Rules for a foot chase

[kjones]

I seem to recall seeing rules for a foot chase (you're running after someone, they're running away) somewhere, but I can't remember where. Any help?

[MesiDoomstalker]

For equal speeds on both sides, I think its an opposed Dex or possible Iniative check.

EDIT: Soucre. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm#evasionAndPursuit)

[kjones]

This covers the basics - are there any rules that have a little more detail? Something that takes into account terrain difficulties (busy streets, tight alleys), knowledge of the environment, etc.

[Provengreil]

This covers the basics - are there any rules that have a little more detail? Something that takes into account terrain difficulties (busy streets, tight alleys), knowledge of the environment, etc.

i ran a couple of them, i just kinda made it up. one was like that scene in the bourne movies where he runs along the rofftops, so there were climb and jump checks involved. the other was a series of dexterity checks, as it was on open ground.

[gbprime]

i ran a couple of them, i just kinda made it up. one was like that scene in the bourne movies where he runs along the rofftops, so there were climb and jump checks involved. the other was a series of dexterity checks, as it was on open ground.

Yeah, get comfortable with it and wing it. Think of a running fight from a movie or two and just go. Jump, tumble, climb, balance... Obstacles, "difficult terrain" comprised of crowds or a team of horses, with any failed check resulting in a fall, spill, or coming to a complete halt for the round.

The important thing is to let the players decide they need to run, don't railroad them into it. Your players will thank you for it, as a battle on the run is one they will REMEMBER.

[MesiDoomstalker]

This covers the basics - are there any rules that have a little more detail? Something that takes into account terrain difficulties (busy streets, tight alleys), knowledge of the environment, etc.


i ran a couple of them, i just kinda made it up. one was like that scene in the bourne movies where he runs along the rofftops, so there were climb and jump checks involved. the other was a series of dexterity checks, as it was on open ground.

Basically this. If the parties are affected by the terrain differently (difficult terrain for some, not others) would just be slower vs. faster. K: Local or appropriate other Knowledge depending on terrain. For city chases, definatly large number of movement based skill checks (Jump, Climb, Tumble). I don't know of any rules specifically for giving chase besides the ones I linked. Wing it is probably the best advice we can give you. If you can give us the specifics about the chase (or expected chase) we can give you more concrete and specific advise.

[Zherog]

Pathfinder has some rules (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/mastery/chases.html) that should be pretty easy to back-port into 3.5. You'd just need to update the skills to be the 3.5 versions (change Perception to either Spot or Listen, etc).

[missmvicious]

I just hosted a foot chase. It wasn't meant to take up the entire session. We were introducing a first-timer to the campaign, so I wanted an excuse to make her use a variety of skills and attacks so she could get used to playing her character before we went back into the main quest.

She's a Ranger with arrows dipped in a natural sleep toxin. The team was attempting to herd a pack (5) of wild Dire Boars away from the city walls. I warned her ahead of time that her level 2 Ranger would not likely survive a one-on-one encounter with a Dire Boar so she would need to use her skills to stay out of range or sight of the DBs unless she absolutely had to.

The team's fighter (took a flaw to get a base land speed of 40') threw a rock at the alpha Boar, taunted it, moved, and then double moved when necessary to keep a comfortable gap ahead of the Dire Boars. I explained at the beginning that the Dire Boars would only make a full run action if they were scared or really mad. (I know I was spoon-feeding tactics, but we had a first-timer on board.) The ranged attackers in the group were supposed to goad on the Dire Boars if they refused to cooperate, or take any of them out if they got too close to the Fighter who was running for dear life.

The terrain was considered Trackless, which would normally be half speed. So in order to move at double move speed or full run, the fighter had to make Tumble checks in order to make sure he didn't trip over rocks, brambles, fallen logs, etc. Since the Ranger and company didn't necessarily have to run in a straight line, I let them use Survival to find the clearest path, Tumble to take the straightest path, or a combination of Jump, Tumble, and Climb to move from tree to tree so as not to evoke the wrath of the Dire Boars (of course they couldn't go tree jumping Naruto style and expect to get a full run distance out of it), but at that height advantage, I gave them bonuses to Spot and Attack (ranged weapons and spells only), so they could still perform their jobs.

It was a fun session, actually. And there were a few times where the fighter tripped pretty badly (failed the tumble DC) and almost got a tusk up his rear, which added a sense of danger to what was more or less a skill challenge.

Oh... if he barely made the Tumble check, I made him role an endurance check (CON) to see if he could make a double move or better on his next turn. Each time he had to role a CON check, I added +2 to the DC to imitate increased exhaustion.

[kjones]

I'm trying to build up sort of a random encounter table for the city the players are currently in. It's a pretty lawless town, so I'm considering an encounter where a pickpocket tries to make off with some coin. The idea would be that either they'd catch the thief in the act, or have a chance to chase after him, so I was hoping this could lead into a merry little chase across town. I sort of had the Assassin's Creed games in mind, but none of my current players are particularly acrobatic, so it won't be quite like that.

The Spycraft d20 RPG had some elaborate rules for chase scenes, as appropriate for a spy RPG, but they were too clunky for quick, practical use. I was hoping D&D had a simplified equivalent, and the Pathfinder stuff is pretty good, so thanks for that, and for the rest of the advice.

[Slipperychicken]

I'm trying to build up sort of a random encounter table for the city the players are currently in. It's a pretty lawless town, so I'm considering an encounter where a pickpocket tries to make off with some coin. The idea would be that either they'd catch the thief in the act, or have a chance to chase after him, so I was hoping this could lead into a merry little chase across town. I sort of had the Assassin's Creed games in mind, but none of my current players are particularly acrobatic, so it won't be quite like that.

The Spycraft d20 RPG had some elaborate rules for chase scenes, as appropriate for a spy RPG, but they were too clunky for quick, practical use. I was hoping D&D had a simplified equivalent, and the Pathfinder stuff is pretty good, so thanks for that, and for the rest of the advice.

That pickpocket must have some serious stones to pickpocket a brutally lethal, elite mercenary quartet (which is armed to the teeth with magic, magic weapons, every combat-useful trinket they can strap on, and which makes absolutely no attempt to hide them and even seeks out opportunities to kill people for fun). But I digress; do remember that almost any ranged or battlefield-control ability should be able to take this poor soul down. Otherwise he'd probably have found a nobler profession (like Adventuring!).

[kjones]

That pickpocket must have some serious stones to pickpocket a brutally lethal, elite mercenary quartet (which is armed to the teeth with magic, magic weapons, every combat-useful trinket they can strap on, and which makes absolutely no attempt to hide them and even seeks out opportunities to kill people for fun). But I digress; do remember that almost any ranged or battlefield-control ability should be able to take this poor soul down. Otherwise he'd probably have found a nobler profession (like Adventuring!).

The party is only 2nd level, and I was hoping to nab something from one of them while they were off by themselves.

[Doughnut Master]

We always used Constitution checks. One thing the movies neglect to mention is that a person can only run at top speed for about 30 seconds, and even that only really applies to trained runners. After that, you start to wear down. Now, if there was difficult terrain, jumps, obstacles, etc, then dexterity and skill checks might be in order.

[Optimator]

Strength checks, and perhaps Con checks if the foot chase is long enough, would be more appropriate than Dex checks for a chase. If there were obstacles then appropriate skill checks would apply.

[zanetheinsane]

A series of skill challenges works really well. I would use a system that is a really streamlined version of the "Chase Dramatic Conflict" from Spycraft 2.0, adjusted for D&D.

Depending on the difficulty of the chase you want, make the player required to pass X out of Y skill challenges of varying degrees. Each challenge the player gets one standard action and has to make one check that represents a move action.

Failing a check is the equivalent of you getting slowed down and the target gaining a small lead. You should represent this on the board by putting the player and his target on a line of squares on your battlemat. How far apart they are is up to you depending on how far apart they start in the chase. I use 1 square to represent each skill check (and 30' of movement). If a player passes their check, move their mini one square closer to the target. If they fail, move them one back. Tell the player at the start that if they get more than X squares away from the target that they have "lost them". If their mini reaches the square their target is in, they catch the target. Optionally, you can require that once the player is in the target's square they need to make a grapple check or a trip attack to take down the target.

As an optional dynamic, to indicate what the NPC is doing you can also have the NPC make skill checks and move one away/toward the NPC to indicate success/failure. This can speed up chases significantly if the NPC fails and the PC succeeds in one go, meaning the PC makes up a lead of 2 that round.

At different points in the pursuit, give the player an option of two choices with varying results, such as:


You see a ladder on the side of the alley leading to the rooftops. With a successful climb check you can quickly scurry up to the roof. You won't decrease or increase your lead this round, but your higher vantage point means it will be harder to get away from you, meaning the distance your prey must reach to escape you has increased by 2 squares. Because of your height, you may also be able to get close enough to leap down onto your prey in the future (which will be a jump check), catching him if you are one square away (instead of in his square).

Alternately, you also see a side alley. You could use your knowledge (local) skill to see if you know a shortcut that will allow you to gain a good lead on your prey (2 squares advancement towards).


In addition to making this check, players can make standard actions, such as ranged attacks. Casting spells may require a concentration check since you are trying to cast them while running full speed after your target and your target may actively be trying to interfere with you, such as the target might use his melee attack to knock things/people over into the path of the chaser.

Don't just allow the player to have to choose between the options you present them, or else they'll just always pick the statistically better one based on their skills. Encourage them to come up with suggestions for how to use their skills in a situation and let them know what the risks and outcomes would be before they attempt it



Player: I'm bounding across rooftops, my prey is close. Can I use a grapple check to grab hold of this blanket and zipline down a clothesline into the alley?

DM: Absolutely. If you succeed you will decrease your target's lead by 1. If you succeed by a large margin, you can decrease his lead by 2 squares. If you fail you will fall into the alley and be subject to fall damage and you will fall back one square. (If you like telling players the DCs or giving hints, definitely feel free to here).


Successful skill checks should always increase the players distance to his target by 1, and 2 for really risky chances.

The basics of it though are that you shouldn't need to make a movement action since it's just assumed that players will be running full speed. If a player has at least twice the speed of the target, move them up 2 squares every time they succeed a check and 3 for really good ones. Adjust this even further for really fast players, such as Cheetah's Speed, etc. Use initiative checks to see in what order the chaser and the chasee go each round of checks.

Get creative with skill checks. Use Sense Motive to tell which way a target might cut on a corner or intersection. Failure means that the player has to make a Reflex save (etc) or fall back one square while readjusting his trajectory to keep chasing. Success on the Sense Motive check could lead to a second skill check where the player could cut the target off, closing the distance.

Just make sure to successfully describe the chase in exciting detail for everything that's happening, otherwise it will just be a series of boring checks!

[kjones]

ZaneTheInsane, thank you for the excellent advice. I particularly like the aspect of this "system" where the player has several options to choose from every step of the way, similar to the Pathfinder rules mentioned earlier. I also like how this keeps the surroundings sufficiently abstract that the chase is doable without requiring to map out hundreds and hundreds of feet in exacting detail.

[MesiDoomstalker]

I'd like to add onto the excellent system presented above, you should make 1 or 2 obvious that you mention right away (spot DC 0) and then make 'hidden' ones that they can spot. Hidden ones shouldn't neccesarily be better than the obvious ones or vice versa. If the player's ask if X is there, the answer shouldn't be automatically yes or no. It should depend on the sitaution. If they are on a roof and ask about a clothes-line zip-line idea, look at the surroundings. If their in the market, the answer will be "No, but theres decorative pennets strung on lines." Or simply "No, your in the market, there are no clothes lines." If your an lower income area, mention that they are all over the pace or scarce as it depends on the city. Just make sure it makes sense.