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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 7144724" data-attributes="member: 30022">It's generally simple enough in my games, and it's an option that the players take at least once every 4-6 sessions.I use battlemaps and minis for significant battles, and theater-of-the-mind for simple stuff. Fleeing isn't an issue in the latter, so there's almost always a battlemap involved. To initiate the "flee" scenario, the characters simple have to exit the map. Sometimes this involve attacks-of-opportunity; sometimes it won't. However, if they choose to flee, they know that it will be followed by Stage Two below.Once they're off the map, we're into Skill Challenge territory. They need to describe to me (narratively) how they're attempting to get away. Running for their lives? Athletics checks. Throwing pursuers off the scent? Deception. Hiding? Stealth. And so forth. I'm pretty generous on what skills they can use, because the penalty for failure is high (see below). The DCs starts relatively low (e.g. DC 10, or even DC 5 if they have a particularly good idea). If they have special items or spells that will help, those will grant at least 1 automatic success.However, the target DCs will increase steadily if the PC only uses the same gambit every round. I run! Athletics DC 10. I keep running! Athletics DC 15. I'm still running! Athletics DC 20. Ummm... maybe I try and hide now? Stealth DC 10. I like to promote some variety, to force them to consider the narrative.In general, each PC needs to make 4 successes before they accrue 3 failures to escape. A particularly hard pursuit might involve 6 or even 8 successes (e.g. the party is heavily outnumbered, or the pursuers are very fast), before 3 failures are accrued. The reason I do it individually is to give the sense that stragglers are being picked off. It's also to increase the chance of survivors.If a PC racks up those three failures, he/she is either captured (if that's a reasonable motivation for the pursuers), or dead. End of story. There are no additional saving throws, no more chances to cast spells, no combat rounds. My players know this, and expect this - it adds to the tension of the game.How does this work in practice? My players don't immediately flee unless they are certain they're outclassed (e.g. their 3rd level PCs have angered an NPC, and he has turned out to be a lich or adult red dragon). More often than not, they'll be fighting a climactic encounter with a deadly enemy (or group), and a few of the PCs are down. They do the math, and realized there's a solid chance it'll be a TPK. The survivors run for it. Maybe they live; maybe they die (or are captured).As for those PCs who are down in the fight (and cannot flee, obviously), they will either have to stabilize on their own, or they will bleed out. Sometimes, if the victorious enemy has a motivation for wanting the PCs alive, they might attempt Medicine checks to stabilize fallen PCs so they can interrogate/ransom/enslave them later. This creates more story opportunities to continue the campaign, and give the fleeing PCs a chance to come back and save their buddies later on.In Summary:1) Once off the battle-map, it's a Skill Challenge. 4 (or 6, or 8) successes for each PC before 3 failures, depending on the difficulty of the pursuit (but low DCs, and generous variety of skills available).2) Appropriate spells and items grant at least 1 auto success on the challenge3) The penalty for failure is high: the PC is either captured (intelligent, motivated enemies) or killed if they fail the challenge</blockquote>

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