + CON mod before making CON checks against exhaustion.
• Participants can make attacks and cast spells, but risk losing their quarry or being caught if they stop to do so.

Rules for Chases (DMG 5e, pages 252-255)

CHASES
Strict application of the movement rules can turn a potentially exciting chase into a dull, predictable affair. Faster creatures always catch up to slower ones, while creatures with the same speed never close the distance between each other. This set of rules can make chase more exciting by introducing random elements.

BEGINNING A CHASE
A chase requires a quarry and at least one pursuer. Any participants not already in initiative order must roll initiative. As in combat, each participant in the chase can take one action and move on its turn. The chase ends when one side drops out or the quarry escapes. When a chase begins, determine the starting distance between the quarry and the pursuers. Track the distance between them, and designate the pursuer closest to the quarry as the lead. The lead pursuer might change from round to round.

RUNNING THE CHASE
Participants in the chase are strongly motivated to use the Dash action every round. Pursuers who stop to cast spells and make attacks run the risk of losing their quarry, and a quarry that does so is likely to be caught.

DASHING
During the chase, a participant can freely use the Dash action a number of times equal to 3 + its Constitution modifier. Each additional Dash action it takes during the chase requires the creature to succeed on a DC 10 Constitution check at the end of its turn or gain one !eve.
of exhaustion. A participant drops out of the chase if its exhaustion reaches level 5, since its speed becomes 0. A creature can remove the levels of exhaustion it gained during the chase by finishing a short or long rest.

SPELLS AND ATTACKS
A chase participant can make attacks and cast spells against other creatures within range. Apply the normal rules for cover, terrain, and so on to the attacks and spells. Chase participants can't normally make opportunity attacks against each other, since they are all assumed to be moving in the same direction at the same time. However, participants can till be in range of opportunity attacks from creatures not participating in the chase. For example, adventurers who chase a thief past a gang of thugs in an alley might provoke opportunity attacks from the thugs.

ENDING A CHASE
A chase ends when one side or the other stops, when the quarry escapes, or when the pursuers are close enough to their quarry to catch it.
If neither side gives up the chase, the quarry makes a Dexterity (Stealth) check at the end of each round, after every participant in the chase has taken its turn. The result is compared to the passive Wisdom (Perception) scores of the pursuers.
If the quarry consists of multiple creatures, they all make the check. If the quarry is never out of the lead pursuer's sight, the check fails automatically. Otherwise, if the result of the quarry's check is greater than the highest passive score, that quarry escapes. If not, the chase continues for another round.
The quarry gains advantage or disadvantage on its check based on prevailing circumstances, as shown in the Escape Factors table. If one or more factors give the quarry both advantage and disadvantage on its check, the quarry has neither, as usual.

The DMG also has random encounters for chases that occur in both Urban and Wilderness environments. I've had a few chase scenes in my game. They're usually with the PCs as the pursuers, and are usually over pretty quickly because of someone launched an RPG missile (read "min/maxed Ranger/Assassin") and one-shotted the poor guy, or the wood elf rogue double-dashed and tackled him right out the gate.