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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NewJeffCT" data-source="post: 5571231" data-attributes="member: 10784">I just did that in a recent encounter for my players.  The campaign i'm running started with 3 quick encounters of a goblin raid on a small town.  As the players were just starting out and all first level, it was pretty challenging in the end, but milestones/action points were a big help in helping overcome the goblin raiders.  (And, at the end, when the town guard arrived, the goblins broke and ran...)But, just to show them how far they had progressed (they're level 6 now), I put those 3 encounters into one big goblin encounter (level 5 encounter overall, I think) and had the goblins waylay them on the way back from a big showdown.  This time, the PCs took out the goblin leader and a few other key goblins by the time the first round was over. Then, when the goblins went, a good portion of them broke & ran.  The players won and barely broke a sweat... without a strong leader, the goblins ran.  And, I always award full XP for the encounter if the players "win", even if 2/3 of the goblins ran away in terror, or if they had intimidated the goblins into leaving the lands or whatever.  It isn't just based on the number of kills.I have always used morale as a DM.   However, as a campaign gets past its mid-point, the bad guys are less likely to run as they were early in a campaign or be forced into surrender.  The bad guys are fighting for something/somebody (the BBEG or some other tyrannical master or mistress) that they hopefully believe in and will fight to the death for it/him/her.  After all, if the BBEG is powerful enough, the fanatics might think if they fight valiantly enough, they could be brought back via Raise Dead/Resurrection by said BBEG.  In my last campaign, the PCs ended up attacking the BBEG in the heart of his evil theocracy - I told them ahead of time (though, they probably already knew it) that since they were in the high temple of this evil deity, the world capital of this religion, they should expect every bad guy there to be so fanatical that they'll fight to the death without question.(On a side not, just remembered that I did have a level 18 lich archmage leave a combat for a round via a Quickened dimension door (or maybe a contingent one?) so it could heal up in safety, then return to combat the following round knowing that the PCs would also heal up, too...)I do like the idea of forcing a bloodied foe to surrender - however, I would also add in the monster level to the DC for 4E as well as the +10 for it being a hostile encounter.  I don't think it should be easy to force surrender as you get up higher in level.</blockquote>

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