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<blockquote data-quote="Ridley's Cohort" data-source="post: 3073430" data-attributes="member: 545">Look at the movement rules.It is pretty normal in D&amp;D for ~1/2 or more your party to have a base move of less than 30' (or less than 120' in 1e/2e).&nbsp; Even everyone having a move of 30' or more is often not sufficient as a hell of a lot of monsters have a 40' or better move.&nbsp; If you are apparently too weak to stand and fight, there is no obvious reason that those vicious monsters you are afraid of should not pursue.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is really problematic once the brawl has begun where showing weakness and fear should encourage your enemies in most cases.I have had some successes in retreating.&nbsp; With restricted space (the narrow corridors of a dungeon) we had enough high AC healthy bodies to hold the battleline and make a fighting retreat, killing the first few attempting to pursue was sufficient inducement to leave us alone. And then there was the incident where there were overwhelming numbers and we were in the open.&nbsp; We bloodied their sentries and the first wave of reinforcements, but the next wave was clearly going to be much too much for us.&nbsp; So we ran.&nbsp; Being in armor, we found I was much faster if I took off the armor and carried it in my arms.&nbsp; The DM even fudged the rules so that I could cut all the straps and take the armor off quickly.&nbsp; There we had a several round head start, a relatively safe area a few minutes away that our pursuers we afraid to go, and still it was a close call.The movement rules strongly discourage fleeing.&nbsp; Things are much better in 3e, where at least a PC can buy a potion or two at Ye Olde Magick Shoppe for purposes of emergency escape.Lots of DMs say that the players should be smarter and flee.&nbsp; But from the other side of the table such &quot;advice&quot; looks flat out wrong.BBEGs can easily escape with a strategic withdrawal, because it does not take much cleverness to extricate a single character out of a bad situation, especially if you have expendable mooks.&nbsp; The same tactics generally do not work for PCs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ridley's Cohort, post: 3073430, member: 545"] Look at the movement rules. It is pretty normal in D&D for ~1/2 or more your party to have a base move of less than 30' (or less than 120' in 1e/2e). Even everyone having a move of 30' or more is often not sufficient as a hell of a lot of monsters have a 40' or better move. If you are apparently too weak to stand and fight, there is no obvious reason that those vicious monsters you are afraid of should not pursue. This is really problematic once the brawl has begun where showing weakness and fear should encourage your enemies in most cases. I have had some successes in retreating. With restricted space (the narrow corridors of a dungeon) we had enough high AC healthy bodies to hold the battleline and make a fighting retreat, killing the first few attempting to pursue was sufficient inducement to leave us alone. And then there was the incident where there were overwhelming numbers and we were in the open. We bloodied their sentries and the first wave of reinforcements, but the next wave was clearly going to be much too much for us. So we ran. Being in armor, we found I was much faster if I took off the armor and [i]carried it in my arms[/i]. The DM even fudged the rules so that I could cut all the straps and take the armor off quickly. There we had a several round head start, a relatively safe area a few minutes away that our pursuers we afraid to go, and [i]still[/i] it was a close call. The movement rules strongly discourage fleeing. Things are much better in 3e, where at least a PC can buy a potion or two at Ye Olde Magick Shoppe for purposes of emergency escape. Lots of DMs [i]say[/i] that the players should be smarter and flee. But from the other side of the table such "advice" looks flat out wrong. BBEGs can easily escape with a strategic withdrawal, because it does not take much cleverness to extricate a single character out of a bad situation, especially if you have expendable mooks. The same tactics generally do not work for PCs. [/QUOTE]

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