Pursuit

[The Proconsul]

The model where everybody moves 30 (or 20, orwhatever) feet in one round is good enough for actual combat - but it's not very useful when, for example, on side is fleeing and is pursued by the other.

I'd suggest a simple system, please comment: Everybody rolls for initiative, adding half their movement. If the pursuer wins, the distance between the two is reduced by 1 foot for every point by which he won the contest. If the fleeing person wins, the distance is increased in a similar manner. If you do NOT take a double move, you incur a -10 penalty (-5 if you fire a ranged weapon with the Shot on the Run feat, or hit something in melee and have the Spring Attack feat).

Example: Sir Tuttelage is pursuing Blood Bloodaxe and Show Shadowfriend. The original distance is 20 feet. Tuttelage gets a 15 on his roll, Bloodaxe a 10, and Shadowfriend a 25. Tuttelage is now 10 feet away from Bloodaxe, and 30 feet from Shadowfriend.

This system has some holes of course, but you get it, I hope.

 

[Ferret]

If Tuttelage beat Blood bloodaxe by 5 why did he advance 10?

 

[The Proconsul]

That's an error. It should be 15, of course

 

[MarauderX]

I absolutely agree.

I am a player in a campaign where we have had multiple pursuits take place, and the turn based movement ends up being annoying and unrealistic. It especially doesn't work when you are trying to away from opponents to use a ranged weapon only to have them pounce on you during their turn.

I like what you have, and I will be incorporating something similiar. My thoughts are that instead of rolling initiative each round to get closer, you would use a semi-related skill or an ability modifier to add to a d20 score, perhaps with Dex bonus. Also, I would have to make it more complicated (and annoying, I know) by checking Constitution for a prolonged chase.

So for instance if Tuttelage and Blood Bloodaxe kept running but not gaining or losing ground between them the flight would be better governed by stamina. So if say Show Shadowfiend misses his Con check, he would fall behind by 5 or 10' that round. It would lend to the high Dex PCs good sprinters but poor marathon runners vs. the fighter-types.