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Is morale used anymore?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 6988901" data-attributes="member: 16814"><p>I've found having monsters flee is often just a delaying tactic prior to death. The way that damage is set up in 5e, unless a monster flees at 75% of hp, they likely won't get away. If fleeing into reinforcements is available, usually those reinforcements are already close enough to hear and join the current fight. If I wait until even half of a group is killed, or a monster hits the halfway point in hitpoints, the only option that results in survival is surrender. Otherwise, they're just cut down or run down as they flee. And, considering the time scales of combat, in the fictions bare seconds have passed between the turning point and the end of the combat -- barely enough time to register you're fubar before it's all over.</p><p></p><p>Now, I have used mechanics like dodging, but that just makes it easier for the party to run down the bad guys. Faster bad guys have a chance to run, so long as they're not closely engaged when they break, and if there's enough cover to break line of sight then they can and do get away. I often have a group do different things when they break -- those not engaged try to run while those engaged stay in the fight, recognizing they can't get away. More intelligent (or cowardly) things surrender, but, honestly, if you're a goblin who's pretty much killed on sight, what reasons would you have to trust that your surrender would result in your living? Most D&D monsters are not suffered to live by the "civilized" races.</p><p></p><p>Still, I do have monsters surrender when it makes sense for them to do so. Typically, though, a fight's over faster than most creatures can even register it went against them. Given most of my fights last around 4 rounds, that's not even 30 seconds between joining the fray and bleeding out on the ground. Smart monsters in a realistic sense would just run if they ever saw a ragtag group of persons, of varying races, walking around blithely in dangerous areas because they've been raised on stories of the boogeymen called "adventures".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 6988901, member: 16814"] I've found having monsters flee is often just a delaying tactic prior to death. The way that damage is set up in 5e, unless a monster flees at 75% of hp, they likely won't get away. If fleeing into reinforcements is available, usually those reinforcements are already close enough to hear and join the current fight. If I wait until even half of a group is killed, or a monster hits the halfway point in hitpoints, the only option that results in survival is surrender. Otherwise, they're just cut down or run down as they flee. And, considering the time scales of combat, in the fictions bare seconds have passed between the turning point and the end of the combat -- barely enough time to register you're fubar before it's all over. Now, I have used mechanics like dodging, but that just makes it easier for the party to run down the bad guys. Faster bad guys have a chance to run, so long as they're not closely engaged when they break, and if there's enough cover to break line of sight then they can and do get away. I often have a group do different things when they break -- those not engaged try to run while those engaged stay in the fight, recognizing they can't get away. More intelligent (or cowardly) things surrender, but, honestly, if you're a goblin who's pretty much killed on sight, what reasons would you have to trust that your surrender would result in your living? Most D&D monsters are not suffered to live by the "civilized" races. Still, I do have monsters surrender when it makes sense for them to do so. Typically, though, a fight's over faster than most creatures can even register it went against them. Given most of my fights last around 4 rounds, that's not even 30 seconds between joining the fray and bleeding out on the ground. Smart monsters in a realistic sense would just run if they ever saw a ragtag group of persons, of varying races, walking around blithely in dangerous areas because they've been raised on stories of the boogeymen called "adventures". [/QUOTE]
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