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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Laurefindel" data-source="post: 8864107" data-attributes="member: 67296">Morale rules or not, part of the issue of dragging combats to the end is that retreat is often more foolhardy than fighting back.Bad guy wants to flee: disengage, move 30ft.PC; move 30ft next to bad guy, attack.Bad guy: disengage, move 30ft.PC: move 30ft, attack…There’s no way out. You’ll eventually get killed without doing any damage to your attacker. Let’s try running faster.Bad guy: move 30ft, dash for an extra 30ft. Provoke attack of opportunity from PC when leaving.PC: move 30ft, dash for an extra 30ft next to bad guy. PC is out of move/action.Bad guy: move 30ft, dash for an extra 30ft, provoke attack of opportunity from PC…Rince and repeat. Again, no way out. And that’s not counting ranged attacks.One solution would be to put lots of baddies, but by the time it’s clear they’ll lose, there usually a lot less of them. If PCs want to flee, it means one (or two) will be pursued and killed and players get mad at other players. Better TPK and be mad at DM.Another solution is to remove anyone who declares retreat out of combat right away. If you want to pursue, get out of combat too and initiate a chase. That usually gets luke-warm reactions at best.Yet another solution is a gentlemen agreement to let bad guys escape when they turn tails. In my experience that rarely works because PCs are paranoid (often for good reasons mind you) and expect the bad guy to come back or send reinforcements, so the pragmatic solution is to make sure no one escape.</blockquote>

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