D&D 5E Party SOPs

[MarkB]

In TV/movies/etc., there is a dramatic rule: if the audience sees the planning, then sees the action unfold entirely according to plan, that's generally not entertaining. Either the audience doesn't see the planning, and learns the plan as the protagonists execute it (possibly with voiceover, flashback, etc.); or the audience sees the planning, then sees what happens as the plan goes awry. Since the players are the audience, they don't have the option of not seeing the planning...

I can't remember where I read it, but there was one group of Spycraft players whose preferred mission plans were termed "burrito plans".
[sblock=If you don't know, you probably don't want to]As in "silent on the way in, noisy on the way out".[/sblock]

Basically, they'd plan like heck to get their operatives inside and to the mission objective as quietly as possible, but their plans for getting back out again didn't take stealth into account at all, instead concentrating upon distraction, suppression and superior firepower - because they knew that, nine times out of ten, there'd be no way things would go to plan long enough to make a quiet exit, so why waste time planning one?

 

[Riley37]

Missions with quiet infiltration, quiet success, and quiet extraction/exfiltration are like no-hitter games in baseball. They're a great accomplishment (for one side), but they're not as flashy as games with home runs. If you love the suspense of one, you might love the suspense of the other - can they really keep this streak going?

That said, here's some extraction SOPs:

- For hostage/prisoner rescue, as in HotDQ, some of the Resistance in Phlan missions, and Tales Trees Tell, plan ahead for the extraction of the target (that is, the person you're rescuing). You might prepare Enhanced Ability (Strength) for carrying less-mobile (wounded, aged, infant) targets to safety, or Conjure Animals for steeds. If the target might be able to walk/run along with you, then save a casting of Invisibility, to use on them, so that they're less likely to get attacked by guards on the way out. Bring healing resources for them, maybe even spare armor. Don't *almost* rescue someone, except for the stray arrow nailing them on the way out; get them ALL the way to safety!

- Prepare the escape route, preferably before entering the zone of the actual mission objective. Dump oil and caltrops across the route. If the mission becomes non-covert when the plan goes sideways, then on the way out, light the oil. If smoke makes it hard for pursuers to see caltrops, so much the better; pursuit through flame, while slowed by caltrops, is no fun. Smoke also reduces the effectiveness of ranged fire against a fleeing party.
If you have the prep time and the spell slots, place a Glyph of Warding across the escape route.

A horribly cheesy way to deny pursuit: during infiltration and prep, cast Leomund's Tiny Hut to block a passageway. Caster stays in the Hut during the action phase. Party, and any slow/vulnerable rescuees, pass freely through the hut on their way out. Pursuit is blocked by the Hut as long as caster stays inside it. Caster uses Expeditious Retreat, runs out of the Hut (collapsing it), and catches up with the escaping party.