The one set of rules where I have always considered 3.5E D&D to be lacking are the mechanics for movement and particularly chases. In fact, there are no good rules for movement/running in a chase or a race, since the standard movement rules allow for no variability and thus almost all medium-sized humanoids run at exactly the same pace all of the time. This approach makes for boring chases with pre-determined outcomes and does not mesh well with the more random nature of the game in most others aspects of the rules.
This oversight of D&D came to my attention a number of times in the past and each time I just ran the race or the chase in an ad-hoc/arbitrary manner. Several months to a year ago (I no longer remember the time precisely), when a chase once again had the potential to become a turning point for the PCs, I finally decided to do something about the need to spruce up chases and races and created my own running mechanics. The mechanics have served me well in the chase in question and I have been using them ever since and have modified them slightly based on personal playtest experience and further development to reach the current state of the rules that are in use in my campaign.
Without further ado, here are the rules I use for running, chases and races:
Running does not quadruple base speed, but merely triples it. Creatures involved in the chase, however, get to roll a d20 check and gain an extra (base speed/10) movement per round for each point by which they beat DC 0. Rounding is always down, so if this is being done on a board or grid, than a full 5 feet of extra movement would be required to move an extra square.
(Note: The same effect could be achieved by setting the DC at 10 and maintaining the original multipliers, but this would result in frequent subtraction, which is said to be more difficult and slower than addition. Hence the somewhat non-standard DC 0 is used here instead, to avoid subtraction of speed in virtually all circumstances.)
The feat, run, no longer shifts running speed from quadruple to quintuple of base speed, but rather adds a +10 bonus to running checks. Of course, it still provides the +4 bonus to jump checks made with a running start.
Medium Encumbrance and Medium Armor downgrade base speed through multipliers in exactly the same way as they do in normal 3.5E movement rules. Heavy Encumbrance imposes a -10 penalty in place of reducing the running speed multiplier to 3x base speed (which would be redundant). This replaces the movement penalties armors and encumberance would otherwise impose in 3.5E rules for the purposes of running.
Creatures can take 10 on their running checks. The great feature of this system is that taking 10 on running checks yields exactly the same results, as would be obtained by following the old 3.5E running rules, so these can be used when simplicity is desired. Chases, escapes from a collapsing tomb, and other situations where running speed makes all the difference, however, could be adjudicated using the running mechanics and thus be made more exciting than a deterministic system would be able to provide.
(Note: The rule changes I have implemented might seem slightly complicated, but the principle is very simple and every character could have a pre-calculated running bonus already written down on his character sheet, so during the game this works like a charm - it really does not slow it down at all - I can speak from experience having used it already.)
Apart from the dynamism that this brings to chases, another advantage of the system is that functions similarly to skill usage. This means that the DM can impose modifiers on the running check depending on external circumstances or actions of the character in question. For example, running sideways on a hillside, the DM could impose a -5 penalty to running checks on a failed balance check, or could allow the PC escaping a pursuer through a busy merchant alley to take a -2 penalty to the to bring down a stack of wares to slow down the pursuer... if the pursuer fails his jump check. The mechanic can therefore be as simple or as complicated as is needed for the situation and lends itself to cinematic chases, escapes, pursuits races and other scenes where running is important.
In any case, I would like to suggest this running mechanic for the Pathfinder RPG. It is a new mechanic does not really replace any older mechanic, since any running mechanics worthy of the name were essentially absent from D&D 3.5E, so I am not sure whether Paizo is looking for those kinds of suggestions, but I have had good experience with these rules in my D&D game, so here it is - if nothing else, maybe it will help other DMs who currently have to use ad-hoc rules for chases and running like I had to until I created this rule.
This oversight of D&D came to my attention a number of times in the past and each time I just ran the race or the chase in an ad-hoc/arbitrary manner. Several months to a year ago (I no longer remember the time precisely), when a chase once again had the potential to become a turning point for the PCs, I finally decided to do something about the need to spruce up chases and races and created my own running mechanics. The mechanics have served me well in the chase in question and I have been using them ever since and have modified them slightly based on personal playtest experience and further development to reach the current state of the rules that are in use in my campaign.
Without further ado, here are the rules I use for running, chases and races:
Running does not quadruple base speed, but merely triples it. Creatures involved in the chase, however, get to roll a d20 check and gain an extra (base speed/10) movement per round for each point by which they beat DC 0. Rounding is always down, so if this is being done on a board or grid, than a full 5 feet of extra movement would be required to move an extra square.
(Note: The same effect could be achieved by setting the DC at 10 and maintaining the original multipliers, but this would result in frequent subtraction, which is said to be more difficult and slower than addition. Hence the somewhat non-standard DC 0 is used here instead, to avoid subtraction of speed in virtually all circumstances.)
The feat, run, no longer shifts running speed from quadruple to quintuple of base speed, but rather adds a +10 bonus to running checks. Of course, it still provides the +4 bonus to jump checks made with a running start.
Medium Encumbrance and Medium Armor downgrade base speed through multipliers in exactly the same way as they do in normal 3.5E movement rules. Heavy Encumbrance imposes a -10 penalty in place of reducing the running speed multiplier to 3x base speed (which would be redundant). This replaces the movement penalties armors and encumberance would otherwise impose in 3.5E rules for the purposes of running.
Creatures can take 10 on their running checks. The great feature of this system is that taking 10 on running checks yields exactly the same results, as would be obtained by following the old 3.5E running rules, so these can be used when simplicity is desired. Chases, escapes from a collapsing tomb, and other situations where running speed makes all the difference, however, could be adjudicated using the running mechanics and thus be made more exciting than a deterministic system would be able to provide.
(Note: The rule changes I have implemented might seem slightly complicated, but the principle is very simple and every character could have a pre-calculated running bonus already written down on his character sheet, so during the game this works like a charm - it really does not slow it down at all - I can speak from experience having used it already.)
Apart from the dynamism that this brings to chases, another advantage of the system is that functions similarly to skill usage. This means that the DM can impose modifiers on the running check depending on external circumstances or actions of the character in question. For example, running sideways on a hillside, the DM could impose a -5 penalty to running checks on a failed balance check, or could allow the PC escaping a pursuer through a busy merchant alley to take a -2 penalty to the to bring down a stack of wares to slow down the pursuer... if the pursuer fails his jump check. The mechanic can therefore be as simple or as complicated as is needed for the situation and lends itself to cinematic chases, escapes, pursuits races and other scenes where running is important.
In any case, I would like to suggest this running mechanic for the Pathfinder RPG. It is a new mechanic does not really replace any older mechanic, since any running mechanics worthy of the name were essentially absent from D&D 3.5E, so I am not sure whether Paizo is looking for those kinds of suggestions, but I have had good experience with these rules in my D&D game, so here it is - if nothing else, maybe it will help other DMs who currently have to use ad-hoc rules for chases and running like I had to until I created this rule.
