Them Bones of Adventure - XI: Solid Fear and Liquid Courage

Continuing my exposition on table procedures for common exploration feats & rules, which began here with part one.

Introduction

I don’t buy the rationale of the fearless adventurer.

A surefire way to depersonalize a character and effect the reverse alchemy of flesh to cardboard is not giving a man anything to fear. This is sometimes handled through roleplay and at others through some shade of background, but it’s never really supposed to be a hurdle, just a dash of colour within the edges.

Fear is the Mind Killer

The inclusion of the following considerations can fundamentally alter the tone of a game so I’ll have to give that some serious mind-chewing.

The aim’s to add some psychology at a low overhead cost. Adventurers are presumed to lead interesting lives and be adequately world-weary, not needing to test their courage at the sight of any old harlot’s dentata, but they’re also expected to be nibbling and pushing at the borders of The Known, meaning encounters with the wondrous, the incredible, the fantastic, the deadly and the weird, often all rolled up into one. This will also mean some degree of DM adjudication and intrusion, as a mechanic structure cannot  hope to remain simple and at the same time cover all the nuanced instances of when a character should or shouldn’t have to prove his mettle. It’s not a clean or entirely neutral structure, is where I’m ultimately getting at.

As a golden rule, mundane fear should be modelled without infringing on a player’s freewill, rather allowing the character action albeit at reduced efficiency. This means changing the Frightened condition, which if it is to feature more often should have an accordingly mitigated impact.

The Crunchy Bits

What is tested?

In the books Wisdom is described as governing Fear, whereas Charisma counts for Willpower.

I get that one may fear what one doesn’t understand, but courage is not really about understanding danger, rather one can be foolhardy or blatantly courageous in the face of situations when how much in danger one is eludes one’s perception utterly, sometimes for the better.

Anyway, even in game balance terms, Wisdom is already well endowed, so I’m moving Courage to Charisma, as it is both an expression of willpower and also one of the most charismatic traits you can hope to find on a person.

When to test?

This is a tricky one. This mechanic should be used sparingly, tests being called only infrequently and for situations that truly fall outside the hard-boiled normality of an adventurer’s life, as a way to starkly underline the exception that the character is being faced with. It also follows that the more experienced a character becomes, the less is left of the world to leave him dumbstruck.

I’m making a swing for Challenge Rating as a semi-objective numeric signifier, but outnumbering and quite a dizzying number of other circumstances – control of the environment, fallen comrades, foe’s observed performance in a fight, the character’s own past performance and trauma or how unnatural the opposition is – can all conspire to precipitate or immunize a character from testing.

- When asked to test his mettle, a character must pass a [Charisma Save, DC (10 or creature’s CR, whichever is higher)] for being presented with a significant threat to life and limb from a creature with CR higher than the character’s level or from a group of lower CR foes that outnumbers the party’s highest level by at least 2:1 (a typical level one party is considered outnumbered by sixteen or more 1/8 CR creatures, etc).

- Disadvantage on the above check happens if the creature is of Large or even bigger size, or, if a group, it outnumbers the party by more than 3:1.

- Advantage wil come from special abilities, since natural motives for granting Advantage will likely mean the character simply doesn’t need to roll altogether.

- On a failure, the character becomes afflicted with the Frightened condition.

Gone with a whimper: Frightened condition

- A Frightened creature has Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of its fear is within line of sight.

- Movement by the creature that brings it closer to the source of its fear counts as being made over difficult terrain.

- This condition is ended once a [Charisma Save, DC (10 or the source of fear’s CR, whichever is higher)] is passed.

- Multiple sources of fear are all resolved by a single saving throw, made against the highest present DC.

The first part remains equal, the second and onward is where the subtle shift happens. I get that the PHB’s condition is meant to emulate magical sources of fear whereas I’m more interested in the mundane effect.

Retainer and NPC Morale

Of wider reach than just determining if a character is affected by a debilitating condition, NPCs are to have a morale stat, which will determine surrender, avoidance and fleeing, unlike the above test.

Exclusive for redshirt retainers and other NPCs lacking player agency, I’m simply coopting the classic Warhammer leadership system of 2d6 morale, put to excellent use by Alexis Smolensk in his campaign, where it gave some additional feeling of retainers having their own decision centres, as they rolled not just for life-or-death decisions but rather when faced with any sort of activity that implied danger and defied their comfort zone, including something so simple as deciding if the retainer descended underground in the first place and if they forged ahead through hardship or folded back to civilization when presented with the chance.

- When faced with danger and threatening uncertainty, an NPC rolls 2d6 and compares the result to its Morale score; if the result exceeds it, the NPC takes measures to avert or remove himself from the source of distress.

In a nutshell: the test is of the roll-equal-or-under kind and having a high stat is a good thing. As a quick and dirty way to figure out a typical Morale score, assign a base value of 5 or 6 and modify this with either the Wisdom or Charisma modifier found in the MM stat-block, whichever feels more appropriate to the creature in question.

Akin to a Reaction Roll, the Bell-curve distribution serves the purpose better than a spiky d20 since running away or holding the line ought to be a more predictable event than swinging to attack. I’ll deal with Intimidation et al in a short while.

Running on Fumes: Temporary Hitpoints

- Temporary hitpoints are crossed out after expenditure of regular ones.

This means that even if a character chances into additional, higher, sources of tHp, the benefit to be reaped will still only come to the fore after the body has given out.

Blunting the Edge: Intoxicated condition

Wizards’ family-friendly version of DnD has no room for upshots to intoxication, even if there is historical precedent: to them it’s down to the literal proverb-proven case of picking your poison when fetching the bottle. Even as a social drinker who sometimes gets very social, I don’t endorse drinking but the game option is to me a mandatory inclusion.

What follows is for alcohol, different intoxicants can definitely have different effects (wait until the barbarian gets a-hold of the wode ‘shrooms).

- After consuming a significant portion* of intoxicant from liquor or some other substance, a character must pass a [Constitution save, DC 10+] (+1 per additional portion) or gain a level of Intoxication.

As he gains levels of Intoxication from alcohol, a character: 

- First gets Disadvantage on Dexterity then, cumulatively, on Wisdom and finally on Intelligence rolls.

- His fumble range increases across the board by one for each level of the condition.

- If the level of Intoxication goes past a character’s CON modifier, he will also now count as Poisoned.

- Intoxication’s benefits begin at “1”, then progress to “d4”, “d6”, etc; For every level of Intoxication, a character adds the benefit to any d20 rolls to test the character’s courage and as a number of temporary hitpoints per level, rolled accordingly.

*(content varying from drink to drink, and certainly not something I feel a need to preestablish).

Closing Thoughts – Breaking the Rules

The inclusion of morale as a game stat, of course, opens the door to the creation of a Leader of Men or Warlord type character, likewise from intoxication for some sort of Drunken Master or “Fuelled by Fire Water” character archetypes. I’m not going there just yet but the clouds loom invitingly on the horizon. After all, much like anti-matter, the laying down of a rule carries with it the seeds of design space for its own exception.

Them Bones of Adventure - X: Exhaustion

Continuing my exposition on table procedures for common exploration feats & rules, which began here with part one.

Introduction

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Exhaustion as a mechanic (despite its questionable necessity in parallel with Hp), but there remains this itching vagueness about when it is acquired that I would like to downright minimize. The PHB and DMG wax but shortly over exhaustion as it all seems to come down to certain individual actions or extreme weather conditions and even the simple OSR-chic of LotFP has nothing to say about tiredness of any sort, despite having rules governing much less likely things, such as aging.

The Climbing and Chasing posts had me looking askew at this system in a new light. Looks like heartbreaking like it’s last Christmas is what’s on the cards for me once more.

The Crunchy Bits

I wish to generalize, extend and – importantly for me – associate the Exhaustion mechanic by tying it into how demanding any given physical task is. This is intended to be clearly communicated  to a player whenever he is deciding on a course of action but it is also supposed to be straightforward and expectable. It is, after all, a mechanic to emulate weariness of the body so something which anyone should easily get acquainted with.

The concept of Stamina

As distinct tasks translate to different levels of physical exertion, there comes a need for a gauge of some sort beyond the mere difficulty class (which certain actions, such as movement, may altogether lack) that will indicate how tiresome a task is and for how long it can reasonably be pursued.

Tasks are thus divided threefold by how physically demanding they are, like so:

Easy or Undemanding tasks: Marching across even ground while carrying moderate loads, riding (for characters with Animal Handling or any riding ability), anything that a town-dwelling artisan or merchant would think of as work.

- Undemanding activity can be maintained for half an hour per point of Constitution before a short rest is needed.

Medium or Demanding tasks: Swimming on calm waters, rowing a boat, marching through difficult ground or while carrying heavy loads, running at a steady jog, chopping wood, digging; anything, in effect, that a rustic peasant might assume as a typical day’s workload.

- Demanding activity can be kept at for ten minutes per point of Constitution before necessitating a short rest.

Hard or Strenuous tasks: Combat, rock climbing, swimming in a strong current, running at a sprint or over broken terrain,  and most other athletic feats.

- Strenuous activity can be sustained for just thirty seconds (or one resolution roll) for each point of Constitution, with a breather being required to proceed unhindered from that point on.

Very Hard or Extenuating tasks: Holding one's breath, making closed-angle climbs, lifting weights at the edge of backbreaking or swimming in storm-foamed waters.

- Extenuating activity can't be pursued without risking exhaustion for more than ten seconds (or one resolution roll) for each positive Constitution modifier, minimum of one.

Aggravating Circumstances

- As an overarching rule, a character that engages in more hours of physical exertion in a day than his Constitution score will have to aggravate the weariness caused by taking further action (example: forced marches).

- As per the books, particular circumstances of high altitude and inclement weather can increase the harshness of a task or have its elapsed time segments count as double or more in terms of fatigue.

- Encumbrance aggravates a task into the next category of physical demand or, if already at the most demanding, can make it impossible to attempt until weight is shedded.

Depending on how play is being conducted, the above systems can either be treated over a foundation of abstracted time or on a “per roll” basis. If, for example, a party is travelling overland on a structure of narration alone then the decision to push past a character’s stamina will be done outside any further mechanic involvement; on the other hand, if engaging in a long-distance chase, the players will know that as every party roll represents an hour elapsing, someone will have to contend with fatigue past the two hour mark, by the third roll. Particularly strenuous tasks such as rockclimbing may afford only a handful of rolls between pauses as a climber struggles to ascend to a perch where he can gather himself before his endurance gives out.

As stated before, when rolling for the whole party, individual exhaustion levels will be abstracted to a middle ground that enfolds the majority of the party, only getting more specific if having slow molasses aboard risks dooming the group’s chance of success.

As the body gives out - Exhaustion

A character that persists in a task for which he has exceeded his Stamina will be required to pass a check to avoid mounting exhaustion, repeating it for each further timing segment elapsed (half minute, ten minutes or half an hour, depending on how physically demanding the task). This can be done in one of two ways:

- If the task's resolution already includes a roll of the d20, then the check for exhaustion can be folded in, by requiring that the roll's unmodified result be equal or under the character's Constitution score.

- For tasks dispensing with resolution rolls, a [Constitution, DC 10+] check will be required, with the DC increasing by one for each additional check.

In either case, failure will increase the character's exhaustion level.

Interactions with Resting

- Breather

A ten minute pause that serves to counteract an intense but short-lived bout of activity, such as combat, sprinting or other strenuous tasks, having more to do with cooling down, hydrating and normalizing breathing than pure rest. Taking a breather will wipe the first level of exhaustion acquired during a strenuous or extenuating task.

- Short Rest

A short rest is mandated once a character exceeds his stamina for both an undemanding or demanding task. 

- Long Rest

A long rest will act as a short rest for the purposes stated above and, as written before, also reliably lower a character’s exhaustion level by one.

Hunger and Thirst, Supplemental

Whenever a character engages in enough activity to acquire a level of exhaustion (even if the save is passed) he’ll have to both consume a portion of water right afterwards and an additional portion of food at some point during that day or else count a day of privation against his hunger (but not his thirst).

Them Bones of Adventure - IX: Rolling Differently (Extended, Teamwork, Collective, Unified Group Rolls)

Continuing my exposition on table procedures for common exploration feats & rules, which began here with part one.

Introduction

While addressing chases I ended up reccomending a unified party roll for long distance pursuits, one that better typified the kind of collective effort from a party, not otherwise well represented by having all the characters make a check. I figured I’d expand a bit on the odds and ends governing these situations where randomization occurs in a less than typical fashion. The referee already does a lot of this out of logistic necessity, I’m out to point how the party has a need to do so as well, from time to time. Be aware, this one's part rant, part rules document.

Discrete Rolls for Discrete Benefits

Or “when is a single unified roll desirable versus a collective array of rolls?”

The way I see it, on probably the majority of situations, individual rolling from each player is preferential, many of them I’ve already described in the previous posts: Stealth, Infiltration, Athletic feats, Combat, etc., are all examples of how some thrive while others flounder. The rewards and thorns are individually meted out, so too must be the roll.

Linked to the game’s wilderness exploration facet, it is when we zoom out to a more macro level, with the party becoming a more aglutinated entity, that single unified rolls become the more sensible way of representing the integrants' linked fortunes: after all, they either all find food, shelter or the way through adverse topography or they don’t, there’s not much room for partial results.

Here is where the book typically points to what therein is called the “group check”.

Singular Roll, Collective Woes

I get that the PHB’s group checks are an abtraction. It’s just that I see them as being in the way of turning the wilderness into a more gameable place. While collective party rolls are ingrained in the current version of the rules as some kind of democratic ideal of everyone getting to pitch in, the truth is they are a statistical trap and make you a horrible person. By this I mean that I rolled my share of them and I’m a horrible person, which makes it a pretty clear-cut case to me.

There’s an understandably inherent desire by every player to chuck their d20 into the ring and having it count to shift the balance of any given challenge. Yet, veering this way absolutely murders variance and rapidly becomes a statistical exercise in futility: whatever tasks the party was likely to be successful at will get done and those that it wasn’t won’t (Eric Diaz crunches a few numbers for this here). That’s pretty near the polar opposite of what one’s aiming for when tossing the bones of uncertainty.

Collectively rolling for not getting lost or traversing dangerous terrain is ill-thought, both on abstractional grounds as well as on logical ones: negotiating treacherous terrain isn’t a collective sum of pass/fail efforts, it is all about following the lead of the person designated as pathfinder and there’s pretty much no way I’m asking rolls to see if people are able to do that.

Stepping on 1’s, Fishing for 20’s

Here are the classic examples of preserving variance for the sake of (a reasonable mockery of) realism – Wilderness rolls (Navigation, Tracking, Dowsing, Finding Shelter).

Navigation, tracking or dowsing for water are not collective activities: there’s a person who is the superior navigator or outdoorsman, and this is not just a mere figurehead representing a 5-to-25% edge on odds over the average shmuck in the party, this is someone who will be shouldering the burden alone and on whom the party will be depending utterly and explicitly.

Of course, back at the table, navigation or tracking are quintessential “me too” kinds of rolls, as the party is already slowed down by having the pointsman navigate or track, it follows that everyone meeting the skill criteria (if any) and otherwise unocuppied will want to pitch in even if their contribution is to be marginal. They’ll just be fishing for 20’s and high numbers as to prop the scout’s chance for failure.

Here is how I visualize things, applying the barest quantum of realism: the party is stranded in a gods-forsaken waste and a few altogether uninviting options open up before our protagonists. The ranger steps up to the plate and gives his piece over which path to take. Then some other soul makes a case for a different track. Remember, you only ever roll for faits accomplis, meaning after the facts, twenty-back-breaking-miles-stinging-the-inside-of-your-ragged-soles after the facts. Now, tell me, who should our brave wanderers give credence to? They’ll only find out who was right in the end, and yes, both could end up being right and both can even end up being wrong. The matter at hand is: where lieth the smart wager?

Internalising the above, any player will quickly realize that a check of this nature is nothing but electing the most apt pair of hands and letting these handle the reins.

It stands to reason that a few things might happen: the party can split itself in two and each follow a distinct proposition (and thus meriting a different roll apiece), and the ranger *can* confer with another outdoor-savvy character for aid in finding the most efficient pathway, leading to teamwork modifying the roll (see below) but the essence remains: one single roll is all the party gets.

The Crunchy Bits

Bear with: I only intend to do the above on an improv situation, when pressed into it. I hope to have something better in place for wilderness travel than a flat sequence of rolls. It’s just that I’m only now still fixing the abstraction part about how group checks & co. will be handled. Though I'm not beholden to any of these choices as yet and despite feeling this section is up for some serious rewriting pending testplay, I still think of it as being already coalesced enough to merit publishing on the blog.

Modifying a roll representing the whole party is a headscratcher. I'm striving to avoid words like median or average here, but I may just end up going off that deep end, no promises.

Collected Rolls

- Group of checks made by multiple characters individually, each success summing up to a total. Tasks requiring this usually will need multiple successes either at once or as an extended challenge.

Extended Rolls

Bugger my eyes, but despite mentioning extended rolls in the previous post and them being a fairly common staple to rely upon, I can’t seem to find any mention of them in the PHB or DMG.

- Extended checks will be used for gradual accrual of successes over a time frame or when two parties are at cross-purpose. They can be iterated single party rolls or collective rolls with everyone contributing individually.

Party Rolls

- Single roll made in representation of the whole party. The nature of the challenge must be determined: can it be shouldered alone by the most competent in the company, will it be pulled by the shared quality found in the party (abstracting modifiers into one single common denominator) or will it be irredeemably hindered by _any_ mediocrity present? The answer to this question will dictate the modifier to the party’s one single roll, in addition to the type of stat engaged.

- If only the leader needs to succeed, the whole group can hinge on the best modifier present, including relevant skill use. Examples: navigation, foraging.

- If failure from any part will dictate a downfall, the whole group will be tied to the worst modifier present, skills withstanding. Examples: stealth, long chases. 

- When the whole party is in a situation calling for a test to its holistic quality, we compact the disparate modifiers of the party's characters into a single roll with a merged modifier. Examples: the whole party is rowing a boat, Initiative.

This one will imply a quick and simple standard method, with two cornercase offshoots:

- Sum the lowest negative modifier to the highest positive modifier present in the party (note that this includes skills, which are essentially just task-specific modifiers).

For situations in which the party counts all positive or all negative modifiers, or whenever the method is clearly resulting in distortion (five characters with an array of middling positive modifiers contrasted with just one member with a particularly low negative, for example): 

- For a party with a clear majority of positive mods, use the second highest positive modifier for the group roll.

- For a party with a clear majority of negative mods, use the second lowest negative modifier for the group roll.

Examples abound:

Can the protagonists row their trusty longship ashore as the weather begins to turn? Extended Party Roll for Strength (Athletics), using the group's merged modifier, upon reaching the target number of successes – translated in nr. of miles or whatever feels appropriate – under the hourly time limit (each hour being a round of rolling), they may reach safety.

Will the party lose too much time before nightfall in the topography of mazelike gorges that skirt the barony’s watchtowers? Party Check for navigation [Wisdom (Survival)], using the best modifier present in the group.

Will our roving warband pull the grueling escape from the reeve’s mounted yeomanry and make it back to ship after pillaging the heartland? Extended Party Check for a protracted chase, using the worst Constitution modifier present.

A special inclusion in this category will be the Initiative check, which I tackle at some length in the closing thoughts:

- At the beginning of a combat, a party makes a contested Party Roll for Initiative, modified by the group's merged modifier. Ties on this roll favour the party if even and the opposition if odd. Combat takes alternate turns from thereon in.

Teamwork Rolls

The book’s rendition of teamwork is acceptable but keeps it too simple, prescribing Advantage to any aided task regardless of how many capable hands are on deck at a time, as if trying to shoehorn the mechanic into every single available nook, no matter how nonsensical.

After determining if a task bears being helped on (shared skillset, more people actually helping, etc):

- One appropriate d20 point roll (plus mods) from the main actor, to which sources of minor help contribute a +1 and sources of significant help contribute a +2, all cumulative.

“Minor” and “significant” are terms which must be adjudicated task by task, as it would be too reductive to attempt otherwise. 

Closing Thoughts - On Initiative as a Single Roll

I’ve banged my head on this wall many times. Here’s what the current topography of lumps looks like:

Despite deeply ingrained habit, I find that there’s a vanishing amount of engagement to be gained from tracking individualized Initiative totals and a whole lot of accounting overhead to contend with, since adopting this system also forces each individual NPC to be inserted in the count. And then there’s the approach to how it is set: if it is rolled once to skip on heavy lifting, the combat shortly becomes as predictable as the single roll method and, as the number of combatants decreases (or right from the outset against single creatures), the two become virtually indistinguishable. The alternative is even worse: rolling Initiative every round does shake up the tactical order but at a tall cost on time spent lining up the combatants so they can take a missed swing and sigh as a new count needs to be wound up.

DnD’s combat system is not played on a basis of first-strikes, it’s a game about attrition. Past the first few levels the Hp cushion is well and truly set and my use of a Dismemberment table extends comfiness even to neophyte characters.

By cutting all this structure the players can actually make the most of knowing they can count on each other to pull more elaborate maneuvers, expanding the scope of play. Yet, the greatest gain for me lies in momentum, as the conflict flows much more effortlessly and the greatest strength of a combat – its brevity and concentrated uncertainty – is leveraged to the greatest extent. Short, brutal and memorable is how I want my fights.

Too much hinging on one roll? Yes, were the referee to play creatures as automatons, intent on squeezing every last ounce of Hp from a single target before moving with clockwork precision on to the next in a disciplined firing-drill. In other words, it’s a spurious argument: I think that much the same behaviour could almost perfectly be replicated with the individually rolled initiative, and still pretty much no character would be safe when bearing the brunt of an enemy group’s attention.

Them Bones of Adventure - VIII: Chases

Continuing my exposition on table procedures for common exploration feats & rules, which began here with part one.

Introduction

Now for chases, prelude or blood-pumping alternative to fighting. The DMG offers a couple of example tables for chases. It so happens that the system’s both mechanically lackluster and a gaping sinkhole of prep, so no. What I need is a good universal mechanic, I’ll worry with a chase’s particulars pending its context. 

I found it interesting (and problematic) how the system forced me to separately account for both the distinct stat of movement speed and sometimes-contrasting ability scores, namely Dexterity, ultimately leading me to decide to integrate both stats under a single mechanic.

The Crunchy Bits

Step zero is determining if a chase is actually what is going to take place and not a turtle and hare situation. Vastly differing speeds can be flatly denied the chance: there’s just no way you’re escaping on foot from a flying monstrosity on an exposed tract of moorland, but if what’s at stake is seeing if you can just reach that tree line over there in time…

As well it is important to establish both a beginning and an end condition to a chase, impeding iterative and redundant chase behaviour from PC and NPC alike and ushering a resolution.

Breaking Away from Melee

Discounting special circumstances, a character that attempts to break away will be exposed to a round of opportunity attacks to the rear (read: with Advantage) from the opposition on the round he decides to turn tail and go seek the better part of valour.

- While Disengaging and Moving are good enough for a fighting retreat, a proper escape requires a Dash and can’t be initiated if a character is hit by a melee attack, opportunity or otherwise, unless he passes a [Dexterity Save (DC = higher of 10 or Damage Taken)].

- Likewise, if struck by a missile weapon during a chase, a character must make a [Constitution Save (DC = higher of 10 or Damage Taken)] or lose half his progress for the round.

- If the attempt to break away is successful, the character will now be running away, a first roll dictating the starting distance away from the opposition who may then attempt pursuit, turning the situation into a chase.

The Thrill of the Chase

1. Define the type of chase – the key to the nature of a chase is its context and from there to one of the three physical stats, naturally aided by training in athletics:

- Short, sudden burst-speed chases in crowded and obstacle-rich contexts, such as in an urban environment rely on Dexterity. Mid-distance, even-grounded athletic chases, free of obstacles, are a contest of Strength, both are measured in feet and take at most a couple of in-game minutes to resolve.

- Protracted chases such as made overland by parties spread far apart but within visual contact or being followed through tracking end up subsuming the above considerations of who moves slightly faster than whom and resolve into a slog, represented best by Constitution as what counts in the end is the stamina to endure the chase and distance is gained or lost by how much time is spent recovering and catching breath and not so much on how hard a party pushes itself at a given moment.

The shorter chases, being quick to decide, won’t usually offer a great deal of options. If within a dungeon or other constrained environment, I’ll describe everything only in the broadest strokes and try to keep in mind that space is usually very limited and time is of the essence. Protracted instances on the other hand can be much more rich and fluid in terms of choice, as this kind of chase tipically lasts from several minutes to hours (even days, depending on how open the terrain happens to be and how easy to track the quarry is) and the progress will be measured accordingly (Hundreds of meters and Kms or yards and miles for imperial scum).

2. Adjudicate how far apart the two entities begin. This will be a dynamic total, adjusted as the chase unfolds and distance is gained or lost. If the distance between participants was not set in stone prior to the chase’s commencement, it will be now.

Keeping unified track of everyone will require a dice array or a diagram on a sheet of graph paper, it being important to emphasize both the evolving distance between the two parties and how much ground the chase itself covers. I’ll default to applying the “each square = 5 feet” scale, as yet unsure if it’ll hold properly to ensure the desired effect.

3. Roll as needed until resolution is reached:

Short Chases

- Extended check of [Movement Speed + Rolled Dexterity/Strength (+ Athletics proficiency die)], contested by the opposition.

- A character who doesn’t devote his full concentration to running, with the player dithering, asking questions or taking some other action will lose half his movement for the round.

- Fumbling means the character was faced with a context-appropriate obstacle and must roll to save or lose his round of movement.

Each character’s movement in a round is thus a number of feet resulting from the summed total of the character’s speed with the rolled attribute, modified by the proficiency die if trained in athletics. I choose to use the proficiency die here to lend a bit more weight to athletics training than just the flat “+2”, which would otherwise be of too little consequence in a typical 40’+ total.

Protracted Chases

Accounting for scale and the fact that a group moves roughly at the speed of its slowest element, differences in movement speed between parties will get shrunk into irrelevance unless they’re noticeable (difference in speed of 10’+) and shared by all the members of a group, in which case an adjunct roll of d4 to d8 can be added to the main check. Overland progress will depend on how close the chase is taking place with the time-compression deriving from that, which can range from something like “furlongs of progress/hourly roll” to “miles of progress/daily roll”.

- Extended and contested single group roll of [Constitution] as the party is being pursued for hours over a long distance with visual contact (possible on a desert or mountainside chase) or tracked over several days through the snow.

- A unified group roll is a single d20 roll made with the worst modifier available in the party, this roll does not count as being made by any particular character and is not subject to effects that do not extend to the whole of the party.

Harsh? Yes, a bit. But I prefer fresh-faced harshness to the illogical incoherence (not to mention statistical trap) of collective rolls as prescribed by the PHB, that reads that “the stronger characters help cover for the weaker ones” in some way that until today utterly escapes my reckoning.

Mounted Chases and others

Mounted or vehicle chases will use the mount's Speed but rely on the rider's Dexterity, with the roll's total capped by the mount's own Dexterity or Strength if we're talking a ponderous type of beast.

Climbing, Swimming or Rowing chases will be the province of Strength.

Even erring on the side of generosity with the game’s assumption of average competence level for all characters (i.e. all characters are old-school fighters and then have some additional capabilities slapped on top), more specialized means of transportation will forcibly require training in the relevant skill (Athletics or Animal Handling) or some other background-specific means of determining aptitude at a given challenge or the roll be made at Disadvantage.

Escape…

For short chases, upon fulfilling one of these conditions, the fleeing party will have escaped:

- Reaching a predetermined distance to shelter.

- Putting such a distance from pursuers as to be able to effortlessly hide, this distance varying in an inverse proportion to the amount of sight-obscuring features:

- City, heavily wooded tract: twice the pursuers’ running distance

- Town, mildly wooded grounds: three times the pursuers’ running distance

- Hills, light woods, rocky outcrops: five times the pursuers’ running distance

The examples above rely on heavy abstraction, being subject to be superseded in play by a better defined lay of the land. A typical example being the dungeon, a place concrete to the point of being mapable and where thorough searches are much more likely to occur and be successful, no matter the distance.

- Attempting to hide even if not conforming to anything approaching the above might still be possible, but it will require rolls.

- The pursuers, if unintelligent, becoming distracted or disinterested. For this I thank 5th edition’s exhaustive stat-blocking, for it will be decided by a Wisdom check.

- The pursuers becoming discouraged by a difficult to traverse hazard (again, WIS or relevant check, no DM fiat).

- The pursuers becoming tired of the chase. Here’s a placeholder for the link to where I’ll dwell further on this.

Long chases will by necessity have to be treated in a more case-specific fashion, though tiredness will always definitely apply.

Closing Thoughts – Cutting Loose

On short chases, a party on the run will naturally get spread apart due to the differing movement and progress rates, the distance between parties being measured from the front chaser to the tailing element of the quarry.

If dealing with groups of characters, the unified party roll represents the fastest of the chasers and the slowest element of the quarry, depending on the roller’s role in the chase, the remaining individuals of each group, if any, being presumed to be in close proximity.

I’m thinking, if a group expresses the desire to, it could ponder cutting loose a lead-footed element, the party choosing to abandon the man who drags his feet to his luck rather than face the consequences, making for some good drama if we’re talking henchmen or – Gods forbid – PCs. This would net the party a better modifier, signifying the party’s timely letting go of someone who is struggling to keep up or unable to continue altogether and is dragging the group down.

What this (or these) disavowed element might then do is up for guessing. Attempt a splinter chase, try to hide or even stage a noble time-buying sacrifice, all are within the realm of possibility. I get that this is controversial and not something that I’d enforce or encourage, just entertaining the thought.