How would you resolve a race between characters?

[DungeonmasterCal]

I was thinking about this the other day; right after 3.0 came out, I ran an adventure where the PC's had to get to a destination before another party. They both arrived near their goal at the same time, and rather than have them just roll Initiative to see who crossed the several dozen yards first, I said they'd have to race.

The way I did this was to take the speed rating of their mounts and divide by 5. Light horses have a speed of 50 ft/round, so that resulted in a 10. I treated this as a bonus roll to a d20 (d20 +10), and gave them 3 checks. The winning outcome isn't important here, but how would someone else handle a similar situation?

 

[Tone Cold]

I'd use an opposed Ride vs. Ride check, with the speedier mount getting a bonus on the roll. If you want to have multiple rolls for dramatic effects, set a "victory margin." Frex, a VM of 20 would mean that one side has to beat the other by a total of 20 over a series of opposed checks to win (although it can be reached in one roll if there's a sufficient skill gap between the two side).


Tony

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'd use an opposed Ride vs. Ride check, with the speedier mount getting a bonus on the roll. If you want to have multiple rolls for dramatic effects, set a "victory margin." Frex, a VM of 20 would mean that one side has to beat the other by a total of 20 over a series of opposed checks to win (although it can be reached in one roll if there's a sufficient skill gap between the two side).


Tony

Hmmm...ok...sounds good... now...what about a foot race between two PC's?

 

[Tone Cold]

Opposed Dex check, characters get +1 to their roll for every 2' over 30' speed, or -1 per 2' under 30' speed?

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Tone Cold
Opposed Dex check, characters get +1 to their roll for every 2' over 30' speed, or -1 per 2' under 30' speed?

Why dex? I would think strength would be more important. Have you seen the muscles of people who run? Also, depending on how far the characters are running, constitution might be important. I don't know if you talking about a 100 yard dash or a 2 mile run...

I have no idea how I'd do it, so I can't add anything more constructive.

 

[Tonguez]

When I ran a swimming race I used opposed swim checks vs DC
I then found the difference between success rolls

(eg base DC 10 3 swimmers ABC

A rolls 6 (no movement)
B rolls 12
C rolls 18

B & C pull ahead with C gaining an extra 6 ft. A falls behind struggling to make progress

do the same with run checks

 

[Kemrain]

Light horses have a speed of 50 ft/round, so that resulted in a 10.

Light Horses have a movement of 60, Heavy Horses have 50.

- Kemrain the Dark Horse.

 

[DanMcS]

Somebody posted a good idea here last week that involved treating movement as a stat. Humans have a 30, short people have a 20, which gives you a bonus of +10 or +5 to movement checks. I might allow synergy bonuses to this check from 5 ranks of balance or jump depending on the terrain you're racing through, and the run feat should add a flat +5 bonus or so.

Make opposed checks for the racers. If, after one check, A has a result of 23 and B has a result of 18, A has a lead of 5'. If round 2 has B beating A by 10, he takes the lead by 5'.

If the distance is set, than one check per unit distance should do it; whoever accumulates the most lead by the end, wins. On the other hand, if it's just two people chasing each other or running without a distance limit, set a lead distance that must be gained for one person to win, 30' or 50' or something. They keep chasing each other until someone wins (loses the other, whatever), or one or the other has to drop out due to failing constitution checks for running long distances.

Edit: Short sprints. For very short races, like a 50 yard dash or trying to beat the ogre to the door, make a initiative checks. Whoever wins gets the difference applied as a bonus to his movement check.