Enemies trying to escape house rule

[EPenna]

So, in more than one occasion I had situations were the Company outnumbered their enemies and it made sense for those enemies to try to escape, but it's in the Company's best interest not to let them. The most common scenario is the enemies trying to escape from a combat they've already lost to try to alert others, and the player heroes not wanting them to do so.

It feels wrong to just let the enemies escape automatically (unless they have Fell Speed or other similar abilities), so I came up with the following rule, which pretty much mirrors the Escape Combat maneuver available to heroes:

Adversaries not engaged with any player heroes in the previous round may automatically escape combat at the start of a new round. Otherwise, at the end of a combat round spent fighting a player hero in a close combat stance, they must pass a Movement test, whose TN is 10 + the highest Body or Wits amongst the player heroes engaged with the enemy. A great or extraordinary success is needed if the enemy is engaged with more than one player hero. A failure means the enemy can’t escape, and cannot attack its next turn.

The only bit I'm not 100% happy about is the Body or Wits bit, but I just can't decide which would be more appropriate (Body seems right for heroes physically restraining or otherwise using force to restrict their enemy's movement, while Wits feels like the better choice for those using cunning and strategy), so I ended up using both.

[Indur Dawndeath]

I've been using that house rule since I started playing.
Enemies escape if they pass a Movement test against TN10+Body of the opponent they are engaged with. Great success needed if engaged with multipl players.

After that I let the players chase after the enemy.
The chase starts with the enemy leading by one success.
They catch him if they score a better quality success on their athletics.
And the enemy has finally escaped if he gain a lead of 3 successes.

A ranged shot from a companion, gives the enemy 1 lead from that companion. I keep track of the players and enemies individually.

The enemy can try to pass obstacles with a base TN, that must be passed first by the enemy and after by the players.

(Ex. The Orc escapes close combat, succeeding Movement TN15 (Hero with Body of 5). Chase is on... The Orc immediately climbs a tree. Movement / Athletics TN16. If he fails this test, the player will catch him at the bottom of the tree, injured from the fall, if they succeed in a normal Athletics TN14. If the Orc succeeds, then the players must also succeed to keep up...)

Works very well for my group.