D&D 5E "Surrender or Die" Roared the Barbarian - Making the Opponents Surrender

I just try to put myself in my monster/NPC's point of view and ask myself what makes sense for them.

They constantly try to run away, surrender, bargain, or bluff their way out. Very few, aside from mindless minions like zombies or something, will fight to the death unless there are no other options or they are absolutely enraged or something. Oh, and extra-planar entities don't generally care about "dying" too much.

But your typical beast just wanted an easy meal. Your typical bandit just wanted some loot. Even your typical BBEG doesn't want to die. So I don't like the idea of moral score or whatever. I'd rather just role-play it, though I will sometimes roll if I figure the creature could react either way.
 

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1st off, we need again define what are HPs.

are you wounded at 50% HP or 25% HP or you are just bruised and maybe little tired from the battle?

or the real wound is when you fall to 0 HP?

what about adrenaline? do you know that you are really stabbed that badly, or you will realize that after few minutes when the battle is over?


2nd, how are you going to be treated if you surrender?
maybe death could be better option than capture?

maybe surrender would be good option for a battle against "officials" or whatever fall under "police" or military in that specific setting or that may make it even less of an option?

maybe that respective military has "no quarter" philosophy and you do not know about it.

maybe the best check would be in mass battle and you see how many of your side has fallen and how many of the enemy?


3rd, you as a party takes prisoners;

what will you do with them

interrogate them, but withing "good taste"?

get info any way possible, because it needs to be done?

what after?

let them go? they might return to battle you again.

keep them in captivity? drain on your resources and logistics?

execute them? that's a bit evil. might be better if that was done while "in initiative"


handling of prisoners is maybe too dark of a theme for a regular campaign.

I would rather have players get info from spies/defectors than from prisoners.
 

Once a sentient opponent is reduced to half hit points (bloodied) or less, you can take an action using Deception, Persuasion or Intimidation (the DM determines which, based on your approach) to attempt to force your opponent to drop out of the combat.
I like this and use something similar myself, but I don't like the specifically defined equations for what the DC will be. I'd rather determine the DC on the fly based on how likely you think the NPC would be to surrender.

This lets you adjust the DC based on how likely the NPC would be to be some combination of cowardly / logical / motivated by survival, etc. Plus as the DM you can generally see how the fight is going and who is going to win and adjust the DC accordingly.
 


1st off, we need again define what are HPs.

are you wounded at 50% HP or 25% HP or you are just bruised and maybe little tired from the battle?

or the real wound is when you fall to 0 HP?

what about adrenaline? do you know that you are really stabbed that badly, or you will realize that after few minutes when the battle is over?
Unless some class or monster feature says otherwise, I think the rules in 5E are pretty clear when a PC becomes unconscious, dies from massive damage, regains consciousness and what they can do at 0-1 hp's. Monsters, & NPC usually die once they reach 0 hp unless the DM deems otherwise. AFAIK the new MM is reintroducing the bloodied condition and that grants certain benefits and penalties depending on the creature and situation. So personally, I'd just use these.
what about adrenaline? do you know that you are really stabbed that badly, or you will realize that after few minutes when the battle is over?
I've played with DMs who would keep track of players and DM controlled beings HPs, so in those cases players had no idea how much damage they or other creatures took only being told that they've been wounded in an abstract way eluding to the severity of the hit, unless it's obvious like a squirting jugular or an arrow to the eye. So, it is quite possible for someone to keep fighting until they drop, or the battle is won.
2nd, how are you going to be treated if you surrender?
handling of prisoners is maybe too dark of a theme for a regular campaign.
In most cases IME with 5E combat usually doesn't last long enough for surrender. Taking prisoners is just too much of a hassle, and my players usually just kill them after they've interrogated them. They usually don't want to be bothered with them draining their resources, delivering them to authorities or redeeming them, so this only happens every once in a while. Otherwise by 3rd level if every combat ended in surrender and detaining the party returning back to civilization would look like Hands Across America. So, I try and create outcomes from a failed morale check other than surrender.
 

i mean...
That's a one-time special case where what the image suggested worked. Which is exactly the kind of thing that comes from a DM Fiat decision that based upon everything that has happened in the game/fight up to this point... the DM narratively decides to have the antagonist surrender to the 1-HP character.

But when you put mechanics and rules into the game to simulate this situation... all of a sudden you now have the players using it as nothing more than another tool in their combat toolbox-- creating PC builds and formulating strategies-- all to cheese this new rules scenario and "win" more fights. The situation no longer is a unique event in the life of a campaign that will be emphasized and remembered, it's just another combat action done over and over and over and over and over again to get the PCs to win their fights as quickly and as easily as possible. It's no longer a special event. It's just another "spell" that ends a fight.
 

I run 5e morale with DM fiat first. If the mosters are clearly outclassed and getting slaughtered they will flee. But if it's not clear and obvious I let the dice decide.

I also spring large hordes of cowardly creatures on them. Sure thier are 20 goblins but they are going to scatter as soon as the first few go down.

Letting your players no up front you are using morale, and giving them in world lore via starting rumors about monster morale is fun world building.

"Stay together, The Grey Hills are full of goblins, cowardly creatures who won't attack large groups but if you get separated a dozen of those buggers were pounce on you"

"The Marrow Drinker Orc Tribe view death in battle as the highest honor, they will never surrender and never flee a fight"
 

Fights to the death. Enemies who never give up until they they're out of hit points.

Sometimes, it's a bit annoying . . .
. . . for the PCs. Funny that 5e doesn't seem to have a Flee action for the DM to use. I wonder why.

I think using Morale checks is a simpler method. If you don't like the swinginess of the d20, replace it with a 2d10 roll instead (as was done in 2E). Social skills can be used to force a Morale check as an action.
Doesn't this just reduce the odds of a Flee result, sort of like giving a bonus to the save vs. panic on a d20? I mean, someone could insist that the bonus should have a bell-curve adjustment.

Beasts will flee after even slight injury unless protecting young or clearly superior.
Amen. To the pain is real! But Westley had a different version than beasts do.
 


That's a one-time special case where what the image suggested worked.
and as we all know, PCs try to be the one-time special case every single session:)


I will say, I do like the old school morale rules, they are very simple and yet effective. However, my take on this one is that the OP isn't just looking for a "when do the monsters run" system, they want something where the players can generate that through like an intimidate action....and that's the real discussion.

But yeah if your looking for pure morale, I think the old 2e system pretty much nailed it.
 

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