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There are a few scenarios where the BBEG (or one of the other encounters) is written to escape under certain conditions. If they're carrying some gear, should I give the players less gold because the loot got away?
PFS Guide tells DMs to reward creative solutions, and give full reward if an encounter is bypassed by roleplaying. But this is somewhat different, as there was combat, and the enemy escaped with the loot.
For what it's worth, I've seen DMs usually deducting the loot in this case.
Venture-Captain, Massachusetts—Central & West
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Relevant Guide Text:
Step 5: Determine the Max Gold for the scenario based
on the PC’s advancement rate and the subtier played and
circle the applicable value (F). This value represents the
total gold piece value a character may receive for defeating
all enemies and finding all treasure in a scenario. If the
player is playing a non-1st-level pregenerated character,
he may choose instead to apply this Chronicle to a newly
created 1st-level character. If this is the case, reduce this
value to 500 gp (or 250 gp for the slow advancement track).
If the PCs failed to earn any of the rewards listed in an
individual act, deduct the amount listed for the applicable
subtier from the Chronicle’s Max Gold. Place the sum of
this calculation in the shaded GP Gained field and initial
the adjacent box (Q).
Usually, the amount of loot you get is determined if you meet the success conditions from that encounter. To give you a personal reference, the encounter you played, The Sarkorian Prophecy, has a two-clause (if A and B, then give the party X gold pieces):
Sarkorian Prophecy, award each tier thusly:
In this case, the party did A (making him run away in fear of death is akin to defeat at least in my book) but not B because he has the items on him when he got out of there.
There are scenarios (I can think of at least one off the top of my head) that has an enemy who escapes when the battle isn't going their way, but the story includes some extra fluff around the lab to keep money the same (Quoted text in spoiler).
gear because of his escape, they locate
several crates filled with exotic materials for making
dolls behind the dais at the east end of the room.
However, in those cases, the conditions are with an "or" so completing either gets you full amount of gold.
trade goods, reward each subtier thus.
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There are scenarios (I can think of at least one off the top of my head) that has an enemy who escapes when the battle isn't going their way, but the story includes some extra fluff around the lab to keep money the same (Quoted text in spoiler).
However, in those cases, the conditions are with an "or" so completing either gets you full amount of gold.
Hang on, I played that one & lost over 1k gold because of the escape, without any opportunity to discover anything else. Basically guy escaped game over you lose gold. Also crossed off several items from chronicle I'm assuming the BBEG was wearing when he left. Was this for both tiers? I remember this distinctly because I was urged to play up so we did high tier and then lost a lot of the gold anyway. Higher risk but no reward.
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Usually, the amount of loot you get is determined if you meet the success conditions from that encounter. To give you a personal reference, the encounter you played, The Sarkorian Prophecy, has a two-clause (if A and B, then give the party X gold pieces):
I've been deducting gold in First Steps—Part II: To Delve the Dungeon Deep, and First Steps—Part III: A Vision of Betrayal. Granted, it was the Sarkorian Prophecy that made think was I being fair to my players (I didn't think you weren't - you rock!).
Now that you quoted the examples from Sarkorian Prophecy, I checked the First Steps text. Part II had text similar to the Sarkorian Prophecy. However, about part III:
When I ran it, one the gillmen escaped with the artifact. I didn't count that as defeating, and deducted gold based on the gear he was carrying.
After this discussion, I think I did the right thing. And it looks like it was a lot clearer than I thought/remembered. Thanks for pointing it out.
Sure, there probably are some gray areas somewhere, but most of the text is pretty clear.
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Venture-Captain, Massachusetts—Central & West
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Hang on, I played that one & lost over 1k gold because of the escape, without any opportunity to discover anything else. Basically guy escaped game over you lose gold. Also crossed off several items from chronicle I'm assuming the BBEG was wearing when he left. Was this for both tiers? I remember this distinctly because I was urged to play up so we did high tier and then lost a lot of the gold anyway. Higher risk but no reward.
That text is applicable to both tiers. Looks like your GM didn't read the text after the fight (which is easy to do, trust me) being the BBEG and all. Since his escape pretty much instant, there's little way to get around it.
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That text is applicable to both tiers. Looks like your GM didn't read the text after the fight (which is easy to do, trust me) being the BBEG and all. Since his escape pretty much instant, there's little way to get around it.
Exactly why I thought something was wonky at the time - just because he had a random amount of damage on his turn he disappeared & we lost 20% of the gold from the entire scenario? Didn't seem right. Off to ask for a refund...
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I'm not a fan of escaping enemies meaning less gold. There are any number of reasons, in character, to let enemies escape. Also, chasing escaping enemies eats up time that could be used to run that really interesting optional encounter or finish the scenario in time for the next session.
