Side Effect: No more running away?

[sidonunspa]

Run away?

I have one one word...

Caltrops

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Chase rules are the #1 most needed missing rule in D&D imo. Not sure if they should be cinematic or not.

They should be as exciting as regular combat, so they should probably feel cinematic, too.

 

[Miar]

I am going to take this opportunity to pimp my rough, unpolished, 100% unplaytested chase rules. I hope to have the opportunity to try them out soon!

-Will

There are also chase rules in Five Fingers (Privateer Press)

 

[Hussar]

If they don't have fast movement and your party does, they're borked. Unless they have a 60ft headstart.


That costs a standard action. They're better off doing a full-on run.

Not entirely. A quick and dirty DM ruling can say that a few knocked over crates constitutes difficult terrain. That way you cannot run or charge. Combined with something like a jump move over a ditch or something like that, and you can buy yourself a decent head start.

 

[Aenghus]

Retreat has always been problematic. IMO the DM should be relatively lenient when the party chooses to retreat, so as not to condition the players into bad play habits. Teach them that retreat is never possible, or make fun of them for retreating, and they will fight to the death. In games with ongoing story lines, that value character continuity, this is bad.

At higher levels teleport is the retreat spell of choice, at least in places where it works.

 

[Marshall]

My experience with 3E is that it's already almost impossible to flee from a battle without using some sort of magic.

True

Even if you and your enemy have the same speed, your only options are to withdraw, in which case he just charges you in the next round (or double moves if he can't charge), or to run, in which case you eat an AoO and he can just run right up next to you next round anyway.

Which is dumb on the pursuers part. You just gave the guy u r chasing a full round to smack you while u r denied your DEX bonus. You'd better hope the guy youre chasing isnt a mid level rogue.

Tactical retreat can work, but outright fleeing really isn't an option in 3E IME.

Not really, no. Tactical Retreat is, at best, a form of mobile fighting. If the bad guys want to pursue you, youre still not going to get away.

 

[Stalker0]

What I would like to see are movement stunts related to status effects or the condition track if they decide to go that route.

Example:

Sprint: You can increase your base speed by 10 feet for 1 round. After the round, roll a constitution check (DC 15), if you fail, you are fatigued for the rest of the encounter.

Something to that effect to make chases more interesting.