

W
hether you're chasing across rooftops trying to 
avoid capture by town guards, dashing through
the undergrowth in pursuit of unknown prey, At the start of every turn, the DM should check for chase
or playing a game of tag with an owlbear cub, complications using the Chase Complication Table given later.
sometimes it's fun to just run. This is a set of If a complication is rolled, it should affect the current
custom rules that can be used during an participant only. This complication is resolved first.
encounter that involves chasing that ties into Afterwards, if the participant still has actions and
the standard D&D combat and movement rules, but movement left, they should make a Strength (Athletics) or
streamlines a lot of concepts to make these sorts of Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against their Move DC. This is a
encounters more interesting. Move Check. On a success, they remain in the section of the
chase track that they are currently in. If they exceed the Move
 DC by five or more, they move one section forward. (If a player
To begin a chase, mark out a 'chase track'. The track has five in Front would move one section forward, instead all other
sections on it, described as follows: participants move one section backwards.)
Front: This section marks the 'head' of the race, where all If a participant wishes, they may make an action before
participants are generally trying to be. There should always making this check. They may make any action that is
be at least one participant here. described in the 'Actions in Combat' section of the Player's
Point-Blank: The participants immediately behind the Handbook, except for the Dash and Disengage actions. If the
Front are described as being at Point-Blank range. participant does this, they make the Move Check with
Participants in this area may make melee weapon or spell disadvantage.
attacks against participants in the Front, although this must A participant may also take a bonus action before making
involve making an attack roll with disadvantage. Participants the Move Check. If they have the ability to dash using this
who make this attack with a weapon with the 'reach' quality do bonus action, and they choose to take it, they may make the
not suffer from this disadvantage. Move Check with advantage.
Short Range: This section is considered to be about 30 ft. If a player has used their movement and their action during
behind the Front and Point-Blank sections for the sake of their turn, they cannot succeed the check, and automatically
spells, weapons, and effects with a range. fail.
Medium Range: Participants in Medium Range are an 
additional 60 ft. behind Short Range.
Long Range: Participants in Long Range are an additional At the start of each turn, the Dungeon Master should roll 3d6,
60 ft. behind Medium Range. and consult the following table.
Participants who fall beyond Long Range are considered
out of the chase. If they are still able to move, and they know 3d6 Complication 3d4 Complication
where the chase is headed, they may continue moving 3 Entanglement 7 Poor Visibility
towards that goal, but they will arrive long after all of the other
participants. 4 Herd or Crowd 8 Uneven Ground
Participants within a single section are assumed to be 5 Barrier 9 Impediment
within 5 ft. of each other. 6 Obstacles 10+ No Complication
At the start of the chase, the quarry should be put in Front.
Other participants may go in the other sections of the chase The complications are described as follows.
track according to their positions away from the quarry. Entanglement. An entanglement might be either
All participants should then roll initiative as usual. If the purposeful (like a net or rope trap), or accidental (like vines, or
chase is an extension of an existing fight scene, the a clothesline covered in washing). Either way, it poses a severe
participants should keep the initiative used during that fight. risk to a player. Make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a
Each participant should also calculate their Move DC. This failed save, you are restrained as if caught in a net. See
is equal to 20 - (Speed / 5). For most participants this will be chapter 5, "Equipment," of the Player's Handbook for rules on
their normal speed, but if a participant has another speed (e.g. escaping a net.
a fly speed or swim speed) they may use that value instead if Herd or Crowd. You must pass through a herd or group of
it makes sense to do so in the situation. animals or people that currently are not involved in the chase.
For example, a Human Monk with a speed of 40 ft. will have Make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, you
a Move DC of 12, while an Ancient Blue Dragon chasing down take 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 bludgeoning damage, and
an aerial opponent (and thus able to use their fly speed of 80 are knocked prone.
ft.) will have a Move DC of 4.
The minimum Move DC is 0. If a participant would have a
Move DC lower than this, they instead have a Move DC of 0.
 

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At the Dungeon Master's option (regardless of the result of The first one makes a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, and
the saving throw), the herd or crowd may join the chase. If gets a total of 19. This is more than 12, but it is also more than
this happens, the herd should be put onto the chase track in 17, so the Spined Devil moves one step closer to the group,
the same section as the participant they have just affected. and is now in Point-Blank range. The other Spined Devil
The Dungeon Master should choose appropriate stats for this chooses to use its action to launch two Tail Spines at Ared and
herd, and roll initiative accordingly. Bretha. This attack has a range of 20/80, but the Spined Devil
Barrier. A barrier is an obstacle that needs to be avoided or is currently about 30 ft. away from the players, so it must
climbed over. It might be a wall, a building, a wide tree, or a make its attack roles with disadvantage.
river. Make a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failed After it has made the attack, it must then make a Move
check, you are knocked prone. Check. Because it has used its action to attack, it must make
Obstacles. Obstacles are multiple smaller complications this check with disadvantage as well. It gets a 9 in total, which
that require dexterity or intelligence to plot a path through. is less than the Move DC of 12, so it moves back to Medium
Outside, they might take the form of crates, bushes, or a field Range.
of giant mushrooms, while inside they might be chairs or Ared takes her turn next. She is a Human Monk, with a
pews. In populated areas, a crowd could be an obstacle. Make move speed of 40 ft. so she also has a Move DC of 12. The
a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Intelligence check (your DM rolls for a complication, and gets an Impediment. She
choice). On a failed check, this terrain counts as difficult describes how a mining cart has been left in this tunnel, and
terrain. For this turn, recalculate your Move DC as 20 - Ared makes a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to leap over it,
(Speed / 10). which she fails at. Because of this, she has to make her Move
Poor Visibility. Poor visibility could be due to the terrain Check with disadvantage. However, Ared spends a Ki point to
(dense brush or a blind corner), or it could be an use her Step of the Wind feature. This allows her to dash as a
environmental effect (a busy area, smoke, or an accidental bonus action, which gives her advantage on her Move Check.
flour explosion). Make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On This cancels out her disadvantage, so she rolls normally.
a failed save, you are blinded for this turn. In addition, your
Move Check is made with disadvantage. 
Uneven Ground. Uneven ground represents a portion of This is a collection of additional notes and details that help
the trail you are falling being particularly difficult to run on. describe certain parts of these rules in more detail, and gives
This might be because of a change in elevation, a river bank, additional advice on how to run chases in different situations.
swampy ground, or soft sand. Make a DC 10 Dexterity Ending the Chase. There are multiple ways of ending a
(Acrobatics) check. On a failed check, your Move Check is chase. If all of the pursuers have fallen back beyond Long
made with disadvantage. Range, then the quarry has won. In addition, if the quarry is
Impediment. An impediment is a minor complication that able to make a successful Hide action, the pursuers will be
can be avoided with dexterity or with brute strength. It might unable to continue the chase. Conversely, if the pursuers are
be a single cart, a flock of birds, a tree branch, or a fallen log. able to catch up to the quarry, they may have a chance at
Make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) capturing or killing it.
check. On a failed check, your Move Check is made with Another way of ending a chase is for it to reach a
disadvantage. destination. For example, a quarry may have a certain bolthole
 that they can try and reach. If they make it there, it might be
possible to disappear into the crowd, or call on some sort of
Ared, Bretha, and Cornelius are running away from a pack of armed response to help them. In this case, the DM might keep
eight Spined Devils that they have managed to anger. The DM track of the total distance the participants have travelled in
draws up a simple diagram to show where all the participants some way - perhaps by tracking rounds. Alternatively, they
are, and puts the three player characters in Front. She could end the chase whenever they roll 18 while rolling for a
decides that the Spined Devils are about thirty ft. away from chase complication.
the PCs, so she puts them in Short Range. Finally, the most obvious way of ending any chase is for the
All participants roll initiative, and Cornelius goes first. participants to get bored or unwilling to continue. Guards will
Before he does anything, the DM rolls for a complication, and probably stop chasing minor criminals if they get outside the
gets 19, indicating that no complication has arisen. Cornelius city gates (although they'll certainly keep watch for them
is a halfling, which means his Speed is 25 ft. and so his Move coming back). An animal may end up completely exhausted,
DC is 15. He has proficiency in Athletics, however, so he rolls and collapse just as its hunters arrive. Chases are meant to be
a d20 and adds his Strength (Athletics) bonus on. He gets a exciting - if they are becoming repetitive, the DM should find
17 total, which is greater than 15, so he is able to stay where some other way to continue the story.
he is. Exhaustion. In the chase rules in the Dungeon Master's
After this, two Spined Devils take their turns. The DM rolls Guide, players may make the Dash action a number of times
for each of them on the Chase Complication table, and gets equal to 3 + their Constitution modifier. After this, to continue
'No Complication' again, both times. The participants are dashing, the player must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution
running through caves, but the DM decides that the tunnels check, or gain one level of exhaustion. Given that players are
here are big enough that the Spined Devils will be able to fly always assumed to be dashing unless otherwise stated, this
after the players. Their fly speed is 40 ft. which gives them a exhaustion mechanic is not included in these rules.
Move DC of 12.

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If you as a DM want to indicate that chases can be
exhausting, you could include the following rule: Any
participant may choose to gain one level of exhaustion, and Credits
reroll their Move Check immediately after resolving it. They These chase rules are heavily based on the chase
keep all the bonuses and penalties (including advantage and rules designed for Pathfinder by Geek Related,
disadvantage), and apply them to the second check. They available here.
must keep the second check. They may only gain one level of
exhaustion each round in this manner.
Opportunity Attacks. All participants are assumed to be
moving at such speeds that opportunity attacks are generally
impossible. As such, during a chase, no participant may make
an opportunity attack, although they may use their reaction in
other ways.
Movement-based Abilities. Some creatures have abilities
that require movement to activate. When deciding whether
the conditions for these abilities have been met, assume that
both (a) the creature has moved its full Speed during this
turn, and (b) the creature and all other participants are
moving in the direction of the chase. For example, a creature
with an ability to deal additional damage on an attack if it has
moved 15 ft. towards that creature on its turn will be able to
use this ability if its Speed is more than 15 ft, assuming the
other creature is within the same section as it.
Advantage on Move Checks. The rules described above in
On Each Turn should be enough for most interactions with
existing features that participating characters may have.
However, if these rules are unclear, the principles for them are
outlined as follows, so that DMs may decide how they should
implement a Move Check for themselves.
In general, a move check assumes that the player is able to
both move and dash once on their turn. In this situation, the
player should have neither advantage nor disadvantage. If a
player uses up their action doing something else, they cannot
dash, and so have disadvantage. Likewise, if the player is
prone, they will need to spend some of their movement
standing up, and so will have disadvantage even though they
can dash.
Conversely, a player that can dash as a bonus action will be
able to dash twice during their turn. This should give them
advantage. If a player uses their bonus action to dash, but
their main action to make an attack, they have used only one
dash and one move, so they again have neither advantage nor
disadvantage.
Varying the Complication Table. The complications
described in the table are designed to be as generic as
possible, and should be applicable to jungles, caves, or cities.
However, it may be that you want to vary it to be more suitable
to your particular situation. In this case, I recommend looking
at the tables in the Chases section of the Dungeon Master's
Guide. Note, however, that the Complication Table used in this
ruleset is designed using the probability curve created by
rolling 3d6. That means that complications with lower
numbers are significantly less likely, but significantly more
dangerous if they do happen. The probability curve can be
viewed here.