Have you been in combat if the monster isn't attacking you?

[Andrew Hackard]

You're comparing a couple of different situations.

Easy answer first: a monster that will not pursuit you if you're below a certain Level is still attacking you; it just won't chase you if you decide to Run Away. That's definitely a combat.

There are also monsters that you can choose not to face, such as bribing the Floating Nose. In those cases, you were in combat, briefly, and the same situation applies.

Now, a monster that won't fight you, such as the Amazon drawn by a female munchkin, is trickier. My inclination is to say that you encountered a monster, albeit one that refused to right you, and so you're discharged the "in your next combat" situation. But I could easily see going the other way since you never actually HAD a combat, just a monster that disappeared before you had a chance to do anything about it. I have a feeling that we've probably ruled that both ways right here in the forum, in fact, because it's such a minor edge case.

So what I'm going to do is cut the knot and ask Steve how we thinks we could rule it, and then that's the official ruling.