How do I have npcs run away from me?

What is the best way to have enemies run away from my player? It's a stealth game so if they see him they run off and you have to chase them. It's top down so I am wondering how to do it with pathfinding or possibly move to (though pathfinding would be preferred)

The key is finding a position opposite of where the player is.

Get the angle between player and enemy with angle(player.X, player.Y, enemy.X, enemy.Y)

Convert it to vectors using cos() and sin()

Define a distance the enemies should run away

Then make them run :)

For pathfinding you'd also have to find the path to that position. In this case the endposition could for example end up inside a wall, which will trigger "on failed to find path". So you'll need some extra handling in place to make sure the endposition is not inside a solid object.

oh wow thank you very much for this very detailed reply, I appreciate it and will try it asap!