Retreat! - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 iserith Jun 09, 2015 6:12:17	I thought this article I read today had some neat ideas for how to deal with the times the party decides to retreat. In my experience, the players almost never retreat and, when they do, it's almost always too late. If these rules or rules like them stand at the table, it might be a viable tactic the players to use on a regular basis. It also has the benefit of making it a way of spotlighting each of the characters in a critical moment which makes for good roleplaying. Here is the article. And here is an excerpt showing the basics of the house rules: Brave retreat: Gain Inspiration or grant it to someone you protect. Take [level] damage. Inspired retreat: Spend Inspiration. Narrate how you find a cunning or skillful way to escape. Feel free to narrate helping others, too. Assisted retreat: Narrate how another character helped you escape when you badly needed it. You have to get the other character's player to agree with your description of how they helped you. If that player agrees, that player's character gains Inspiration. Tough retreat: Spend Inspiration. Gain 1 hit point as if you had rolled a natural 20 on a Death Saving Throw. Narrate how you escape despite your grievous wounds. Desperate retreat: Gain 1 hit point as if you had rolled a natural 20 on a Death Saving Throw. A character who helps you escape takes [level] damage.
#2 Reinhart Jun 09, 2015 7:07:34	Thanks for sharing. I had fun helping out with this one.
#3 bawylie Jun 09, 2015 8:36:39	Running kids group through Princes of the Apocalypse. The kids got themselves in trouble at Feathergale Spire and ended up taking on the whole tower full of baddies at the top of the tower. Oops. Now they had made a good go of it for two rounds, but it became clear there was no way they'd win. The Wizard had Spider Climb on the barbarian. The barbarian picked up the wizard and an unconscious fighter and ran down the side of the tower, while the Druid turned into a sparrow and flew away. Heres the thing though. The Question was whether or not they would be killed by the Knights of the spire. They tried to answer with violence, and that failed. When it failed, they decided to run. And they changed the Question from "will the PCs be executed" to "Can the PCs escape?" When the question changed, so did the "encounter." Combat is over, so we drop initiative, and resolve actions like we do for anything else. They ended combat when they decided not to fight anymore, so there's no reason to stay on initiative. "Combat" (formal) is over once one side or the other or both decide not to fight anymore. There might still be attacks, and damage and whatever, but those are consequences and hazards of other actions; not artifacts of round-by-round combat system. Anyway, that's how I do it. The kids stole hippogryphs and flew off to Red Larch, pursued by baddies on foot (since they'd stolen their mounts). Clever bastards.
#4 Synjin Jun 09, 2015 9:09:32	bawylie wrote:
#5 Arithezoo Jun 10, 2015 6:26:39	There was actually an Unearthed Arcana article written by Richard Baker in Dragon 396 titled "Fight or Flight" that talked about this exact issue. It layed out options for doing exactly what Bawylie and Synjin say they do: as soon as one side wants combat to be over (for whatever reason), there is no reason to continue using the rules for combat. In short, at the end of each combat round (so everyone has had a turn), either side (or both) could attempt to flee, parlay, surrender, etc. The combat rules (in particular, initiative order) work pretty well for simulating a simultaneous melee in an orderly and manageable way, but they fall short in places. When that happens, simply stop using them. Rules are in place to make the game run smoothly. If a particular rule isn't helping in a certain situation, don't use it.
#6 guachi Jun 10, 2015 19:59:01	I really like the article. A lot. It's the kind of thing I would have enjoyed reading in my old print editions of Dragon.
#7 ChrisCarlson Jun 11, 2015 7:47:47	guachi wrote:
#8 Reinhart Jun 11, 2015 8:56:49	Thanks guys. The blog gets updated weekly, although the mechanics that Jon and I collaborate on are generally more system agnostic. We just made this one specifically for 5e because it's a common issue for a game that's likely to attract many new Game Masters. In the following weeks we'll be tackling mechanics the aforementioned "evasion" scenes for when the players are either hunting or being hunted.
#9 PandaMaster619 Aug 15, 2015 12:24:49	Wow what a great article! I'll probably make some adjustments of my own based on this but this is a great idea for PC's trying to retreat.
#10 Rastapopoulos Aug 16, 2015 20:31:16	iserith wrote:
#11 MechaPilot Aug 16, 2015 20:46:19	I deal with running away as if it were a simple skill challenge. The runners and the pursuers both roll 1d20 and add +1 for every 10 feet of movement speed they have. This usually means 1d20+3 for most PC groups; monsters usually range from 1d20+3 to 1d20+5 depending on their speed. Whoever reaches three successes first wins. In previous editions I would grant bonuses for certain things: for instance, if a party was fleeing through a town and the pursuers were thieves who knew the back alleys and shortcuts quite well, I would give the pursuers a bonus. Or, if the PCs were able to create a minor obstacle (such as spilling over a kiosk behind them) they would get a bonus. In 5e I'll replace those bonuses with advantage on the d20 roll.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

iserith

Jun 09, 2015 6:12:17

I thought this article I read today had some neat ideas for how to deal with the times the party decides to retreat. In my experience, the players almost never retreat and, when they do, it's almost always too late. If these rules or rules like them stand at the table, it might be a viable tactic the players to use on a regular basis. It also has the benefit of making it a way of spotlighting each of the characters in a critical moment which makes for good roleplaying.

Here is the article.

And here is an excerpt showing the basics of the house rules:

Brave retreat: Gain Inspiration or grant it to someone you protect. Take [level] damage.

Inspired retreat: Spend Inspiration. Narrate how you find a cunning or skillful way to escape. Feel free to narrate helping others, too.

Assisted retreat: Narrate how another character helped you escape when you badly needed it. You have to get the other character's player to agree with your description of how they helped you. If that player agrees, that player's character gains Inspiration.

Tough retreat: Spend Inspiration. Gain 1 hit point as if you had rolled a natural 20 on a Death Saving Throw. Narrate how you escape despite your grievous wounds.

Desperate retreat: Gain 1 hit point as if you had rolled a natural 20 on a Death Saving Throw. A character who helps you escape takes [level] damage.

Reinhart

Jun 09, 2015 7:07:34

Thanks for sharing. I had fun helping out with this one.

bawylie

Jun 09, 2015 8:36:39

Running kids group through Princes of the Apocalypse.

The kids got themselves in trouble at Feathergale Spire and ended up taking on the whole tower full of baddies at the top of the tower.

Oops.

Now they had made a good go of it for two rounds, but it became clear there was no way they'd win. The Wizard had Spider Climb on the barbarian. The barbarian picked up the wizard and an unconscious fighter and ran down the side of the tower, while the Druid turned into a sparrow and flew away.

Heres the thing though. The Question was whether or not they would be killed by the Knights of the spire. They tried to answer with violence, and that failed. When it failed, they decided to run. And they changed the Question from "will the PCs be executed" to "Can the PCs escape?"

When the question changed, so did the "encounter." Combat is over, so we drop initiative, and resolve actions like we do for anything else. They ended combat when they decided not to fight anymore, so there's no reason to stay on initiative.

"Combat" (formal) is over once one side or the other or both decide not to fight anymore. There might still be attacks, and damage and whatever, but those are consequences and hazards of other actions; not artifacts of round-by-round combat system.

Anyway, that's how I do it. The kids stole hippogryphs and flew off to Red Larch, pursued by baddies on foot (since they'd stolen their mounts). Clever bastards.

Synjin

Jun 09, 2015 9:09:32

bawylie wrote:

Arithezoo

Jun 10, 2015 6:26:39

There was actually an Unearthed Arcana article written by Richard Baker in Dragon 396 titled "Fight or Flight" that talked about this exact issue. It layed out options for doing exactly what Bawylie and Synjin say they do: as soon as one side wants combat to be over (for whatever reason), there is no reason to continue using the rules for combat.

In short, at the end of each combat round (so everyone has had a turn), either side (or both) could attempt to flee, parlay, surrender, etc.

The combat rules (in particular, initiative order) work pretty well for simulating a simultaneous melee in an orderly and manageable way, but they fall short in places. When that happens, simply stop using them. Rules are in place to make the game run smoothly. If a particular rule isn't helping in a certain situation, don't use it.

guachi

Jun 10, 2015 19:59:01

I really like the article. A lot. It's the kind of thing I would have enjoyed reading in my old print editions of Dragon.

ChrisCarlson

Jun 11, 2015 7:47:47

guachi wrote:

Reinhart

Jun 11, 2015 8:56:49

Thanks guys. The blog gets updated weekly, although the mechanics that Jon and I collaborate on are generally more system agnostic. We just made this one specifically for 5e because it's a common issue for a game that's likely to attract many new Game Masters.

In the following weeks we'll be tackling mechanics the aforementioned "evasion" scenes for when the players are either hunting or being hunted.

PandaMaster619

Aug 15, 2015 12:24:49

Wow what a great article!

I'll probably make some adjustments of my own based on this but this is a great idea for PC's trying to retreat.

#10

Rastapopoulos

Aug 16, 2015 20:31:16

iserith wrote:

#11

MechaPilot

Aug 16, 2015 20:46:19

I deal with running away as if it were a simple skill challenge.

The runners and the pursuers both roll 1d20 and add +1 for every 10 feet of movement speed they have. This usually means 1d20+3 for most PC groups; monsters usually range from 1d20+3 to 1d20+5 depending on their speed. Whoever reaches three successes first wins.

In previous editions I would grant bonuses for certain things: for instance, if a party was fleeing through a town and the pursuers were thieves who knew the back alleys and shortcuts quite well, I would give the pursuers a bonus. Or, if the PCs were able to create a minor obstacle (such as spilling over a kiosk behind them) they would get a bonus. In 5e I'll replace those bonuses with advantage on the d20 roll.