In the mod I'm working on, I wanted to have some cultists and these cultists, upon seeing the player or after the player gets within a certain distance of them, would flee and run away. I don't know much about scripting or anything of the sort so I'm looking for some help on getting this to work. Thanks!

Maybe slapping a fear effect on them would work? Put invisible fear traps everywhere but where their "last stand" would be, and have the PC turn them on by opening the door to the room where they are (hang some of those bone "noise traps" next to the door to explain to the player later why opening the door alerted them regardless of high sneak or something)

I know animals flee on sight like deer and stuff. One idea I had was giving them the same AI as those animals but I have no idea if that would work. The fear effect is an interesting idea but the area I have them in is an exterior cell. I could probably give them a constant fear effect but that would have them running to the hills regardless of the player's proximity, right?

does stg like getLOS still exist in papyrus? if yes: this and then add a flee-package

Also, you could create a new actor type for each of your Cowardly Cultists

(For example, copy "EncBandit01MagicBretonM" and call it "CowardlyCultistMagicBretonM")

double click on the new actor type, and turn off "USE AI Data" under templates...this will allow you to edit the AI data manually (It doesn't turn AI data OFF, it just keeps it from using the default data) - Change his AI Data tab information as follows:

Set Aggression to "Unaggressive", set "Confidence" to "Cowardly", and turn "Mood" to "Fear"

Do this for whatever actor types you want your cultists to be. I made a cowardly bandit race, but you'll probably want them in robes or something.

Ok, try this: Create a new magic effect (I copied one), call it "Cowardice", open the editor and set the following:

Name: Run Away
Effect Archetype: Demoralize
Casting Type: Constant Effect
Delivery: Self
Magic Skill: NONE

And add the script 'ActivateSelfOnCombatBegin' to the Papyrus Scripts list, just to be sure.

Now create a new spell called "Chicken" or "Run Away" or something, add the Cowardice effect to it, and put it in the cultist's spell lists.

And see if that works.

There's also that Dark Elf in Bleak Falls Barrow who's caught in the spider web. I'd have a look at how his AI works, to see what you can do.

I tried both but neither worked. I can get them to run away once I engage them in combat, no problem. I just want them to run away as soon as the player shows up.

You could create a new cloak spell that causes fear within a certain range of the player. Set the magnitude to 99 and remove any shaders or impact data, and go ahead and use HealFakeProjectile on it. Attach it to a perk as an ability, then add it to the player. Stick a conditional on it to check for a unique keyword you assign to the chosen NPCs so it only affects them. I've played with cloak spells a lot for True Yield and Specialized Followers. I know that they can awkwardly affect AI under some circumstances, so you should probably only temporarily have the cloak on the player, then remove it later on.

Are you sure your factions are set up right? You want THEM to engage into combat in order for them to flee.

Thanks for everyone's help but I think I figured it out. I scanned all of the "cowardly" animals (foxes, deer, goats) and I noticed they all have aggro radii in addition to being set as Cowardly. I think the aggro radius is what I need to play with. I'm setting all of the cultists to the exact same AI data as a deer so let's hope this works.

I would think that the aggro radii would help. When an actor is fleeing, they are actually in a combat state. In FO3, the enclave scientists would always flee the player - their confidence was set to cowardly and aggression set to 'Very aggressive'. A very aggressive actor is more likely to enter combat and remain there - in this case fleeing since they are cowardly.

The aggro radius was what I needed! I set it first to 1500 which is what deer have but that made them way too easily spooked so I put it to 500. As soon as the player approaches one, they bolt! Awesome.

Adolon your avatar is the win