Fleeing is important. It’s the only way to get a good speed run time. And a critical point to understand is how fleeing works. The flee chance is essentially a saving throw.
If the 1st person in the party’s saving throw exceeds the saving throw of the first creature (the “[a]” group), then the flee is successful, otherwise you are forced to fight. My understanding is that a tie is a failed saving throw and a failed flee attempt. But even if the position 1 character’s saving roll fails, the party still has an independent 1/8 chance to flee.
There is a flee penalty (harder to flee) at night in the city. As far as I am aware, this penalty exists only in the city and only at night. The following thread has a more detailed explanation: https://bardstale.brotherhood.de/talefiles/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=949&start=90
There are a few cases where a successful flee will force the player party back to the square from which they entered. Some prominent examples in the MSDOS version are:
- The various Guardians in the city
- The Captain of the Guard (Master Ninja) in Harkyn’s Castle Lvl 1, and
- The Crystal Golem in Kylearan’s Tower.
However, other cases of forced encounters of a fixed set of creatures can be fled from as if it was a normal fight, permitting the party to advance to and through that square. (E.g., the four Golems in Harkyn 1).
The higher level creatures encountered in Mangar’s tower are very difficult for a low level (level 13 or less) character to flee from. At Mangar lvl 4 and 5, even more so. This complicates a speed run because about 1/3rd of random encounters in Mangar 1–3 and about 3/4ths of random encounters in Mangar 4–5 will wipe out a team that is level 16 or less.
In theory, Speedboots give a flee bonus. From what I can tell, Speedboots are non-functional in the MSDOS version (and perhaps BT 1 entirely). But since Warrior, Paladin, and Hunter classes cannot wear Speedboots, they are not particularly useful for speed runs. I have not personally tested this item, but they can only be used by a few classes, and can only be obtained at Mangar 2+, so their utility is highly limited.
A speedrun lives or dies based on saving throw math. Here’s the math for a Paladin’s saving throws from level 12 to 17, and the basic reason for using a Paladin as the first position hero.
| Level 12/13 | Level 14/15 | Level 16/17 | Bonus Type |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | Generic Bonus |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | Luckshield Bonus |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 18 luck bonus |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | Paladin bonus for lvl 10 to 17, inclusive |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | Level >> 1 (i.e., Level/2 rounded down to nearest integer) |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | Total Saving Throw |
Some examples illustrate a level 13 Paladin’s flee probabilities (the 1/8 party throw is ignored for simplicity’s sake, but slightly increases the odds of a successful flee):
- 5/8 chance to flee from Vampires, Demons, and Basilisks which throw a 11 to 18
- 50% chance to flee from Mangar Guards, Gimps, and Red Dragons which throw a 12 to 19
- 3/8 chance to flee from Spectres, Vampire Lords, and Greater Demons which throw a 13 to 20
- 1/4 chance to flee from Storm Giants and Demon Lords which throw a 15 to 22
The other three front-line characters (Monks/Hunters/Warriors) all roll 2 points lower than a Paladin at levels 10 to 17. Hence the strong preference for a Paladin at the position 1 spot.