My group has never had a problem running a retreat scenario when it came up.
What there needs to be rules for, in my opinion, is things like "suppression fire", or the like, where the character in the back shoots his bow or crossbow at the chasing enemies, not trying to kill them, but just make them slow down or try to dodge aside and lose valuable seconds in the chase.
Well, there are quite a lot of powers that slow or immobilize, and some that restrain - and there plenty of spells that do so, plus creating walls, zones, and so forth. According to the Compendium, there are 377 attack powers that slow, 337 that immobilize.
A novel 'supression fire' power might look something like this.
Supression Fire SomeMartialClass Attack 7 A flurry of hasty attacks forces your enemies to dive for cover. Encounter Martial*Weapon Standard Action Burst 1 w/in Weapon Range Requirement: you must be using a ranged weapon Targets: Enemies in burst Attack: Stat vs REF Hit: 1[W] and slowed until end of next turn. Miss: The target is knocked prone.
Maybe even adding: Special: if a target resists being knocked prone, you can repeat the attack against it, once. If a target is hit, it can avoid taking damage by dropping prone voluntarily, but it is still slowed.
Or likewise, trying to shoot a fleeing opponent in the leg to try and slow him down - you can do this in 3.x, with a penalty to the shot or whatever, and that's fine, but there's no hard-and-fast rules as to what that actually does.
So you can't actually do it. But you could make up rules: take a -5 pentalty to 'aim for their legs,' if you inflict some threshold of damage or the target fails a FORT save based on damage or something, they're at half speed until healed, perhaps? Or take a -4 penalty to 'aim for a leg,' you inflict half damage, but the enemy moves at half speed on their next round. Or if you can inflict Sneak Attack damage, sacrifice 1d of extra damage to reduce the target's speed by 2 until it receives a healing check, DC 15.
Well, since is the DDN forum, and DDN is about integrating playstyles from all editions - there have been versions of running away rules. "Pursuit and Evasion", in AD&D, works alright for my group. I think it could use some improvement, though.
There's rolls to see how often the monsters pursue, modified by stuff like them being hungry, or wanting something the players have. Then there's rules for how often dropping distractions, either money (for smart monsters) and food (for animalistic monsters) will stop the pursuit. Rules for hindrances, like slapping a web spell behind you or dropping caltrops or grease. Rules for how far away you have to get before the monsters lose you. Stuff like that. I personally think it's a tad complex, and could use some streamlining, but it pretty much works.
On the subject of 'running away' as a philosophy in general: Gygax pretty much said that you should always give the players an opportunity to flee from an encounter. They might not get away, but they should have a chance.
"Run-Away" rules allow you to ignore 'suggested level' for encounters. The party that's smart, good at operational planning, will bring things like tanglefoot bags, caltrops, wax-sealed bags of poisoned food (don't want monsters smelling it until you want them to - poison the food if you're really nasty), and some big, shiny fake gems. (counterfeit gold can get you in big trouble, otherwise you can use that).
It's not a complete substitute for scouting the opposition and watching for clues that something nastily stronger than you is around the next corner, but it's a useful safety net.
Well, since is the DDN forum, and DDN is about integrating playstyles from all editions - there have been versions of running away rules. "Pursuit and Evasion", in AD&D, works alright for my group. I think it could use some improvement, though.
There's rolls to see how often the monsters pursue, modified by stuff like them being hungry, or wanting something the players have. Then there's rules for how often dropping distractions, either money (for smart monsters) and food (for animalistic monsters) will stop the pursuit. Rules for hindrances, like slapping a web spell behind you or dropping caltrops or grease. Rules for how far away you have to get before the monsters lose you. Stuff like that. I personally think it's a tad complex, and could use some streamlining, but it pretty much works.
On the subject of 'running away' as a philosophy in general: Gygax pretty much said that you should always give the players an opportunity to flee from an encounter. They might not get away, but they should have a chance.
"Run-Away" rules allow you to ignore 'suggested level' for encounters. The party that's smart, good at operational planning, will bring things like tanglefoot bags, caltrops, wax-sealed bags of poisoned food (don't want monsters smelling it until you want them to - poison the food if you're really nasty), and some big, shiny fake gems. (counterfeit gold can get you in big trouble, otherwise you can use that).
It's not a complete substitute for scouting the opposition and watching for clues that something nastily stronger than you is around the next corner, but it's a useful safety net.
I'm not familar with earlier editions, but all those sound fine to me.
Though if that's how it's intended for escapes to happen, it should be somewhere in the PHB. Perhaps... "escape package: this package contains food, fake gems, tangel foot bags, and caltrops that should give you time enough to flee from many common enemies.".
And later "advanced escape package: This package is a bag of holding. It contains food, illusory halflings, real gems, a smoke elemental, and air caltrops that should give you time enough to flee from some more exotic creatures."
Possibly an epic one that contains an exodus knife, wall of force, and such.
Of course, the movement rules should still help, or at least not hinder.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
Pre-packaged escape bags... hooey! Adventurers these days have it so easy! In my day, we found our counterfeit gems in the dungeon, pulling them bare-fisted out of a puddle of green slime, and it ate our arms off, and we screamed, and we cried, and we liked it!
