I plan on running a chase scene for my players using the Chase Subsystem rules from the GMG, and I was just hoping for some input before I bring it to the table
Mostly I'm wondering if I am setting proper DCs for the party (5, level 1 PCs) to be able to reasonably succeed while still feeling challenged.
Here's what I have:
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The Chase
In order for the PCs to move forward each obstacle requires a number of chase points greater than or equal to the number of PCs attempting it.
crit fail = -1pt
fail = 0 pts
success = 1pt
crit success = 2 pts
If a PC fails to move forward for 2 rounds, they are out of the pursuit.
1.) Crowd (1st) DC 15 Acrobatics or Athletics to weave or push through, DC 13 Society to follow the flow of the crowd, DC 16 Intimidation to scare everyone out of the way, DC 14 Deception to yell "police!" or "fire brigade!" to clear crowd
Splitting Paths
The ground is crowded and cluttered and requires a mix of skills to progress. The rooftops are clear but require more difficult athletics and acrobatics checks. The PCs are free to choose
Ground path
2a.) Plate Glass Movers (1st) Ranged attack roll to shatter the glass (AC 20, 1hp), DC 14 Intimidation/Society/Deception/Diplomacy to make the workers move it out of the way
-On a success to shatter the glass all PC's may progress regardless of chase point totals
3a.) Twisting Alleyways (1st) DC 15 Perception to find a path, DC 13 Society to recall dead end marking glyphs, DC 14 Diplomacy to ask passers by "which way did he go?"
4a.) Guard Dog (1st) DC 13 Nature to calm, DC 16 Stealth to sneak past, DC 15 Deception to fake out (throw ball, "who's at the door," etc), DC 19 Intimidate
If PCs succeed there is an open path to catch up to the target on the ground
Rooftops
2b.) Fire Escape Up (1st) Ranged attacked on the lever to release the ladder (AC20, hp1), DC 16 Acrobatics to swing up from a lamp post, DC 15 Athletics to jump up from the roof of a cart.
-On a success to drop the ladder all PCs may progress regardless of chase point totals
-On an Athletics or Acrobatics crit fail -- fall 10ft.
-On a success the PCs rush up the fire escape and across the roof and are now in front of the target, but 30ft above them. They can choose to try to jump down on them and end the chase (see falling rules)
3b.) Rickety Rooftops (1st) DC 15 Acrobatics to cross clotheslines, DC 16 Athletics to jump from roof to roof
4b.) Iron Gate to Fire Escape Down (1st) DC 16 Athletics/Acrobatics to climb/leap over, DC 15 Thievery to unlock gate
If PCs succeed they find themselves in front of the target, who runs right into them
If both groups succeed they trap the target in a pincer
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Thoughts, comments, suggestions welcome
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You've obviously done your homework, but I think the chase chapter has some sneaky bits buried in it that are only obvious if you've been doing chases for lots of PF1 years.
Specifically;
If a PC fails to move forward for 2 rounds, they are out of the pursuit.
This isn't really a thing. The group collects points, and if the group has enough points to get past an obstacle, all of them are past it.
Original PF1 chases were really personal things, but turned out to be really awful. Like when a paladin in fullplate with a big armor check penalty (remember, PF1) would get stuck behind a garden wall because paladins got almost no skill points so couldn't climb. Those chases tended to leave a few players stranded and frustrated. PF2 doesn't do this anymore. Chases are as a group.
DCs are a bit wonky for chases. The GMG section says:
When you set the DCs for an obstacle, you’ll typically be using simple DCs. Use a proficiency rank that’s generally appropriate for the PCs’ level if you want the obstacle to be a significant one. As noted earlier, you’ll typically want to select a couple different ways the group can get past an obstacle. At least one check should be have an easy or very easy adjustment, while the other check should have a standard or hard DC. In some cases you might use something other than a simple DC; for example, if a specific NPC has put up a magical barrier, you would use their spell DC. This might result in some pretty tough DCs or even impassable obstacles, so use this carefully!
If a PC improvises a different way to get around an obstacle from what you planned, set the DC just like you would normally when picking a DC on the fly. Don’t worry about adjusting the DC of the check to be easy or very easy, because the PC is likely to be good at the skill they’ve chosen to use.
For your level 1 party, you're looking at either Untrained (10) or Trained (15) DCs, with quite a few Easy (-2) or Very Easy (-5) modifiers on top of that. So you might have quite a couple of DC 12, 10, 8 or even 5 checks. Does that seem surprisingly low? Yeah, but there is a madness to this method.
Typically in a chase, the opposition is moving at a speed of one obstacle per round. And whoever is being chased has a lead. If the prey gets to the finish before being caught, they get away. So if your players are chasing someone, that person would start perhaps 2 obstacles away from them, and the players need to beat on average more than 1 obstacle per round to overtake the prey before the finish. But an obstacles typically takes about as many successes as there are players to beat. So how do you do that? By having quite a few critical successes. The total tally of (crits + hits - critical failures) should be a bit above the number of players. How do you achieve that? With pretty low DCs.
This also has the side effect of creating a feeling of speed. If the group is critting a lot and blowing past more than one obstacle per round, it feels like they're going fast. Which you want, since this is a chase.
So I would say, lower your DCs, and put in more obstacles, because otherwise your bad guy is going to get to the finish line before they get overtaken.
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Another interesting aspect of chases is how rounds work. In a round, every PC gets to do something, in any order. Then the opposition makes a move. Then next round.
So what ideally happens is that the PCs run into an obstacle, and they put forward someone who's good at that kind of obstacle. That helps them to crit, and altogether, it didn't take the whole party to get past this obstacle. So within the same round, the leftover people already start to take a crack at the next obstacle. The next round, again they put forward the people who are best at that particular obstacle. So the PCs take their actions in a different order, to try to get the best people taking down each obstacle.
This is nice, because the players deciding who's gonna do what, who do they want to keep in reserve for the next thing, gives them more agency in the whole scene. Otherwise it'd just be people trying to roll high on whatever relevant skill they have but not making real choices.