Say you've got two characters of equal speed. One is attacking and the other wants to go away. I see the permutations as thus:
- Escapee uses Disengage to move 30, attacker moves 30 and attacks
- Escapee eats an OA and dashes 60, attacker dashes 60 basing the escapee again go an OA the next round
How does someone actually flee battle? It seems all the advantage goes to the aggressor.
I do believe there are chase rules somewhere, but I can't seem to find them atm. Maybe im thinking of a different system. Anyway, off the top of my head, the character could use his free action to try and slow down the agressor, knockng objects into the path, etc...
In combat time this is tricky, but you're working in a party, which can make a big difference.
Outside combat time, I wouldn't work this out using conventional movement rates. I'd probably work on opposed Dex checks.
The key is to have the DM realize that the combat rules (and speed rules in general) are not at all suited to model chase scenes, and act accordingly - whether the D&D rulebook has rules for the siutation or not (which some editions do, but I am unsure as to whether 5th edition currently does or will have in the DMG).
I seem to remember that Pathfinder have good rules for chasing.
Edit: Couldn't find what I remembered. Basically, the idea was to pepper the chase with challenges or opportunities, that both the hunted and the pursuer had to overcome. For example: you have to make a leap, the better success gets ahead; the hunted makes a Dex or Wis check to topple crates in passing, and the hunter makes an athletics check to keep up. You predetermine how many challenges must be won, or by how much, in order to get away or catch up.
Regin_Vargtass wrote:
I think the OP might have been thinking more specificially about doing this *in combat*. In which case the answer is simply that it is, in fact, genuinely dangerous, to just turn tail and run from a determined attacker who is already in melee range.
If you want to run away from somebody, do it *before* they get close enough to swing an axe at your head.
Thoughts_My_Aim wrote:
Remember that both the chaser and the chasee are free to interact with their environment as well, including during combat time. If you can open a door while moving, you can probably knock an end table over as well, maybe into your chaser's path.
Opposed check wouldn't be terrible either. I'd probably let each person choose Dex (dodging to escape or maneuvering to capture) or Str (running like heck).
I am not sure it's fully legal, but what if ...
... Assuming you have the initiative:
1. Ready an action - when you are attacked, dash (or move) away.
2. Next turn, on your initiative, dash as far as you can.
The aggressor will be one move behind from triggering your readied action with an attack,
I think we need to examine te interaction between rules, rulings, and intent.
We have say 2 combatants taking turns fighting. One decides to run. Effectively, they've decided they are no longer willing to fight and now want to escape. The other combatant decides to pursue: they are unwilling to give up but depending on the distance between the two combatants, the second combatant may be unable to attack the first.
In this case, combat is over. We need to get off initiative and treat this as a new encounter. Pose an open question: "Can [A] escape before [B] runs him down?" Or "Can [B] catch [A] before [A] escapes entirely?"
We then think about what escape looks like or what a catch looks like and any other obstacles, hazards, or situations that might influence the outcome. Hiding spots, search parties, stuff like that.
The encounter ends when B catches A, when B gives up searching for A, or when A has put enough distance between themselves and B (such that B's actions/hunting is no longer an immediate concern).
Id have some extended ability check contest. Whomever won 3 times would be the victor. And each "round" would introduce a new complication (maybe taken from the chase deck), or scenario.
But anyway, once you get it into its own encounter with its own Open Question, you're halfway to getting it done.
If you are going to flee you disengage (action) which allows you to travel upto your move speed without an AoO and then move. The attack will have to use dash to keep pace with you, but so long as you disengage, he can't attack. Eventually you'll be able to put some barrier such as a door between you and the attack or put another person between you and him.... Hopefully, the citygaurd who will arrest the attacker for assult and battery. 
Hmmm 
... Just noticed they reworded disengage from the play test.
If my players stated that their intention was to disengage from their enemies and flee the battle, I would step outside of combat rules at that point and use some other criteria to determine if they are able to get away. You could always do the 13th Age thing too where you let them get away but they suffer some failure.
I highly recommend this article for dealing with this sort of situation - http://angrydm.com/2014/08/three-shocking-things-you-wont-believe-about-dd-combat/
Hi. Wandered in after a friend (SirK8) mentioned this thread. Look, the combat rules do not handle any sort of escape attempt well at all. It doesn't matter whether it is fleeing or a fighting withdrawal, the structure of combat and the rules about character speeds, trip up the party trying to flee. My advice is, once the party agrees to retreat from the fight, you need to drop the combat layer off the game and work more narratively. Poll each member of the party, ask what they are doing to accomplish a rout or fighting withdrawal or whatever, and adjudicate the actions - then let the baddies respond.
Thing is, retreat can only work if the baddies are unwilling or unable to chase. So, as the DM, you have to decide up front how it is possible for the party to escape in the first place. Will the baddies let them go?
Then, you've got to drop the speed rules a little bit. See, everyone has a fixed speed that is a multiple of 5' or 10', which means there are no speed differences to take into consideration. All orcs and all people (of similar encumbrance) move at exactly the same speed. In real life, speed varies and the ability to sustain a speed varies. And minor speed differences can make all the difference. As a DM, you've got to wing it there.
If the foes are simply faster and unrelenting and won't give up, escape probably isn't really possible. At which point, the party might have one member hold off the baddies while the others run. Or the party might scatter in many different directions. Terrain might be a factor. If the party scatters in several directions in the woods, even faster foes might be confounded as they decide who to pursue and have to contend with the terrain. The person in the lead, in that case, has the advantage of being in the lead and being able to use the terrain evasively.
Ultimately, though, the party will probably have to have some plan or some set of actions that let them escape other than just running all out. How do you handle that? You handle it the same way you handle every other noncombat scene. You ask the players what they do, you decide how to resolve the outcome, you resolve it, and then you describe the new situation.
But for the love of the gods, do not try to handle evasion and pursuit in the combat structure. It wasn't made to handle that. It won't work.
The only way for it to work other than ending the combat and doing skill checks is with magic.
Longstrider increases speed by 10ft
Expiditious retreat allows you to dash as a bonus action (so you can disengage, move and dash)
But honestly at this point you've got fog clouds and darkness(create concealment to lose them) hold person type of spells (slow or delay the enemy)
And actually, rogues can disengage or dash as a bonus, fighters could action surge, so there are ways but without rogue it really takes daily resources.
Exception is monk, who just runs, no one can catch a high-level monk if they decide to run (60-65 ft on a single move, and they can dash as a bonus)
Brodomir_Rumblegut wrote:
SirK8 wrote:
Or you could derive Speed from a character's physical stats, either a combination of Dexterity + Strength, or something else that feels appropriate and not so arbitrary as a base of 30ft.
Somewhere I once read something from Monte Cook where he said it was so rare for players to flee combat that he just automatically let them succeed. He wanted to reinforce the idea that not every encounter had to be a standup fight. Or that every fight would be fair. I think it's a sound approach and it's the approach I would recommend.
On the rare occasion that characters do want to flee a combat in my games, I also let it succeed automatically if everyone's on board with the idea, but the party is going to suffer some sort of appropriate plot or campaign setback as a "penalty", and I encourage the players to decide as a group what form that setback takes. They're really good as coming up with appropriate challenges for themselves that up the ante in a fun way.
That having been said, it's only happened twice IIRC in my current 4e group in the last couple of years.
Noon wrote:
cyberpunk wrote:
Thanks for all the responses! A tip of my hat to TheAngryDM stopping by.
I've been mulling this over, and what I want out of a solution is something minimalistic in approach and doesn't disrupt other game mechanics mostly because I like how well 5th's rules work together. I was thinking about an opposed athletics check, but one of my players pitched a new 'Flee' action to sit right along side Dash, Disengage, etc. I think I"ll go with that.
It's far from perfect. Yes, I offered to simply do away with rules and narrate fleeing from a fight. I'll probably still use opposed athletics checks on pure chase scenarios.
Thanks everyone!
Opposed checks is what was used in 3.0/3.5 with Dexterity or Strength (representing sprinting/bursts of speed) serving for fleeing short distances and Constitution checks (representing endurance) used for fleeing over longer distances.
I think the premise behind using the checks is while most PCs, NPCs, and creatures have similar base speeds, some would be a little slower and some would be a little faster. Hence, the checks representing that small difference allowing a PC/NPC/Monster to escape or to catch up.
What I would go with, uaing the skills with different abilities variant (PHB pg. 175) would be, short distances (100-600 meters) opposed Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Athletics) checks. For longer distances (600 meters out to a couple of kilometers/miles), opposed Constitution (Athletics) checks. Very long distances (2 miles or more) would also be Constitution (Athletics), but would be checks performed like each hour to see if PCs are putting any distance between them and their pursuers or if they're gaining any ground on those they're chasing. This would be in addition to or in lieu of any magical means used to escape or catch up. You can also grant Advantage/Disadvantage based on terrain, time of night, or PC/NPC/Monster actions like throwing obstacles in the way, using terrain and features, etc.
Then basically you can say, okay this is a short distance, so the PCs require 3-5 successful checks to escape of catch up, or 3-5 failed checks to be caught or lose their target. On long distances this goes to 5-8 successes or failures. You allow players to roll dice, it adds a bit of suspense to the proceedings, and it differentiates between short and long distances fled.
And, of course there's always DM caveat, "You escape." Or, "You're caught." Personally, I like to make players feel as though they have a say in their own fate. That what THEY do affects the outcome. So, tell me what you want to do, and roll some dice.
I think 13th Age has a pretty good rule for "whole party retreat", but I forget the details now.
As others have posted, i like the idea of cutting to a chase scene. If the whole party decides to flee, then the enemies get an OA and then it's a chase, to be determined via DM judgment call - maybe some con/athletics checks, and a stealth check, or some fast talking or god knows what. But it definitely doesnt degenerate into a bunch of dash, OA, dash, OA until someone locks a door behind them.
How it plays out depends a lot on the opponant, of course. High speed or mounted enemies have no reason to give up a chase; and undeads and constructs (and outsiders/abberations I'd guess) might just be willing to follow you for the days/weeks it takes for you to get exahsted. Other foes, though, would stop eventually (fearing an ambush on your end, or just not being worth the effort) in the same way a group of PCs might not bother to chase the fleeing goblin after a few rounds.