A retreat is organized! And it should all be done at once. A single fighter leaving the front to seek a cleric or drink a potion is withdrawing, and hopefully a comrade will protect him while he is performing this action. A retreat on the other hand is an entire party or group admitting defeat but attempting to escape.
I've never used the rule referenced that someone fleeing has an AC of 10. Rather, fleeing characters don't get their DEX bonus and the attacker gets a +4 to hit for attacking from behind. Still, that's bad enough in most cases, so yeah, organizing your retreats can be very important.
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According to AD&D as written, characters who retreat lose their Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), the benefits of their shield (if any), and their attackers gain a free attack or attack routine against them at +4.
Yep, those are the rules I was using, which means this is another case of "rules bleed", what Jeff Rients was talking about, where you use the rules of an earlier edition with a later edition. I assume Ripper X is speaking of the rules from 2nd edition.
- Brian
Actually, I think that you are correct, even for 2nd Edition. You lose all DEX bonus and attacker gains a +2 to hit your back. The confusion comes from me normally playing a thief, and I never wore any armor better then leather (AC 9), instead always relying on my Dex bonus. Running away got me killed a couple of times.
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