D&D 5E What do you do?

[iserith]

This actually happened while playing in Adventure League but the situation is applicable to home games as well..

What would you do?

You are part of a six man party in the process of clearing out a pyramid dungeon. The first couple of combat encounters were stronger than what you are normally accustomed to but nothing you could not handle. You and your party continue to explore when you come across a group of ritualists in the middle of their ritual. You initiate and engage in combat only to fail in stopping the ritual allowing a big monster to materialize. The big monster hits a party members with an obscene amount of damage and puts a player down in roughly 2 rounds and is working on a second member and 33% of the party immediately call for a retreat.

Facts:

1. A tier 4 party
2. 2/3 of the party including yourself do not have any damage or very little
3. 2 members are up but way down in hitpoints
4. In addition there is still 6 to 8 ritualists with at least 150 hitpoints each

I would accept the call for retreat and add onto it with whatever my character could do to support the effort. Not necessarily because of the threat level, but because I use a very "Yes, and..." approach. It cuts down on debates at the table. Once we regroup, we can perhaps give it another go anyway, if circumstances permit.

 

[seebs]

Pull a rock from belt pouch, scream into it that we found them and we're afraid they'll escape, then keep fighting.

 

[jasper]

Ask the dm for 1 to 3 minutes to discuss the situation. Then it depends on the players. If the group agrees to run and I think we toast, my pc would run. However, if I think we could take them, I would let the dm start round 4 and let the player decide what he does on his init. So if the cowards run away, and the rest stay, that is how the game goes on.

 

[77IM]

In my experience, players tend to call for retreat when they are frightened, not when they are actually outmatched. So bravo to your DM for putting the fear of death into your group!

 

[Tony Vargas]

and 33% of the party immediately call for a retreat.

So, quite aside from any legitimate tactical or RP considerations, D&D has long been pretty unforgiving to retreating PCs. If the other 67% of the party contains some experienced players, they may be used to that and figure it's pointless to even try - they may also be used to the occasional TPK.

So, it's really up to the DM to telegraph that escape is a viable option and to rule such that it actually is.

The players can make what decision they like, of course, I'd say base it on the motivations and dedication to the mission of the characters. If they all die, at least they died in character.

 

[nswanson27]

I would first take inventory of what strategic options exist at that point. A well-timed CC or high-level spell that buys time to bring everyone up and re-group, would be my strategy. Also, did they have an exit strategy before going in? Failure to plan at tier 4 is definitely planning to fail.

 

[machineelf]

I first ask what my character would do. Is is a lawful-good paladin who would sacrifice his life for his friends? Is he a shrewd rogue who likes his friends, but knows when it's time to make a hasty retreat? But even a good fighter or wizard type character who may want to stay and help his friends, may still conclude that it's a lost cause for them and it's just best for those who are able to retreat.

But I also think about whether there is any clever spell or move I can make that could somehow save everyone. I've seen groups pull themselves out of near TPK situations with a very clever decision or spell or distraction before.

Then finally I would consider the players I am playing with. This is metagaming and stepping outside the character, but I think it's a good question to ask. Are these people I enjoy playing with, and will some people get really angry if other players have their characters retreat, leaving the injured characters to die? If so, I might just decide to stay and fight to the death, because a good gaming group is hard to come by and I wouldn't want anyone leaving in anger. You can always reroll characters.

 

[Lanefan]

What does class have to do with it?

Isn't it part of the general ethos of Paladins that they would tend to want to stand in and cover their allies' retreat, rather than retreat themselves?

 

[Shiroiken]

There is nothing wrong with retreat (in fact, running away was quite common back in the day). At first, I figured the issue was leaving party members behind, because THAT makes retreat a hard to accept situation. With the entire party back up, retreat might have been the best option, but lacking a teleporter, it's possible someone may need to stay behind to cover the retreat.

Something else to take into consideration is how the DM runs the game (including the AL rules). If death is more of an inconvenience, then fighting to the death is more likely. If it took you a year or longer to build up the character and will have to make a new character at level 1, retreat is by far wiser. If this is the climax of the campaign, retreat may not even be an option, so going out in a blaze of glory is a better option (especially if the odds of succeeding for the party are good, even with several character deaths).

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Isn't it part of the general ethos of Paladins that they would tend to want to stand in and cover their allies' retreat, rather than retreat themselves?

Not necessarily. By which I mean an oath could theoretically exist which carries tenants that do run counter to retreating with your party, but none of the oath tenets that I've seen thus far do so.

The closest it gets is the Oath of Devotion tenant of courage, which says "Never fear to act, though caution is wise." That is more support for a wise retreat than it is for foolhardy self-sacrifice, though.