D&D 5E How to switch from combat to chase

[Li Shenron]

A chase begins when someone, player or DM, declares an action to pursue a creature that is moving away. Whatever distance away from the pursuer the fleeing creature is when pursuit begins is the starting distance.

But that sounds weird... if it is the pursuer declaring a chase. Why would a pursuer want to switch to chase rules, when the "sticky" combat movement rules make it very difficult for someone to flee?

I mean, the foe moves away... you just move back close to it. This is always advantageous to the pursuer because of Opportunity Attacks, whether the quarry tries dash, disengage or dodge. To have a chance the quarry needs a higher base speed, only in that case maybe a pursuer with a higher Constitution might think it has a better chance of catching up in a chase.

 

[Li Shenron]

The Chase Begins
If a creature leaves the area shown by the map and another creature pursues, move to the Chase screen.

I highlight this because it's what matters for the discussion, not so much how to handle the chase itself.

If I understand correctly, this is a small metagamy but effective approach of having a sort of perimeter of the combat area, so that exiting the perimeter triggers the switch from combat to chase?

It sounds very easy to manage, assuming everyone accepts the small loss of suspension of disbelief.

 

[iserith]

I highlight this because it's what matters for the discussion, not so much how to handle the chase itself.

If I understand correctly, this is a small metagamy but effective approach of having a sort of perimeter of the combat area, so that exiting the perimeter triggers the switch from combat to chase?

It sounds very easy to manage, assuming everyone accepts the small loss of suspension of disbelief.

Yes, in practice, once everyone's "off the map" and the monsters (or PCs) want to give chase, we dump into the above rules for resolving it.

 

[Laurefindel]

I've played around with a few ways of handling chases and my most recent iteration abstracts it a bit into the following. I play on the grid for combats, notably. We don't use initiative for chases.

View attachment 149693

The Chase Begins
If a creature leaves the area shown by the map and another creature pursues, move to the Chase screen. The quarry is placed in Zone H. The hunter is placed in Zone C.

If the quarry has a faster speed than the hunter, the quarry can automatically escape if they so choose.

Fly, You Fools!
The quarry goes first, moving from its current zone to the next one, but not before encountering a random wilderness complication that may impede progress.

The hunter goes next, moving from its current zone to the next one, encountering the same complication.

A Complication Ensues
The DM presents the complication. The hunter and quarry must describe how it is dealing with the complication and make any relevant ability checks if necessary. If there is more than one hunter or quarry, the creature dealing with the complication cannot have already dealt with a complication (unless all hunters or quarry have done so already). Failing by 5 or more can sometimes carry additional consequences.

Hide!
If the quarry was successful in dealing with the complication, the quarry may attempt to hide, making a Dexterity (Stealth) check against the hunter's passive Perception score. If the hunter failed at dealing with the complication when moving into the current zone, this check is made at advantage.

If the attempt to hide is successful, the quarry escapes and is safely away from the hunter, but cannot help other quarry. If the attempt to hide is not successful, the chase continues (repeat, starting at Fly, You Fools!).

No Place Left to Run
If the quarry fails to hide in or before Section E, the hunter catches up to them and an encounter follows, starting at a range of 1d3 x 30 feet.

I just caught that each letter is a zone/range band. Makes a lot more sense! I like it.

My question however, is how big is the battle map (or should the battle map be), especially for games that do not use a battle map?

 

[iserith]

I just caught that each letter is a zone/range band. Makes a lot more sense! I like it.

My question however, is how big is the battle map (or should the battle map be), especially for games that do not use a battle map?

In this particular campaign, maps are generally 120 feet x 120 feet with encounters starting at 30, 60, or 90 feet. If you start at 30 feet, you're more toward the center of the map. If you start at 90 feet, you're more toward the edge. Which makes sense in terms of chases - if you're further away, you can move off the map quicker.

 

[LordEntrails]

"creature A dashes for 60 feet. Then creature B moves 30 feet closer, reducing the gap to 30 feet, and makes a (full round worth of) ranged attack/spell. Next round, ...

This does not come up for us, because we use random initiative / re-roll initiative each round. So it adds to chaos and either makes getting away easier or harder. But not something easy to predict.

I also like the idea of adding a variable to speed based on Athletics, but not sure just what rules there I would go with.

And a note on my earlier range comment; yes, in range means the target is visible, and yes it depends upon terrain and line of sight etc.

 

[GMMichael]

Whether you use the DMG chase rules, or your own version of them, how do you exactly switch from the turn-based combat initiative sequence to the simultaneous movements during a chase?

Movement in D&D combat grants everyone, even the monsters, a degree of tactical competence by assuming that each step is a calculated affair. Spend six seconds walking thirty feet and you'll see what I mean. When a character wants to flee, that character is dropping all tactics and calculations other than "I must get away." So a declaration to flee is a declaration to stop following the combat rules - removal from combat. Pursuing characters are those who use their next turn to say "I also leave combat, to chase my opponent." Doing anything else on the next turn is the same as letting the opponent escape.

But what if a whole party wants to run away from battle together? Would you handle this as long as possible within combat rules, for example by having all of them (except maybe the last) use the Ready action to coordinate before triggering a chase? Or would you rather use some simpler blanket rule (such as "everyone triggers an OA no matter what, and stop tracking individual positions straight away")?

To "run away from battle together," each member starts his/her turn by exiting combat, as above. You don't need to ready actions, since everyone's actions occur more or less at the same time (one round lasts six seconds, not six seconds per combatant). If you really want to use Opportunity Attacks, require your fleeing characters to move off your battle map in order to leave combat.

Given some of the responses here, I'd like to present some examples of what fleeing actually looks like:

 

[LordEntrails]

Movement in D&D combat grants everyone, even the monsters, a degree of tactical competence by assuming that each step is a calculated affair. Spend six seconds walking thirty feet and you'll see what I mean...

I'm not sure what you are going for here.

A typical walking/hiking pace is 3.5 miles per hour. Which is really close to 30 feet per 6 seconds (30.8). A non-athlete can typically run a 10 minute mile, or 52.8 feet per 6 seconds. The world record for a mile is 3:43, resulting in is 140 feet per 6 seconds, and for a 100 meter sprint is 9.76 seconds for 23.35 mph or 205 feet per round.

Except for the 100 meter record (Usain Bolt!), all of those numbers are achievable, or close, in D&D. Take a rogue with fast movement, there is 120 feet / round. Add magic or higher base speeds and such and only Usain's sprint speed is hard to mimic.

 

[Weiley31]

A Skill Challenge seems like the "simplest" way of doing a 5E Chase sequence. At least, that's how I do it.

 

[NotAYakk]

The desired style counts for a lot.

In my experience, the "move, then OA, then move, then OA etc" tends to drag on and make combat unnecessarily long for a fight that - in effect - is already over. We are only playing a loosely tactical game. If we were playing more hardcore tactical D&D, we would likely do it different.

As for retreating monsters/enemies; that's OK if they flee; they have been defeated. 90% of the time, the player's purpose has been fulfilled and not all combats end-up being a fight-to-the death. As a bonus, the body trail left by the players is made a bit more reasonable.

And even if they announce a retreat, players would often win the chase unless the opponent could fly or had enough speed to warrant advantage or impose disadvantage. A fleeting creature is hardly simply walking away. So in then end, few enemies that the PC really wanted to kill managed to run away. And you know, they'd get them eventually. All it did was saving precious time at the table.

Sure.

But if you are in melee, and you are running away from someone who moves at the same speed or faster than you do, you don't get away unless you pull off something fancy.

If everyone is move/OAing, then the fleeing foes are killed. You could eyeball how far they run if it matters. If it really matters (if the foe gets 100' away the world ends!) do the mechanics of each round.

The players are free to let fleeing foes flee. If they don't, well, you can solve "they won't get away" without mechanics, no?