better wilderness pursuit rules for B-X D&D
m. werneburg, 2017.01.22
The rules around wilderness pursuit in Basic/Expert Dungeons and Dragons never made much sense. Here's a revision, where I adopted three rules based on three of the four steps from a post 18 months ago on fixing the pursuit rules in version 5e runagame.net.
Wilderness chase
Step 1. Disengage the enemy.
| Condition | Base likelihood |
|---|---|
| Prior detection | 85% |
| Surprise encounter | 70% |
| Ranged combat | 55% |
| Hand-to-hand melee | 40% |
| Suggested modifiers | |
| - 25% if the fleeing are wounded | |
| - 10% is making a fighting retreat | |
| +25% if supported by covering fire | |
| +20% conditions: fire, rain, etc |
Step 2. Flee line of sight.
| Terrain | Base likelihood |
|---|---|
| Reg desert | 5% |
| Lake | 10% |
| Grassland | 20% |
| Erg desert | 20% |
| Hills | 30% |
| Mountains | 40% |
| Ruins, badlands | 60% |
| Wetland | 70% |
| Suggested modifiers | +40% night |
| +25% heavy rain | |
| +15% light forest | |
| +15% rain forest | |
| +25% dense brambles | |
| - 25% pursuit by predator on its turf |
Step 3. Find path out of search area or distract pursuers. Monsters or player characters with a strong affinity for a certain environment will evade pursuers on 1-5 on 1d6. E.g. Erdei seeking to evade non-erdei pursuers in the wilderness. Otherwise, evading characters must successfully roll less than or equal to their WIT score on 2d8 to escape.
rand()m quote
Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee, and do not try to make the universe a blind alley.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson