D&D 5E Unexpected TPKs

[Boarstorm]

I got in a long stretch of gaming this last weekend and wound up with two TPKs to show for it. Henceforth my players (and their characters) shall quiver in fear at the sight of the humble bugbear.

TPK 1: "Let's raise an army of clearly trustworthy goblins and storm the bugbear's den with them at our backs!" (Group 1, Level 1) Goblins will be goblins. As soon as the battle started going sour for the PCs, their "army" switched sides and they found themselves between the hammer and the anvil. Before you yell "Killer DM!," I assure you that I gave the players plenty of hints about the goblins' reliability which they chose to ignore. One player even boasted that if they turned on them, he'd have no problem taking them all on by himself.

TPK 2: "The cleric is out of spells and begging for a rest, but we can take out a group of bugbears without healing, right?" (Group 2, Level 2) This one was bad luck more than anything, as they whiffed their surprise round and then proceeded to not-run-away in the face of a clearly superior foe.

It should be mentioned that my players took the deaths with good cheer and were enthusiastic to try out new race/class combinations.

The circumstances behind the TPKs weren't particularly funny (unless you take grim amusement in PCs' lack of common sense), but maybe you guys have some humorous stories of your own party wipes?

 

[KarinsDad]

Haven't had a TPK since Irontooth (2008) and that was after the PCs didn't take a short rest after the battle before that.

Had 3 encounters since then with one man standing. Good times when one player saves the day.

When TPKs are player induced, the DM should just let the dice fall where they may.

 

[billd91]

Bugbears do pack a wallop in 5e, make no mistake. My players faced one who managed to land a crit on the main party fighter - got him 4d8+a little damage. He went down like a sack of potatoes then, when he turn came up, proceeded to roll a 1 on his first damage save. Fortunately, the cleric was nearby and stabilized him...at the cost of suffering a crit from a goblin arrow. I guess my DMing dice were relatively hot that night.

 

[TDarien]

Haven't had a TPK since Irontooth (2008) and that was after the PCs didn't take a short rest after the battle before that.

Had 3 encounters since then with one man standing. Good times when one player saves the day.

When TPKs are player induced, the DM should just let the dice fall where they may.

Oh man, I forgot all about Irontooth.

Maybe I should convert KotS to 5e........

 

[SigmaOne]

Oh man, I forgot all about Irontooth.

Maybe I should convert KotS to 5e........

One of my favorite lines is during the first Acquisitions Incorporated podcast, when Mike Krahulik (playing Jim Darkmagic) states ... basically at the beginning of the adventure when Perkins tells them they've heard of some mysterious baddy named Irontooth ... "I roll to kill Irontooth!"


Edit: Also, I ran KotS during the 5e playtest, and it went well. I should have kept better notes. That adventure seems much-maligned, but I DM'd it for three brand new players and we had a blast.

 

[SigmaOne]

I got in a long stretch of gaming this last weekend and wound up with two TPKs to show for it. Henceforth my players (and their characters) shall quiver in fear at the sight of the humble bugbear.

TPK 1: "Let's raise an army of clearly trustworthy goblins and storm the bugbear's den with them at our backs!" (Group 1, Level 1) Goblins will be goblins. As soon as the battle started going sour for the PCs, their "army" switched sides and they found themselves between the hammer and the anvil. Before you yell "Killer DM!," I assure you that I gave the players plenty of hints about the goblins' reliability which they chose to ignore. One player even boasted that if they turned on them, he'd have no problem taking them all on by himself.

My group had nearly the same plan, except they faked being captured by Yeemik and the rest of the surviving goblins. Fortunately, they had some great rolls and high initiative, and Klarg took a full on magic missile and a massive axe blow before his first swing... and then Klarg missed. The rogue backstabbed him; he fell and the goblins were awed. I have a full account of their near TPK from their first attempt in the other thread TPK floating around this forum. This is a game where players really need to be careful (unless their favorite part of the game is rolling up new characters). This game is fun.

 

[Starfox]

5Eis faster, which likely makes it swinger. Fewer good/bad rolls required to end the fight either way. So the number of surprise TPKs should increase, at least compared to 5E and probably to 3E as well.

 

[Kinak]

5Eis faster, which likely makes it swinger. Fewer good/bad rolls required to end the fight either way. So the number of surprise TPKs should increase, at least compared to 5E and probably to 3E as well.

The low HPs at first level will probably help some compared to 4e as well.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

Hopefully your players have learned from their previous stupidity. If they keep making bad decisions or rushing head long into fights they should be better prepared for, death is the only logical outcome. Don't hold their hands, let them learn from their mistakes.

 

[Rod Staffwand]

I don't think I've ever experienced a TPK in 30 years of gaming, either as player or DM. I've had half or more of the party wipe lots of times but never everyone--mostly it's just one PC getting dropped by unlucky rolls or rank recklessness. My groups have had pretty lenient 'run-away' rules which probably has something to do with it. We also switch between narrative games where TPK's are frowned upon as anti-fun and tactical-minded games where we proactively take steps to avoid them.

We had a 12-hour session back in high school (D&D 2e) that culminated in a showdown with a mist demon that was eating its way through this city. We lost 2 PCs earlier in the adventure, then 2 more PCs to the first bout with the demon (including a poor player's replacement PC), 2 more got KO'd but not killed, leaving 3 PCs in the final face-off (including my ranger). We were all in single digits with no healing left. We ended up tricking it through a gate spell into another dimension which was only possible due to a freak combination of available magic items, lucky rolls, and sheer desperation. The thief dropped in the effort leaving me and the dwarf fighter.

In another campaign, we had the misfortune of stumbling across a powerful demon that was posing as crime lord--a crime lord our mid-level characters wanted to knock-off due to some scheme or another. We were quite surprised when the crime lord turned out to not be such a pushover, but started dropping PCs in almost trivial fashion. Then we basically ourselves when we learned the truth but we were trapped by that point. We took the bastard down by using up every single trick, asset, trump card, etc. we had. We threw everything at it. I think the battle went 13 rounds--11 of which we were fighting just to stay alive. I think the final numbers were 2 KIA, 2 KO, 2 standing (but both previously KO'd and revived). Still the single best combat I've had as a player.