How do you manage chases with a monk in the party?

[Lupine]

As you may know, monks get improved speed, but since most creatures have a speed below 40ft, even a halfling monk can just outrun most targets (for example, on of the characters has a speed of 50 ft).

This straight up breaks the chase mechanic.... How do you run a chase with monks?

[Honest Tiefling]

Just because they are fast, doesn't mean they'll succeed. Obstacles could force acrobatics/athletics checks to get around, because all chases need an overturned fruit cart. Good perception skills might be needed to see which way the target is going in a crowd. Charsima could also be needed, if the target convinces guards or passerbys to aid them or for the PC to do the same.

There's also the matter of what happens when they finally do succeed, and now the target is right in reach of them...And they are in reach of the target and any allies they have picked up along the way. Don't split the party.

[Angelalex242]

Just because they are fast, doesn't mean they'll succeed. Obstacles could force acrobatics/athletics checks to get around, because all chases need an overturned fruit cart. Good perception skills might be needed to see which way the target is going in a crowd. Charsima could also be needed, if the target convinces guards or passerbys to aid them or for the PC to do the same.

There's also the matter of what happens when they finally do succeed, and now the target is right in reach of them...And they are in reach of the target and any allies they have picked up along the way. Don't split the party.

I agree with this.

"Congratulations, monk, you caught the badguy and his 5 friends. The rest of the PCs won't arrive to support you for another 5 rounds and don't have line of sight. Roll initiative."

[Kane0]

The monk is the first one to hit an obstacle, giving them extra time to deal with it compared to other characters. This gives them a benefit for having that extra speed without tossing away the whole set of rules just because they run fast.

The same applies to things like bonus action Dash (Cunning Action, Expedious Retreat, etc) and Tabaxi Sprinting. There can be times where this just allows them to cover more ground, and other times where it gives them bonuses when dealing with obstacles and setbacks because of the extra time afforded.

Edit: Anecdotally, my last session featured a chase scene. The party was fleeing a druidic crypt that was being filled by a creeping doom that would certainly kill them, and one of the characters is a tabaxi. Their natural climb speed enabled them to bypass the pit traps that the others had to jump over but they were just as hampered as everyone else by the makeshift barricade the party themselves had set up prior to the chase in another part of the crypt. They moved faster but that didn't mean they got off without a hitch.

[Pex]

I agree with this.

"Congratulations, monk, you caught the badguy and his 5 friends. The rest of the PCs won't arrive to support you for another 5 rounds and don't have line of sight. Roll initiative."


You're presuming the monk is chasing after a group of bad guys. Even if not, why must there be a group waiting for him? Once as an ambush, sure. Every time? That's DM male bovine feces. Why can't it be the last surviving bad guy of a combat trying to run away but the party wants to interrogate him or even kill him off because he'll tell his bosses and get reinforcements later or something?


As you may know, monks get improved speed, but since most creatures have a speed below 40ft, even a halfling monk can just outrun most targets (for example, on of the characters has a speed of 50 ft).

This straight up breaks the chase mechanic.... How do you run a chase with monks?

It's a feature. Bad guys have a tough time running away from the party. Let them try. The monk does his job of trying to stop them. Work with the party, not against them.

[Unoriginal]

This straight up breaks the chase mechanic

No, it doesn't.

Monks are good at running. That doesn't break anything. Tabaxi are good at sprinting, Wood Elves are faster than most humanoids, and Barbarians are both fast and have endurance.

None of this break the chase mechanic, it's just that they are better at accomplishing the task.

Same way that a Rogue doesn't break the trap mechanic because they can be good at seeing and disarming them.

[Honest Tiefling]

You're presuming the monk is chasing after a group of bad guys. Even if not, why must there be a group waiting for him?

Well, I didn't say what you quoted, but I assume a lone NPC is just going to get killed/captured/eaten/questioned/immobilized. Hence the suggestion of adding additional enemies. Through yes, a chase is an encounter. Encounters should be designed to accommodate player choice, success, and input. I suggested ways to make the chase more interesting to challenge a monk, but never meant to negate a monk. If a monk's speed doesn't confer SOME benefit, then the DM might want to rethink their approach. I kinda assumed the issue was that the chase was too dull and the monk was assured to win.

That being said, if a DM is in a corner, rewarding the monk for a partial chase might be a good idea. Getting a glimpse of getaway vehicles or cohorts, picking up dropped items, or hearing desperate conversations could be a good way to get some hints as to the next move of the antagonist, as long as it doesn't happen too often.

[Petrocorus]

As you may know, monks get improved speed, but since most creatures have a speed below 40ft, even a halfling monk can just outrun most targets (for example, on of the characters has a speed of 50 ft).

This straight up breaks the chase mechanic.... How do you run a chase with monks?

Given that this is a specific feature of the Monk to be faster, i think that unless there are some obstacle in the way requiring rolls, or unless you really need the bad guy to get away, then the best way deal with it is to say: "Ok, you catch up with him."

And if you do need the guy to get away, just have him plan an escape system in advance. Like any sensible bad guy should do.

[KorvinStarmast]

As you may know, monks get improved speed, but since most creatures have a speed below 40ft, even a halfling monk can just outrun most targets (for example, on of the characters has a speed of 50 ft).

This straight up breaks the chase mechanic.... How do you run a chase with monks? Have you actually played a monk?

[Lupine]

Given that this is a specific feature of the Monk to be faster, i think that unless there are some obstacle in the way requiring rolls, or unless you really need the bad guy to get away, then the best way deal with it is to say: "Ok, you catch up with him."

And if you do need the guy to get away, just have him plan an escape system in advance. Like any sensible bad guy should do.

Great piece of advice, I really apprciate it, and with a normal party, it would work fantastically. The problem is, my group is a bit... odd. I have been wanting to run a chase for a while, and my players have been itching to run a chase too. This would leave my group unsatisfied, and belays the point of having people run away in the first point....
Again, thanks for trying to help out, and I will certainly use the "Prepared escape plan" in the future.

[Kane0]

Just don't use Feign Death, that is actually a terrible plan.

[Laserlight]

It sounds like what you mean to ask is "The group has a monk. I want to run a chase scene without having the monk trivialize it; how do I do it?"

My first though would be a stagecoach, mine carts, or other vehicles, with a "push your luck" factor. The faster you go, the more you catch up but the harder DC you have for obstacles.

I'm assuming this is a fairly low level group. I put some work into planning a ski slope chase for a group that was L8-10, then realized the caster would simply upcast Fly on everyone and avoid the whole encounter. :-\

[Kane0]

I'm assuming this is a fairly low level group. I put some work into planning a ski slope chase for a group that was L8-10, then realized the caster would simply upcast Fly on everyone and avoid the whole encounter. :-\

Which is also fine, since a chase is a type of encounter and that spell is resource expenditure.

[Petrocorus]

Again, thanks for trying to help out, and I will certainly use the "Prepared escape plan" in the future.
Remember that escape plans are plans, and can fail quite easily. Like my poor ogre-mage whose Gaseous Form did not help him that much. The mounted halfling fighter with a +1 rapier reach him before he could reach that tiny hole in the wall made for escaping.

Now, for you chase scene, the best way is to have a foe which is quite fast himself.

What race and level is you monk, and what is his total speed? Is he faster than a warhorse? Than a Phantom Steed? Than some guy with Expeditious Retreat? Than a wildshape Duid?
You could try a foe that is faster than the rest of the party but slightly slower than the monk. And so you could have a scene where the monk is catching up with him, and trying to slow him down so that the other can catch up too, while being unable to deal with him alone. The bad guy could try to spam Ray of Frost.

Obstacles could be the real key. If the chase happen in a crowded city, then their speed is less relevant than their ability to avoid city hazard and peoples.



My first though would be a stagecoach, mine carts, or other vehicles, with a "push your luck" factor. The faster you go, the more you catch up but the harder DC you have for obstacles.
Or this, this is good. I second this.

[Laserlight]

Which is also fine, since a chase is a type of encounter and that spell is resource expenditure.

It's a legitimate way for the caster to handle it, but it isn't exciting and doesn't merit being the big scene of a session. So instead I put them in a fight vs gnommandos on an elevated tram. :-)

[Malifice]

In a chase I use an opposed Athletics check to evade pursuit.

The highest combat movement speed, has advantage on the check.

Winner of the check gets an action to attack the other. First to three succesful checks escapes (or captures the other).

Might call for an Acrobatics to dodge obstacles, and also allow a Stealth check to duck around a corner and hide evading your pursuers.


Its abstract but it works.

[Lombra]

There may be traps along the way of a planned escape route, alternatively, you could customize the chase rules; if someone reaches the running objective, the others get bonuses to the chase checks, because the faster characters are slowing down the enemy.

The problem of when the party gets chased is another story, the monk may run away easily but has to think about the rest of the party too if he cares about them.

[Spacehamster]

It sounds like what you mean to ask is "The group has a monk. I want to run a chase scene without having the monk trivialize it; how do I do it?"

My first though would be a stagecoach, mine carts, or other vehicles, with a "push your luck" factor. The faster you go, the more you catch up but the harder DC you have for obstacles.

I'm assuming this is a fairly low level group. I put some work into planning a ski slope chase for a group that was L8-10, then realized the caster would simply upcast Fly on everyone and avoid the whole encounter. :-\

High winds is your friend against fly. :)

[JellyPooga]

There are many ways to run a "chase" scene. Some are on foot and Monks and Rogues can make light work of these, but others involve mounts or vehicles and the Monks higher speed doesn't count for much here. Add to this the saying; "Set a thief to catch a thief". There are many creatures that have equal or greater speed than even a Monk can achieve; use them. Then there's alternative speed types; fly, burrow, swim...the Monk doesn't ruin any chases in a lake or the sea, or through the clouds. Then there are mazes; both literal and figurative. It doesn't help catch a criminal having all the speed in the world if you don't know where to find him. All that said, obstacles and obfuscation are what really make a chase interesting, not a flat foot race.

[OldTrees1]

The best way to avoid a monk trivializing a chase encounter is to answer how the monk's specialization in higher speed will benefit the party in your resulting chase encounter.
Maybe there will be obstacles in the way that the Monk can spend actions on removing/disabling rather than dashing.
Maybe the chase is through a city/maze and the Monk's higher speed will allow the party to keep track of the target despite the multiple possible directions.
Maybe the monk will be able to put obstacles in front of the target to slow them down enough for the party to catch up.
By answering how the specialist can demonstrate their specialization in your encounter that they should be good at, you can avoid the encounter being trivialized without trivializing the specialist in the process (and nobody wants to be written out of encounters they specialize in).

[Unoriginal]

You could also make the bad guy a Monk and handle it martial arts movie style.

[Knaight]

Most of the time the monk is going to have the advantage - but there are a few deliberate escape routes that might be able to counter this. Particularly notable are a handful of vehicles. Lower level monks can be lost with a horse or anything horse drawn, boats on water potentially last longer (provided flight is out), and then there's my personal favorite - skis. By nature they let you go significantly faster than just running (especially if downhill), and on top of that the thick snow slows everybody else down.

Ski chases are also just intrinsically cinematic, which is the other reason they're fun.

[Lord Vukodlak]

There is a very simple solution, more then one target to chase, say more targets then you have party members. So the monk is not only required he's vial as the only party member capable of running down multiple targets. The rest of the party still contributes because even he's not fast enough to catch them all.

[CircleOfTheRock]

As you may know, monks get improved speed, but since most creatures have a speed below 40ft, even a halfling monk can just outrun most targets (for example, on of the characters has a speed of 50 ft).

This straight up breaks the chase mechanic.... How do you run a chase with monks?
Let them enjoy what they've been given class features for - also, note that with the obstacle mechanics, they merely have a boost - they won't outright trash your chase.

[Hears You]

The important thing is you give the monk some advantages. Don't trivialize the chase, but this is their time to shine. Make sure they're throwing as many hazards and obstacles in the way, and give the monk the tools to put their mobility to work getting around them.

A chase scene should make the monk light up the way a wizard with "exactly the right spell prepared" does. Block their path so they need to free climb and bounce over vendor stalls, make them use slow fall to get down from a building onto the target, that sort of things. Just make sure they have fun with it.
Giving enough props to stunt with will probably get other players involved too, sure the Monk is the most mobile, but it's not light fighters and barbarians are slouches at Athletics, or Rogues don't also have a ton of tools at their disposal to get around.

[dreast]

Chase mechanics in 5e are designed specifically to get around the fact that whoever has the fastest speed would normally win a chase. It's a series of checks for both sides... think roughly like death saving throws, the first side to "win" enough of these contests "wins" the chase, either catching up or getting away. Depending on the nature of the contest, you can have the party "string out", some of them succeeding and the others arriving one or more rounds later, depending on how much time is lost to a failed check.

[Vogie]

You ignore the speed altogether and make it be a skill challenge. Yeah, the monk is going to clear one thing quickly, but they can't use that check next round.


because all chases need an overturned fruit cart.

Two workmen moving a large pane of glass is also a requirement

[SirGraystone]

Darkness or Fog Cloud spell then ducking into a door/alley/sewer is a good way to run away. Or misty step on top of a building.

[Bloodcloud]

Great piece of advice, I really apprciate it, and with a normal party, it would work fantastically. The problem is, my group is a bit... odd. I have been wanting to run a chase for a while, and my players have been itching to run a chase too. This would leave my group unsatisfied, and belays the point of having people run away in the first point....
Again, thanks for trying to help out, and I will certainly use the "Prepared escape plan" in the future.

A wildshaping druid can also be a ridiculously fast (and fly!), or a teleporting wizard, or...

Maybe the person getting away is already on horseback or in a carriage. Now the monk catches up but must break the carriage to get to the guy or stun the driver or figure a way to stop to give the party a chance to catchup.

A porticulis can be misty stepped through...

[Knaight]

Two workmen moving a large pane of glass is also a requirement

Basically, any chase scene involving a monk needs to look like the chase scene from Ong Bak, with all of the ludicrousness involved. Two people carrying a wheel of barbed wire on a yoke that the monk jumps through? Check. A pursuit interrupted by a brief fight in a spice market because the pursued target can throw horrifically spicy ground peppers into the faces of their pursuers? Check. Escaping from being surrounded by jumping from scaffolding across the heads of your opponents? Check.

[JellyPooga]

Basically, any chase scene involving a monk needs to look like the chase scene from Ong Bak, with all of the ludicrousness involved. Two people carrying a wheel of barbed wire on a yoke that the monk jumps through? Check. A pursuit interrupted by a brief fight in a spice market because the pursued target can throw horrifically spicy ground peppers into the faces of their pursuers? Check. Escaping from being surrounded by jumping from scaffolding across the heads of your opponents? Check.

Oo oo oo...and it should end with a flying, flaming, knee kick to the head, through some exploding barrels (for the uninitiated, yeah, that's a scene that happens in Ong Bak...you should watch that film; it's awesome).