Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 MacEochaid Feb 19, 2015 15:12:38	Has anyone used the chase rules? What were your experiences?    I'm particularly interested how far should the starting distance be for it to be a properly dramatic scene. I was running the pre-gens through an orc chase and found it very swingy. They either caught up with the Orc in one round, or the Orc succeeded in hiding in the first round. Once it ran for a long time and was quite fun, but only once of my runs, mostly it was a change of pace for a single turn.   Any hints or ideas for making chases fun and memorable?
#2 transcendantviewer Feb 19, 2015 21:39:03	If the chasee is slightly slower than their chasers, I recommend making them a wizard and having them specialize in Conjuration for free teleportations to get an extra distance boost. Rogues make quite slippery chasees and Monks are really, really, really fast.
#3 Archon007 Feb 20, 2015 10:50:00	The absolute first thing you need to figure out about a chase is what does success look like and what does failure look like. Without that you can't frame a good scene. If failure is he gets away it would be framed different from he is caught but the characters suffer a set back.    If the bad guy gets away does that stall the adventure? If he gets caught what do the players get?
#4 Cooperjera Feb 20, 2015 10:53:56	I've run two chase scenes.  The first one was of an orc warboss who decided to leave while the leaving was good.  He had about 120 feet head start before the PCs started pursuit.  In this encounter the warboss saw things going bad and decided to leave about two or three rounds before his last orc minion died.  The warboss drank a potion of flight and started moving at 120 feet per turn horizontal.  He did not increase his altitude.  Two of the PCs took chase on one paladin mount.  While the paladin maneuvered the mount the other PC shot arrows.  The warboss went to 0 HP mid flight.  I ruled the rough landing killed him.    The second chase scene involved a druid who drank a potion of invisibility and started running.  She moved 30 ft.  On the second turn she shifted into a Giant Eagle and took flight while invisible.  If I recall correctly the druid moved 30ft vertically and 40ft horizontally on turn 2.  One PC had the spell See Invisible.  She cast that and took chase.  The third round she cast web which I ruled would at minimum stick to the druid while in flight, but would collapse at the start of the next round because it doesn't have anything to be mounted to.  While the web was still active, in the round it was cast, the monk moved some 40ft horizontally and leaped 30ft vertically.  I use a little Pythagorean thorium to get the hypotenuse and verify the distance was within the monks movement for the turn.  The monk used their attack action and succeeded on a grapple.  The speed of the druid dropped to zero and the two went toward the ground.  The monk is level 6 and took no damage from falling.   In both chase scenes we wrote down the distance between each character from the lead runner.  We updated those values each turn.  There was no need to move figs on a map.  The players were most satisfied with capturing the druid.   One of the key elements to stopping a chase scene is a grapple.  The runner can escape a grapple with Misty Step.  Additional spells to consider for increased speed are Haste and Expeditious Retreat.  Both Haste and Expeditious Retreat are concentration, but after the haste runs out, Expeditious Retreat is a good replacement and concentration for 10 min will allow a creature to move a long way.  Flight is something that increases the fun in a chase scene.  Obstacles are also a fun element I haven't used, but seen on TV.  From the TV show Burn Notice, it's recommended to go somewhere where your chasers are not willing or cannot go to loose your tail.  In D&D this could mean: 1) the runner goes down a trapped hallway and triggers a bunch of blade traps, 2) The runner runs through a cave with an Owlbear that is awake, 3) The runner jumps over the edge of a cliff (into water?), 4) The runner dives into the mouth of a creature with the Swallow ability, etc.