Chase Rules for D&D

A chase is not the same as tracking. A chase is an exciting or tense scene where a chasee is fleeing from an immediate chaser. Chases are important because they add variety to a game but they are also challenging because they require use of many DM skills rapidly.

Chases are similar enough to combat that many of the same rules apply such as initiative, turns and rounds, actions, and movement. The major difference with a chase is scale. While a combat may take place in a single room, a chase occurs on a chase route, path, or course. A long chase may cover many rooms and a variety of spaces on its course. The chase route can cover an entire town, forest, maze, or ancient labyrinth. Because of the scale of a chase, you're going to have to rely on theater of the mind and a lot of good narration so that the players know where they're at and what's around them.

Terminology: The pursuers chase their quarry. A quarry flees its pursuers.

Goal: How does the chase end? If pursuing a quarry, are you just following them to their secret lair or are you attempting to corner and capture them before they can hide or escape? If fleeing pursuers, are you searching for a place to hide, are you trying to outrun your pursuers and escape, or are you leading your pursuers into a trap? 

Chase Route: An NPC trying to escape the PCs may travel a fixed chase route the GM has determined in advanced with few improvised changes. If the PCs are fleeing an NPC, they may need the GM to tell them possible twists or turns they have available each round or for each new space they enter.

Time: A chase is measured in rounds, same as combat. Each participant in the chase gets one turn per round.

Initiative: The DM can decide that initiative goes to whoever initiated the chase. Otherwise, roll initiative the same as combat.

Running: During a chase, it is assumed that all participants will their move action and use their action to move again. Players may specify that they slow down or stop. During a chase, creatures move at their maximum move range each turn and have a -5 penalty to perception. Characters become exhausted after running for 30 turns in which case they take a -2 penalty  to attack and damage rolls, and to AC. Mapping is not possible during a chase.

ACTIONS
Creatures get actions in a chase just like in combat. Creatures must stop to use an action for something other than making a second move. It is recommended that chase participants use their action to move again. Pursuers who stop to use an action to attack or cast a spell risk losing their quarry; A quarry who stops to use actions risks being caught. This can be used to attack, cast a spell, draw and use or throw an item, or to deliberately avoid an obstacle. You can make a threat "you're only making things worse for yourself!". You can try persuasion "stop, let's talk!" You can declare that you'd like to search for something specific while moving that you can make use of "I break my sight with the quarry and look around for a horse I can mount." Chase participants can not ordinarily make attacks of opportunity.

Attacking While Moving
-It makes sense that creatures should be able to move and make an effective melee weapon attack, a shove, a grab, tackle, or trip an opponent in a chase without sacrificing a move action and losing significant distance, Imagine one American Football player sprinting and tackling another sprinting player or a slide tackle in soccer. As for baseball, I think I could chase someone with a stick while swing at their head without consistently losing 30 ft each attempt.
-Attacking while moving, also called a charge, should be a standard action in core rules if not a feature for martial classes. Charging trivializes the Charger feat.
-Charge: When you use your action to Dash, you can use a bonus action to make a melee weapon attack or to shove.
-Spells requiring a bonus action to cast can already be used by dashing wizards while dashing. Why not charge attacks?
-Optional Rule: Charging attacks may make use of the monster feature Charge where additional damage is applied to attacks based on differences in size classes.

OBSTACLE COURSE
    Because creatures generally move at the same speed, or some creatures may simply outpace others, participants in a chase will rely on fixed or moving obstacles to effect the distance between the quarry and the pursuers in their favor. Once a creature passes a fixed obstacle, that obstacle is out of play, like fence you vault over. Random obstacles may even join the chase like a city guard. Obstacles may be obvious or hidden, or somewhere in between. Obstacles may be small enough to only effect one creature such as a discarded banana peel or large enough that all participants have to avoid it, such as a gap between two roof tops.

    Some obstacles will halve a creatures move range for that turn. Some obstacles will stop a creature in place and even knock them prone. Anything that difficult terrain rules applies to may slow a creature such as  dense forest, but other examples include a crowded street. Obstacles that cam stop a creature are obstacles that can cause tripping and falling such a tough root sticking out of the ground hidden by tall grass or a pot hole.

    Obvious obstacles might be seen several turns in advanced allowing players to anticipate them and plan for them, like an oblivious merchant pushing  a cart of cabbages. Hidden obstacles might surprise a player and take them out by chance.

    DMs should have a table of obstacles you can roll on or at least reference. The table will be based on the setting. An urban setting for instance has thick crowds, playing kids, peoples pets, merchants with carts, trash, an elderly man with cane, workers on ladders, laundry lines, people carrying too much stuff that goes flying when they inevitably drop it, and the occasional beast of burden taking a dump.

In a dungeon, obstacles include monsters and traps which may present themselves at any time making a chase in a dungeon very risky.

Distractions: Some creatures may be distracted by thrown food or treasure allowing someone to escape.

Line of sight: Most monsters give up their pursuit if PCs are out of their range of vision. Darkness must be lit with a light source. Light sources allow normal vision up to 30 ft. Chase participants may make a lot of noise and can still follow or flee the sounds of their opponents who are hidden from view.

ENDING A CHASE

Hiding and Evading: A quarry with a substantial amount of distance on their pursuers can make a stealth check and hide in a room or in a fixed spot, such as behind some crates in an alley. The quarry may make a stealth roll to evade their pursuers and continue on their way without detection. Quarry may have advantage if their are a lot of places to hide or disadvantage if there are few places to hide. They may have advantage in crowded or noisy places and disadvantage in open, quiet places. If the lead pursuer is skilled in tracking, the quarry may have disadvantage on a stealth roll. 

Capture: Pursuers may close the distance between themselves and the quarry and attack or tackle and pin the quarry. The pursuers may simply corner their quarry in a dead end or at the edge of a cliff.

Exhaustion: Creatures who are too exhausted to continue the chase drop out or are caught.

BEFORE A CHASE
-Determine the who is the quarry and who is the pursuer
-Distance: DM determines distance between quarry and pursuers. Sides of a conflict can spot each other from 2d6 * 10 ft away.
-DM determine Surprise; Surprised creatures may not notice their opponents until 1d4 * 10 yards away.
-DM determines initiative and/or calls for initiative rolls

SEQUENCE OF A CHASE:
Step 1. Descriptions. The DM determines and describes features and obstacles that appear of the chase route this round.
Step 2. Actions. The players decide their actions. The DM decide the NPC actions.
Step 3. Descriptions. The DM determines and describes the results of player actions.
Step 4. Descriptions. The DM determines and describes the results of NPC actions.
Step 5. End turn. The PCs record resources spent. The DM records what round of the chase has passed and what features or obstacles are passed. The DM determines what distance was lost or gained. The DM determines who is the current  lead pursuer.

How to Run Your Chase
Players should have a sense of what features are on the chase route such as scenery or buildings. They should know what feature they are passing, what feature is right in front of them, what feature is coming up in the next few turns, and what features are just appearing in the distance. Your entire chase route could be simplified as a list of features with their distances in between and the distances would be represented as number of turns apart. You wouldn't number the features 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., instead you would number each feature 1, 3, 5, 8, based on the round when the players will encounter that feature. Cross features off the list as they are passed. Provide brief and simple narration at the start of each round. For example, "You pass feature A, a short distance away, you see feature B, and further away still is feature C. The quarry keeps running. 'You morons are persistent!' he yells. Bob, what do you do?" Shorter narration emphasizes the pace of a chase scene.

D&D 5E Crafting System

I've begun reading articles about crafting items in tabletop RPGs by The Angry GM. I recommend you read his stuff. I must learn at least one new thing each article, but maybe that's because I'm inexperienced. After reading three of his 5000 word articles I'm disappointed. I just finished "Crafting Disappointment." He delivered what we already knew about crafting: convert materials into equipment. OK, cool. Except, no.

I've taken the liberty of sorting this crafting shit out once and for all! And, I'm going to publish this blog post before 6th Edition drops and potentially beats me to it.

First things first: Adventurers can't craft! There, I said it. Think about it, you're some kind of mercenary fighter, former criminal, a drop-out wizard, a priest on a pilgrimage, or a frickin' sorcerer doing sorcerer stuff! You can't craft! The only way your ass can craft anything is if you took the guild artisan background. That's it! Well, no, actually that's not it! I have ideas. Let's begin with something else, first. Or you know, second.

Second, let's identify your 5E character's crafting stat. Class, take out your PHBs and turn to page 182 and find the section CRAFTING. Ahem "You can craft nonmagical objects...You must be proficient with tools related to the object you are trying to create (typically artisan's tools.)" Your crafting stat is equal to your proficiency score and is limited, let's call it specialized, to the tool! That's it! Pop quiz. What is the crafting skill of a level 1 fighter who is proficient with blacksmiths tools? It's +2. 

If you don't have a proficiency with a tool, YOUR CHARACTER CAN'T CRAFT. This is because making effective weapons, tools, gear, etc., takes actual skill. I can't make a sword. I imagine if I tried making a sword it would turn out like shit. Why? Because some untrained dude cannot make a good sword.  You can't even make student quality goods if you don't have a teacher. 

Of course, this game is completely modular! Remember that. It's modular. Instead of what I just said, you could create a new skill called crafting. You could make up a reason to apply an ability score to it. Whatever. I'm going with what I said in the last paragraph because It's less complicated and it makes no changes to the rules. To reiterate, your crafting stat is your proficiency score and the tool you are proficient in. That's important for reasons that are also important. I mean, you don't want someone to be able to make ANYTHING. You'll break the game balance or something. A new skill called Crafting is too vague and applies to potentially too many things. Alternatively, you could make several different craft skills, but you already have that on page 154 of the PHB, in the table for Artisan Tools!

Third, how do you craft stuff? OK, let's say your characters want to make a sword. In addition to your proficiency with smiting tools, you also need the tools handy and smith facilities such as a forge and anvil. What else do they need? Materials! That's right! Reference the TRADE GOODS table on page 157 of the PHB. For ordinary, nonmagical crafting materials, I would either pull things straight off that table or base the the values of materials one similar stuff to that table. What materials go into a sword? Iron for the blade. The handle is going to be wood with a leather wrap.

I'm only going to work with quantities as abstractly as possible and make up with a price that seems fair. If the player says "I go to the store and I buy materials," I would just say "you have bought the right amount of materials, x,y, and z for your project. It cost 4 sp." I am not going to get crunchy. In fact, I might not even name x,y,z. I might just say "you bought the materials you need, 4sp." Easy. In fact, as long as you're not working with exotic or rare materials, keep it simple. What do you need to make your thing? You need materials. Where do you get them? The shop. That'll be 2 gp.

To craft a +0 item, a common, ordinary, regular, average item, a longsword without any bonuses or penalties, I would just rule that you can do it if you meet all the criteria above. No dice rolls, no nothing. If you want to be able to craft without having met this criteria, take a feat to get proficiency in one artisan tool. I'm making up a Feat: Tool proficiency. Choose one artisan tool. You are now proficient with that tool. You could also take this feat to gain proficiency in another tool for even more crafting possibilities.

To improve crafting, take a feat. To craft a +1 item, well, that takes talent. That takes investment. Dare I say, you the player have to make a choice. When you hit level 4, do you take the ability score improvement or do you take a feat that improves your crafting ability? You've played Skyrim, right? You don't just get to MAKE glass equipment. You have to INVEST perks. In other words, you have to BUILD your character to be able to craft. I don't see why D&D would be any different! The player has to make choices with consequences. Everything has an opportunity cost. Do I take a +1 to an ability score or do I get to make +1 items? What are the pros and cons?

This is the same for a +2 or +3 weapon. You have to give up an ABI to take a feat. "Craft Improved Items" for +1, has prerequisites, "Craft Superior Items," for +2 items, has prerequisites, and finally "Craft Masterwork Items" for +3 items, has prerequisites. If you want to create magical items, I'm going to rule that requires you to have access to a spellcaster who must know the spell you wish to craft into the item. The spellcaster can be you or an assistant. I might even require ANOTHER feat, say, "Craft Magical Items." With this feat, the weapons you make can now do magical damage.

The reason for all this is that I am opposed to players just being able to make shit. You're adventurers. Go get it! Why do some players think they can just craft stuff? If you want to be able to craft stuff, what are you willing to give up? If you want to be a fighter, you give up spellcasting. If you want to be a spellcaster, you give up being good with weapons and armor. If you want to be a crafter, you have to give up being good at magic and fighting. That's how you balance the game. That's how you give weight to your choices. I have added the fourth pillar.

Oh yeah, how much time does this shit take? The PHB says it takes like all day to make progress in increments described as 5gp worth of progress. If the item costs 1825 gp, you spend 8 hours per day for 1 year to make it. Uh, no. Nuts to that. I mean, maybe, but no. It's not practical for a crafting system. Just say your players can make 1 item in a weeks worth of downtime and move on.

I'm going to finish reading The Angry GM's articles now. He has some good ideas and it's definitely not dry, that's for sure.

To summarize:
-You must have proficiency in an artisan tool to craft and you can craft nonmagical goods relevant to that tool.
-You can expand the types of items you can craft by taking a feat for proficiency with additional tools. --Feat: Tool proficiency. Choose one artisan tool. You are now proficient with that tool.
-You can improve your crafting only by sacrificing Ability Score Improvements for feats:
--"Craft Improved Items" for +1 items, has prerequisites
--"Craft Superior Items," for +2 items, has prerequisites
--"Craft Masterwork Items" for +3 items, has prerequisites.
--To craft magic items, either be a spellcaster, get an assist who is a spellcastet, or take another feat "Craft Magical Items."
-Materials and time required are as simple abstract as possible.

Essentially, players make a crafter build in lieu of other build options rather than getting the benefits of being a crafter in addition to other build options. That's game balance. Pardon the swearing in my post.

SAMPLE MAGIC WEAPONS AND ARMOR
Belt of Strength: Improves wearers strength score by 3
Bracers of Strength: Improves wearers strength by 2
Ring of Strength: Improves wearer's melee and throwing weapon damage by +1
Ring of Protection: Improve AC by 1
Winged Boots: Improve movement by 10' and Save vs Death Ray by +1
Circlet of Intelligence: Improves the wearer's intelligence by 3.
Lucky Charm: Required to be worn as jewelry. Improves all saving throws by +1.
Cloak of Flames: Protects wearer from fire damage
Cloak of the Wind: +2 AC against missile weapons
Anti-Magic Talisman: Protects the wearer from 3d6 magic damage per day, then must recharge
Anti-Poison Amulet: Wearer gains a +4 to Save vs Poison.
Crystal Ball +1: Improves scrying
Hammer of Storms +2: A +2 war hammer. Twice daily when outdoors, the wielder call a bolt of lightning and direct it to one creature for 6d6 lightning damage. They may save vs Death Ray for half.
Golden Sword +2: A +2 shortsword that turns gold and flames on command. It does fire damage and creates 30' of light.
Rod of Light +1: A +1 mace that lights on command.
Dagger of Poison: A dagger that produces 1 dose of lethal poison each day. When hit, target takes 1d4 damage and must save vs poison or die.
Mage's Bane: Wielding this long dagger grants a +4 to saves vs spells.
Anti-Magic Ring: Wearer is granted a +2 to saves vs magic wands and spells.

The Devil's Relic Chaper 1: Old Soldiers and the Young Servant

 James ran scared through the dark, through the lavish halls of the Franklin Manor to the comfortable parlor room decorated with retired flintlock pistols and old cavalry sabers. His breathing and the echoing thumping of his boots on hardwood floors pushed his panic further into the back of his dry throat until it felt like burning. He swallowed deliberately in-between two breathes, but his fight or flight remained. If only the rain and thunder would hide his sounds from the beast, which was surely behind him. He couldn't hear it pursuing him, but he imagined the shortest inch out vicious take-down reach.
    He rounded a corner with a pivot and a spin. He was didn't believe what his eyes were lying to him about the dark empty hallway. He dashed! The parlor door appeared as a goal at the end of a desperate race. He brought his knees to his chest with every adrenaline tempered stride. His hands resembled the knife hands of an instructing Sergent as he flung heave his shoulders with each pump of his arms. Hit breath coming out rhythmically like a numatic machine.
    He could feel it. Any minute now. Claws. Teeth. Tackled and rolling to the ground. No! He though. It mustn't happen!
    Then the door was almost in reach and flung himself at it. He twisted the knob and the parlor door took him insie like an ocean wave. He stomped the ground and lunged to close it behind him. He held his breath as he faced the room and a moment of hesitation. Which one do I pick and do I have the blessing of my host to violate his retired military affects? But he knew precisely that he wanted the cavalry saber with the pistol grip. He lost a second after closing the door before seizing the saber from the wall hooks. He discarded the scabbard with a single heave. The blade flashed some moonlight from the window and he slowly retreated into the corner.
    He was at last alone with his thoughts and a weapon. He needed to catch his breath for the moment that door came off the hinges. A flash of lightning came in. A few breathes later and he heard a distant crackle and a boom. He concentrated his gazed at that door and willed himself not to inevitably flinch. Moments passed in the long room with droplets of sweat streaking down the small of his back.
    James began to feel that sense of danger again, but it bid him to turn around and creep away from the window. Any moment, he thought, and the window will betray me!
    And from outside the room came a startling, distant sound like a  vase heavy with water crashing from waist high to hard floors. There was was the sound of a squeak after that, like a boot, and a crunch of glass. James pictured the beast searching with his nose, far more calmly than James, and he imagined the beast in the kitchen.
    James choked on his spit and spoke under his ragged breathe "He doesn't want to have the confrontation in the parlor. That's alright. This gives me more time." It meant more time for him to recover from his whirlwind sprint. "But..." he remembered, "Erin is hiding somewhere." A cold sensation went through his gut like a wave.
    He took an instinctual step forward out of his corner. He crept to the parlor door. He flicked away aniety in his hand with a saber flourish and it regrettably felt like a waste of precious strength. The door did not burst. He paused in front of it to listen. He reached. He turned the knob. He opened the door wide and gave it clearance. He looked down the hall. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the light.
    The saber let James out of the parlor towards the kitchen. He pictured the poor trembling servant in her silly little apron. Then he imagined her lying in a heap with a pool of blood and lifeless eyes and a trail of blood leading away. I told her to hide, he thought. If she's dead, it's because I left her to corner herself, helpless and vulnerable. Did the beast chase the wrong prey!
    The kitchen had windows and a lot of white surfaces that showed any dark objects with stark contrast in moon light. He saw the vase and a shiny space of floor and a scattering of flowers. He felt the table with his fingertips as he walked past. He took up a piece of cutlery and gave it a toss forward. It clanged on the floor and bounced and slid ringing. The room which was ordinarily warm and busy felt drafty and void. He was keenly aware that some of the staff who manned this kitchen were already mauled and dead, never to warm this room again either literally or poetically.
    He found the open doorway to the dinning room and braced himself for a vicious tackle. He concentrated on her peripheral vision on his first step in and flung his head this way and that to clear the corners. Very good. Then a dark form moved on the other side of the long table. It was the same unnaturally tall, hunched and powerful man-shaped silhouette with a torn strip of shirt across its torso like a bandolier and ragged trousers.
    "What's that?" Its voice was a growl. James presented the sword forcefully, but his voice cracked "I made a trip to the parlor!" His knees betrayed him and he stance displayed bravado. He was immediately acutely aware of his shaking legs.
    "I can smell your fear." The beast laughed. He inhaled deeply. "You ought to kill yourself on that sword to spite me."
    "I warn you," James feigned intensity.
    A moment passed. The beast was entirely still. "Well. What's your warning?"
    A very distant thunder rolled while James thought. He searched his mind for something powerful, for something intimidating, for something sharp. He found nothing he was proud of. Just the silly words of young soldiers cursing other young soldiers before dying or killing. He felt as though too much time passed and his opportunity to threaten the monster effectively had passed, so he said nothing and waited.
    "I have overcome my battle fatigue. In this form I have piss and vigor again." The beast said. He stepped into the square of moonlight and his fur covered body was clearly that of a man with an animals mouth. He had remorseless eyes now. "And looking at you I realize now that Brent Keen was truely dead since the war. I became a shadow of a man, like you James. You're a coward. You shared with me as much. How you miss sleeping with a rifle. How you sense danger whenever you turn a corner. I used to be like you, then I traded my immortal soul for peace."
    "You call this peace? I call it blood lust. You call yourself a man!"
    "NO! Not a man. Not anymore. I have transcended!" The beast formerly Brent presented his full height and opened his arms. "The power of the devil's relic! I'm invincible!"
    James gulped.
    Brent pointed a clawed and massive finger at him James. "I've saved you for last."
    James gulped again.
    "Aren't you the last one?" He swung his head and sniffed one long prominent sniff. He closed his fierce and blue eyes in concentration. He grinned. "You're not the last one yet, are you? Do tell, who's left?"
    "Brent, why!" Anger rose from his stomach like fire. James gritted his teeth, furrowed his brow, and flared his nostrils.
    "For the thrill." The beast grinned. "This is better than making love with three women!" Brent flexed every muscle and curled his powerful claws.
    James seethed. A moment of silence passed. A little laugh hissed slowly out of Brent as he turned and raced away.
    "Bastard!" James took off after the beast and his first steps were angry stomps. He sailed through the dinning room and passed through a door than another room than into the hall. He skidded to a halt and surveyed each direction. "Brent! I'll test this edge on you, you bastard!"
    In the distance, he heard a delighted and beastly "that's the spirit!"
    James ears honed in on the source and the chase was on. He bolted yet again. He crashed through a door and kept going. He found the servants quarters. The small, messy little room of the young servant girl. Garments were strewn about. A wardrobe was turned over. A mattress was crooked and folded.
    A clatter of miscellaneous objects and a crash came from elsewhere and James was away again. He smacked the door frame with the saber on his way and it rang as he sprinted the length of another hallway. He ran past a smear on the wall with a twisted corpse underneath it. He felt his heart flutter when he rounded a corner. Stomps and more clatter. A smash. A crash. A high pitched yelp. James entered the grand foyer like a he was escaping fire.
    The beasts shadow left the room. James charged instinctively. He hit a large, hairy statue. A final sound like growl was silenced by a buried saber in it's body up to the hilt. James had unintentionally did his job. He The smelly, towering form wobbled. James to a step away from the saber handle and dove and rolled out from under a great big collapsing brute.
    From a mountain climbers position on the floor he looked over his shoulder at the beast and searched it thoroughly for signs that it was definitely not alive. Finally, he heard the breathing of someone else over the sound of his heart in his ears. His eyes darted to a short, petite woman with wide eyes on her knees in a bloody apron.
    "James?" Erin whispered cautiously. She was alright. James crawled a few paces than pulled himself to a kneeling position over the beast.
    Brent's beast face was twisted in agony, his head was bent back, his back was arched. James realized this was position was because of the blood streaked 15 inch blade sticking out of his chest.
    The beast's body was entirely tense. It violently settled and spasmed and settled finally. Brent's eyes rolled and found James'. Then they turned cloudy.