Hostages

Come any closer, and I'll stain this pretty cotton shirt red...

Hostage situations are a staple of any good action story, and since most ttrpgs, D&D in particular, seek to emulate these pulp action films, we need to have a way to properly model hostage situations. Sadly, the standard 5e rules do not account for this, so we need to make a rule for this. In making this rule we need to try to emulate the feeling of having the hostage be in a dangerous situation, the allies of the hostage having to worry about hitting the hostage, and the "perfect shot" that manages to hit the enemy in spite of all odds. We also don't want the rules to be too complex, we don't want to interrupt the flow of the game during a tense moment with an onslaught of rules. Here are my rules for this:

Hostages

• An NPC can be taken as a hostage by failing a STR or DEX saving throw versus the enemies athletics check, and if they fail they are considered a hostage until a player character frees them or something else occurs. At any point as an action the hostage taker can choose to execute the hostage, instantly killing the hostage.
• Attacking someone who has taken a hostage is a dangerous task. In order to hit the hostage taker an attack must exceed their AC by 2, a success resulting in the attack only hitting the hostage taker and the hostage being freed. Failing to exceed the AC by 2 results in both the hostage and the hostage taker taking full damage.
• A PC can only obtain the hostage status by being taken hostage while unconscious. The unconscious PC cannot be executed like an NPC, but suffers death saving throw failures as usual upon taking damage.

Example of Use

GM: Zeke the Bandit appears to have taken Jimmy the blacksmiths son hostage and is currently holding a knife to his throat, what do you do?
Tom the Ranger: I'm going to ready an arrow to shoot the bandit!
Mike the Palladin: Wait! Be careful we really don't want to kill Jimmy!
Tom the Ranger: Well I'm not letting the bandit get away, I'm going to pull back my bow and take aim.
GM: You have advantage since the Bards Faerie Fire is still active.
Hugo the Bard: I'm going to give him inspiration as well! I'll try to get him to focus by pointing out the bandits weakspots.
Tom the Ranger: Alright I'm attacking! I rolled a 7 and a 11, plus inspiration that's a 18 to hit!
GM: His AC is 15 so that succeeds! Your arrow pierces the eye of the bandit and as he reaches up to grab his eye Jimmy is freed and runs away, but the bandit is still alive.