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Most Unplanned Party Wipe
- Thread starter Bardsandsages
- Start date
cignus_pfaccari
First Post
I nearly got 3/4 of our 20th-level group killed in Eberron.
I was the human nomad psion, there was a githyanki wilder, a human wizard, and a human Fist of Raziel. The FoR had gone ethereal at the start of the fight for some reason (he's been Talked To about abandoning the party), leaving the rest of us to face a disjunction and lots of spells from the beholder mage and his two mindwitnesses. (And the githyanki wilder nearly got killed by a divine blast from the Spell Stowawayed daelkyr chariot we were on!) We got the two mindwitnesses, and the beholder mage fled...so I did a quick Trace Teleport and ported myself, the wizard, and the wilder after him to what I thought was just a random spot.
But, no...there were two more mindwitnesses and a super-illithid of some sort there.
I've never, ever enjoyed rolling a high initiative more than I did that time. "Plane shift!" "Where?" "Oh, I dunno, NOT HERE!"
Brad
I was the human nomad psion, there was a githyanki wilder, a human wizard, and a human Fist of Raziel. The FoR had gone ethereal at the start of the fight for some reason (he's been Talked To about abandoning the party), leaving the rest of us to face a disjunction and lots of spells from the beholder mage and his two mindwitnesses. (And the githyanki wilder nearly got killed by a divine blast from the Spell Stowawayed daelkyr chariot we were on!) We got the two mindwitnesses, and the beholder mage fled...so I did a quick Trace Teleport and ported myself, the wizard, and the wilder after him to what I thought was just a random spot.
But, no...there were two more mindwitnesses and a super-illithid of some sort there.
I've never, ever enjoyed rolling a high initiative more than I did that time. "Plane shift!" "Where?" "Oh, I dunno, NOT HERE!"
Brad
PwrMnky
First Post
My wipe
Well, no ... we didn't get wiped.
BUT here's the update:
- We fought a Gloom and some six armed, undead thing ...
... the DM rolled a 78 for the Gloom's hide check, and ruled that Blindfighting did not work. (???) And he killed two players in a row. Killed, dead. On first round. No chance to act. So, on my turn I rushed the big guy. (I died too) Luckily the Mystic Thurge survived to Miracle us back. But I almost had a nice WIPE there!
Well, no ... we didn't get wiped.
BUT here's the update:
- We fought a Gloom and some six armed, undead thing ...
... the DM rolled a 78 for the Gloom's hide check, and ruled that Blindfighting did not work. (???) And he killed two players in a row. Killed, dead. On first round. No chance to act. So, on my turn I rushed the big guy. (I died too) Luckily the Mystic Thurge survived to Miracle us back. But I almost had a nice WIPE there!
Sheltem
First Post
My last TPK was when the party (3rd level) was in a cursed valley with roaming undead and night fell.
Party Leader: We camp right here.
Me: Are you sure? Here with the undead around?
Party Leader: Yes. Outside there are mountain lions.
Me: Which you already killed.
Party Leader: There might be more. We stay in the valley.
Me: OK. Where are my tables for random encounters?
Came up with a band of 5 simple Skeletons. Still too much for the party.
Party Leader: We camp right here.
Me: Are you sure? Here with the undead around?
Party Leader: Yes. Outside there are mountain lions.
Me: Which you already killed.
Party Leader: There might be more. We stay in the valley.
Me: OK. Where are my tables for random encounters?
Came up with a band of 5 simple Skeletons. Still too much for the party.
PatrickLawinger
First Post
Well ... I have had a number of near tpk or tpk incidents that I simply never would have expected. Most memorable deaths aren't always in the TPK realm though.
Right after 3e was introduced the small group I was DMing for ran into some orcs. One PC had found some poison (very deadly, highly illegal, and big hints were made to destroy it, but he was neutral, so ...) so he decided to poison some arrows, to make a long story short, he shoots into melee (without the feats) "hits cover" -the cleric, who fails his save and ends up negative the next round, and then poisons himself with a 2% on the roll to apply poison. I think the poison did 2d4 Con, he rolled max and only had a Con of 8 to start with. Basically, the rogue took out himself and the cleric in a simple battle that, quite frankly, they could simply have avoided (the orcs didn't see them).
We all roll on the table in clear view (including me when I DM) so everyone knows when I have a crit. Normally, as DM, I roll fairly poorly, but I get into "hot streaks" that can make players pretty nervous. Combine that with the PCs missing, well, strange things can happen. When a PC decided to climb a tree and "mess with" an eagle while the rest of the party stood back. The eagle proceeded to get a total of 5 confirmed crits plus several other hits while the PC could not roll higher than a 4. Those d4s add up pretty fast, the eagle brings him down to -1 hp and he falls out of the tree. I let the player roll his own falling damage with the kind decision that even though he was 60 ft up in the tree he would only take 2d6 damage due to branches breaking the fall of his unconscious body. He rolled 6's, he has never lived down that character death. We live in different states now, but his group is still known to say "Look, an Eagle's nest!" Another character death brought about completely by the character, I mean, he could have started retreating at any time but refused.
Patrick
Right after 3e was introduced the small group I was DMing for ran into some orcs. One PC had found some poison (very deadly, highly illegal, and big hints were made to destroy it, but he was neutral, so ...) so he decided to poison some arrows, to make a long story short, he shoots into melee (without the feats) "hits cover" -the cleric, who fails his save and ends up negative the next round, and then poisons himself with a 2% on the roll to apply poison. I think the poison did 2d4 Con, he rolled max and only had a Con of 8 to start with. Basically, the rogue took out himself and the cleric in a simple battle that, quite frankly, they could simply have avoided (the orcs didn't see them).
We all roll on the table in clear view (including me when I DM) so everyone knows when I have a crit. Normally, as DM, I roll fairly poorly, but I get into "hot streaks" that can make players pretty nervous. Combine that with the PCs missing, well, strange things can happen. When a PC decided to climb a tree and "mess with" an eagle while the rest of the party stood back. The eagle proceeded to get a total of 5 confirmed crits plus several other hits while the PC could not roll higher than a 4. Those d4s add up pretty fast, the eagle brings him down to -1 hp and he falls out of the tree. I let the player roll his own falling damage with the kind decision that even though he was 60 ft up in the tree he would only take 2d6 damage due to branches breaking the fall of his unconscious body. He rolled 6's, he has never lived down that character death. We live in different states now, but his group is still known to say "Look, an Eagle's nest!" Another character death brought about completely by the character, I mean, he could have started retreating at any time but refused.
Patrick
kigmatzomat
Hero
Dogs. Dogs are the bane of my campaigns.
The first campaign was Mage. A Euthanatos was investigating a cairn and suspected werewolves. He heard barking in the forest and decided this was his chance. So he tries to project a mental aura of "respect me." He doesn't roll well so I tell him he can have "fear me." So the wild dogs see him, fail their pathetic little saves, and flee. He pursues, using magic to keep up. The dogs go into panic when pursued by the unnaturally fast human with the fear aura.
The Mage decides he's getting tired so he drops a tree across the valley floor, trapping the dogs. Now, this pack of wild dogs consists of a beagle, a pekinese, three floppy-eared mutts, and a shepherd mix. It's near dark, they've been pursued for over a mile while being flogged with "fear me", and now they are cornered and the scary guy is approaching.
They flip out and total panic. I pull out the Werewolf rules for humans seeing the impossible, and the dice say that most of the dogs go catatonic or cower. Except for the Pekinese which goes on the attack. It leaps as high as it can and latches onto the mage's femoral artery (incredible damage roll combined with botched dodge/resistance test). The mage's allies finally catch up, and spook the other dogs into attacking. One gunbattle later and most of hte party is down, with the original mage having had his leg gnawed off by that little fluff ball of a pekinese.
When asked why the Euthanatos didn't just blast the Pekinese into dust rather than using his virtually non-existent melee combat skill he sheepishly admitted to having panicked and forgot that he could do that.
Different group, D&D, 2nd level. The party's heading across country and is being followed by wild dogs. Just as the dogs have decided to attack, the cleric casts Calm Animal. The dogs fail their save and become happy puppies. Until the rogue, who doesn't care that the slavering dogs just slid to a stop and started wagging their tails when the cleric prayed, begins throwing thunderstones and daggers at the dogs.
Sigh.
The first campaign was Mage. A Euthanatos was investigating a cairn and suspected werewolves. He heard barking in the forest and decided this was his chance. So he tries to project a mental aura of "respect me." He doesn't roll well so I tell him he can have "fear me." So the wild dogs see him, fail their pathetic little saves, and flee. He pursues, using magic to keep up. The dogs go into panic when pursued by the unnaturally fast human with the fear aura.
The Mage decides he's getting tired so he drops a tree across the valley floor, trapping the dogs. Now, this pack of wild dogs consists of a beagle, a pekinese, three floppy-eared mutts, and a shepherd mix. It's near dark, they've been pursued for over a mile while being flogged with "fear me", and now they are cornered and the scary guy is approaching.
They flip out and total panic. I pull out the Werewolf rules for humans seeing the impossible, and the dice say that most of the dogs go catatonic or cower. Except for the Pekinese which goes on the attack. It leaps as high as it can and latches onto the mage's femoral artery (incredible damage roll combined with botched dodge/resistance test). The mage's allies finally catch up, and spook the other dogs into attacking. One gunbattle later and most of hte party is down, with the original mage having had his leg gnawed off by that little fluff ball of a pekinese.
When asked why the Euthanatos didn't just blast the Pekinese into dust rather than using his virtually non-existent melee combat skill he sheepishly admitted to having panicked and forgot that he could do that.
Different group, D&D, 2nd level. The party's heading across country and is being followed by wild dogs. Just as the dogs have decided to attack, the cleric casts Calm Animal. The dogs fail their save and become happy puppies. Until the rogue, who doesn't care that the slavering dogs just slid to a stop and started wagging their tails when the cleric prayed, begins throwing thunderstones and daggers at the dogs.
Sigh.
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