Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 2424531" data-attributes="member: 20323">Glad you ask these questions, Psion!Yes, absolutely get Hot Pursuit. The way it provides for different manuevers and is flexible to a player's wildest dreams are its high marks. And its low marks are, well, it's another system to learn (though it's pretty simple).I posted about reasons why a high-level character would hold back, and I think these are really just universal strategy points that players may (or may not) consider:This is tricky to do without making the players feel you're pulling the "I'm the GM, screw you" card, and, as you point out, it is compounded by access to D&D spells. I remember a great desert chase I had planned; round 1 the mage casts hold person and drops the target out of their saddle. Chase is over before it began.To really address this, we need to look at a few assumptions about magic & crime:1. How is the casting of spells viewed in civilized parts of the world? Is it even legal? Must you file a request to be legally allowed to cast a spell in a city? What are the consequences for breaking this law?2. In a world where a police officer can cast hold person on a fleeing criminal, what chance does crime have? The criminals surely have grown smarter and developed their own magical counter-abilities. What about casting mirror image prior to a chase, with the addition that several of the villains cronnies (dressed in identical clothes) join the chase. So now you're not chasing one, but 3, 4, 5, or more bad guys, some of which aren't even real! And it's even more complex if the villains throw in a decoy object. "Ok, I surrender! Just don't hurt me! Take this magical gizmo!"3. If the players can take off their kit gloves and break the law, then surely criminals will respond likewise. They will employ all manner of tactics that they never could in a city, such as: Smearing contact poison on the object (or its decoy). Summoning the city watch to stop the people accosting them. Ducking into a crowd and performing a swift disguise (might need a feat to do that!). If the party has teleportation, give the criminal teleportation. If the party has hold person, have the criminal cast it upon them first. Fleeing villain might go through an escape route with magically enchanted mirrors, or some other trap. Taking a hostage. Throwing a magical deterrent behind them (a golem-like creature that drains spellcasting levels or shoots poison darts). Drops some caltrops...poisoned or enchanted of course. Flee into a really, really dangerous area (foundry with sparks everywhere, an asteroid belt, a sleeping dragon's lair where any speaking wakes the dragon, an anti-magic field).As an aside, why are the PCs facing inferior opponents anyhow? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification