Just, y'know, games and stuff.
First TPK in a long time
Posted 16th July 2008 at 06:54 AM by Wik
So, I was playtesting out a monster I created - the Terror of the Black Hills. It was a very close fight, with the PCs initially dealing a huge amount of damage (using their encounter powers and their dailies, as well as action points), before the Terror got bloodied and activated his Feral Roar attack that healed him 30 hit points and dazed most of the group.
Then, when his special ability kept activating (a massive damage drop that sent enemies backwards), he really plowed through the PCs. They would be knocked unconscious, only to be healed by the paladin, before rejoining the fight. It was pretty close.
In fact, the beast only had 2 hp left at the end. The rogue was down, and it hit the kobold fighter with one claw attack, and the dragonborn paladin with another.
All three PCs down for the count. It had to eat one of them... random chance said it went for the paladin.
And the other two bled out and died.
Granted, it would've been a tough fight in any case. 3 PCs against one solo monster is going to be tough, no doubt. But they had terrain advantage, if they had chosen to use it, and their daily powers. They had healing potions to use, and they could have outrun it if things had gone bad.
The funny thing was, no one was upset. The paladin felt it was a good thing - "I feel like I know we can die, now". So, they made a new group tonight... and felt like the campaign was worthwhile for the first time. They like 4e, and it only took a TPK to make them realize it.
The monster, by the way, will appear in Creative Newt #2, which is pretty much done (I just wanna playtest out one more monster before I hit the "publish" button... plus, I need to set up a website to host the PDFs, as they are now too big for ENWorld).
Then, when his special ability kept activating (a massive damage drop that sent enemies backwards), he really plowed through the PCs. They would be knocked unconscious, only to be healed by the paladin, before rejoining the fight. It was pretty close.
In fact, the beast only had 2 hp left at the end. The rogue was down, and it hit the kobold fighter with one claw attack, and the dragonborn paladin with another.
All three PCs down for the count. It had to eat one of them... random chance said it went for the paladin.
And the other two bled out and died.
Granted, it would've been a tough fight in any case. 3 PCs against one solo monster is going to be tough, no doubt. But they had terrain advantage, if they had chosen to use it, and their daily powers. They had healing potions to use, and they could have outrun it if things had gone bad.
The funny thing was, no one was upset. The paladin felt it was a good thing - "I feel like I know we can die, now". So, they made a new group tonight... and felt like the campaign was worthwhile for the first time. They like 4e, and it only took a TPK to make them realize it.
The monster, by the way, will appear in Creative Newt #2, which is pretty much done (I just wanna playtest out one more monster before I hit the "publish" button... plus, I need to set up a website to host the PDFs, as they are now too big for ENWorld).
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