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Community
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Was it too much? Dealing with TPKs and more
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<blockquote data-quote="Croesus" data-source="post: 6782337" data-attributes="member: 35019"><p>Two things I've noticed about 5E is that it's very swingy, and smaller parties are very vulnerable. Your group ran into both issues. </p><p></p><p>If there are only 3 characters, consider providing an NPC. I usually prefer NPCs that are one level lower than the party and with a class that supports the PCs rather than claims the spotlight. So clerics, bards, fighters, divination wizards, and so on. They're also a useful tool in providing hints to the players when they're getting in over their heads.</p><p></p><p>As for swingy-ness, I give each player two hero points at the start of each session, and one hero point to the NPC. The hero points can be used to reroll any attack, save, or skill check made by that player's character, add +1d6 to a roll, immediately regain hit points equal to HD + Con Mod + Level, or to do something really cool that isn't strictly in the rules. I also give out a "party" hero point every time the bad guys roll a crit - kind of balances out the luck a bit. Party hero points can be used by any character, so they're good for the character that's had to burn their initial two. </p><p></p><p>As the encounters I run tend not to allow for many short rests, I've also experimented with allowing characters to spend hit dice in combat. Doing so is an action, and the character can only spend up to half their hit dice with a single action. The PCs rarely do so, but when they really need the hit points, spending a couple hit dice is sometimes the difference between dropping and staying up. </p><p></p><p>Just some thoughts that may help going forward. Like you, I roll in front of the players, so no fudging. We haven't had a TPK yet, but it's been close multiple times. If I'm on a hot streak, it can get pretty hairy, pretty quick. A few hero points, and allowing spending hit dice in battle seems to balance things - well, most of the time, anyway.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Croesus, post: 6782337, member: 35019"] Two things I've noticed about 5E is that it's very swingy, and smaller parties are very vulnerable. Your group ran into both issues. If there are only 3 characters, consider providing an NPC. I usually prefer NPCs that are one level lower than the party and with a class that supports the PCs rather than claims the spotlight. So clerics, bards, fighters, divination wizards, and so on. They're also a useful tool in providing hints to the players when they're getting in over their heads. As for swingy-ness, I give each player two hero points at the start of each session, and one hero point to the NPC. The hero points can be used to reroll any attack, save, or skill check made by that player's character, add +1d6 to a roll, immediately regain hit points equal to HD + Con Mod + Level, or to do something really cool that isn't strictly in the rules. I also give out a "party" hero point every time the bad guys roll a crit - kind of balances out the luck a bit. Party hero points can be used by any character, so they're good for the character that's had to burn their initial two. As the encounters I run tend not to allow for many short rests, I've also experimented with allowing characters to spend hit dice in combat. Doing so is an action, and the character can only spend up to half their hit dice with a single action. The PCs rarely do so, but when they really need the hit points, spending a couple hit dice is sometimes the difference between dropping and staying up. Just some thoughts that may help going forward. Like you, I roll in front of the players, so no fudging. We haven't had a TPK yet, but it's been close multiple times. If I'm on a hot streak, it can get pretty hairy, pretty quick. A few hero points, and allowing spending hit dice in battle seems to balance things - well, most of the time, anyway. [/QUOTE]
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