Li Shenron
Legend
Whether you use the DMG chase rules, or your own version of them, how do you exactly switch from the turn-based combat initiative sequence to the simultaneous movements during a chase?
The obvious scenario is one or more combatants (or even a whole side) decides to break off and run away, while their opponents want to keep fighting and decide to start a chase. When and how do you make the switch?
Both the DMG chase rules and all the variants I've seen assume a starting distance between the runaways and the pursuers, and the way for the pursuers to "win" the chase is to reduce the distance to zero. This obviously means that you cannot switch from combat to chase unless the distance is already more than zero. But none of the rules I've seen tells you how to set this distance if the chase starts from combat, or when you're supposed to stop resolving movement by the sequential turns of the individuals.
If there was only one fugitive, then one simple way could be to allow the fugitive to take its own (last) combat turn and starts moving away (depending on its choice of action + move, it may cause an OA or not, and it will set the starting distance accordingly), and let the fugitive itself triggers a chase*, and immediately everyone switches to chase rules.
*obviously, the DM decides if the circumstances allow for it
But what if a whole party wants to run away from battle together? Would you handle this as long as possible within combat rules, for example by having all of them (except maybe the last) use the Ready action to coordinate before triggering a chase? Or would you rather use some simpler blanket rule (such as "everyone triggers an OA no matter what, and stop tracking individual positions straight away")?
The obvious scenario is one or more combatants (or even a whole side) decides to break off and run away, while their opponents want to keep fighting and decide to start a chase. When and how do you make the switch?
Both the DMG chase rules and all the variants I've seen assume a starting distance between the runaways and the pursuers, and the way for the pursuers to "win" the chase is to reduce the distance to zero. This obviously means that you cannot switch from combat to chase unless the distance is already more than zero. But none of the rules I've seen tells you how to set this distance if the chase starts from combat, or when you're supposed to stop resolving movement by the sequential turns of the individuals.
If there was only one fugitive, then one simple way could be to allow the fugitive to take its own (last) combat turn and starts moving away (depending on its choice of action + move, it may cause an OA or not, and it will set the starting distance accordingly), and let the fugitive itself triggers a chase*, and immediately everyone switches to chase rules.
*obviously, the DM decides if the circumstances allow for it
But what if a whole party wants to run away from battle together? Would you handle this as long as possible within combat rules, for example by having all of them (except maybe the last) use the Ready action to coordinate before triggering a chase? Or would you rather use some simpler blanket rule (such as "everyone triggers an OA no matter what, and stop tracking individual positions straight away")?