D&D 5E Morale Rules?

[Paraxis]

When I run my game I usually have a firm grasp of the morale of the npc's/monsters in any given encounter and adjust on the fly pretty well. What prompted this thread for me was in a game I was playing in not running another character used his action to try and intimidate the enemy into running away, 4e had this as part of the skill and the player expected to be able to do something similar. The DM I think handled it well, with a skill check setting a wisdom save, but it seemed a little off, and I am not sure how I would handle it in my own game.

So besides just normal morale, what about when the characters try and force a morale check using things like intimidate on some npc's to get them to back down or run away, for that matter taunt to provoke them into targeting them.

I would classify myself as a gamist, my desire is for the rules system to give me an answer to this situation. Looking forward to the DMG release and hopefully a system for this.

 

[tom.zunder]

I liked the morale rules in BECMI so much it's the only thing I kept in all my games even when I stopped playing D&D.

 

[Henrix]

Morale is Free XP. Monsters are statted up to fight to the last HP.

Thank you for giving me yet another argument for why XP for killing stuff is bad.

And XP has always been (supposed to, at least) warded for defeating the opposition. Routing them is defeating.

(And exactly what level of advancement is your game geared to? You can shift it if you want.)

 

[Agamon]

Thank you for giving me yet another argument for why XP for killing stuff is bad.

And exactly what level of advancement is your game geared to? You can shift it if you want.

This is why I handwave XP and level the party when convenient. Then the amount of fighting doesn't matter. And opponents can act like life has meaning and they aren't just bags of hp.

 

[tom.zunder]

I usually use the 50% losses test and the loss of leader test. What I test with depends on the system, but 5e suggests to me a DC 10-11 save, maybe modified by WIS *in reverse*... After all of you are wise you will realise this is not going well and run or surrender. In brp games it's Pow*5% or Willpower in RQ6

 

[77IM]

So besides just normal morale, what about when the characters try and force a morale check using things like intimidate on some npc's to get them to back down or run away, for that matter taunt to provoke them into targeting them.

So, I came up with this, tell me if you like it.

Startle
You drive back a foe through threatening body language, impressive displays of prowess, or dire promises. Contest your Charisma (Intimidation) against the Wisdom saving throw of a creature within 30 feet. Targets with Intelligence 3 or less and which don't speak a language get advantage on the saving throw, unless you are brandishing something obviously harmful like fire.

On a success, you cause the target to become frightened (see appendix A) until the end of your next turn. On a failure, anyone who saw you fail the contest can't be startled by you for 24 hours.
​

This is meant to be analogous to grapple. It's a little more powerful, hence the harsh failure condition. I thought about an area-attack version but decided that would be too powerful; if you want to intimidate ALL the goblins, try targeting their leader, or have everyone in the party each startle a different goblin.

 

[Agamon]

So, I came up with this, tell me if you like it.

Startle
You drive back a foe through threatening body language, impressive displays of prowess, or dire promises. Contest your Charisma (Intimidation) against the Wisdom saving throw of a creature within 30 feet. Targets with Intelligence 3 or less and which don't speak a language get advantage on the saving throw, unless you are brandishing something obviously harmful like fire.

On a success, you cause the target to become frightened (see appendix A) until the end of your next turn. On a failure, anyone who saw you fail the contest can't be startled by you for 24 hours.
​

This is meant to be analogous to grapple. It's a little more powerful, hence the harsh failure condition. I thought about an area-attack version but decided that would be too powerful; if you want to intimidate ALL the goblins, try targeting their leader, or have everyone in the party each startle a different goblin.

Cool, I've actually been doing this without making it a formal rule with a name and all. Nice write up.