D&D 5E Your very first TPK?

[ad_hoc]

In 5e? We've had 3 so far.

One in the final chapter of an adventure. The PCs couldn't figure out how to stop their enemies so they destroyed the structure they were in killing everyone.

The second was in a dungeon. Their primary mission was to catch an NPC. They were a bit tired, but instead of leaving to take a long rest decided to press forward. They encountered some tough NPCs including an Ettin and went down swinging.

The third involved setting off a trap which cut off their escape and they were ambushed by some nasty incorporeal undead. They didn't figure out what was going on until it was too late and they were surprised.

 

[Blue]

Man, my first was a long time ago. As player that is -- I've never run a TPK, even at a Con.

Actually, they've gotten a lot rarer. I blame dying at -10 instead of 0, and now not even that. The only "TPK" I remember for the past few editions was back in 3.5, and it was a "TPC" - total party capture but it counts because they did it via non-lethal damage and easily could have killed us. And it ended the campaign, we were shipped off as slaves elsewhere and another campaign started for people who wanted to play that. Note, when the bad guys chasing your 2nd/3rd level party are riding black unicorns, you hide, not ambush. Though by the time we knew that they weren't just riding horses it was too late to avoid.

 

[Yes]

Sit with me for this one. It's quite a story. My only TPK. I believe there is no way I could ever outdo it.

There will be a few Curse of Stradht SPOILERS:


My players met Esmeralda d'Avenir at the Richten's Tower. To give the players a glimpse of what was waiting for them in the Castle, to disclose the location of the silver dragon's skull, and also warn them about that horrible elevator trap wich leads to that part, I had her recount the story of her escape from the Castle. She warned them about the corridor with the elevator trap. She said she felt something was off when she walked it; and later, when she fled back from a band of vampires who ambushed her, she said they didn't follow through this passage. I naïvely thought that would be enough to foreshadow that part of the dungeon and keep them on their guards.

A few sessions later, they're all lv 5. A party of 6. Getting to the castle, they walk this particular corridor like perfect tourists. Nobody cares about what Esmeralda warned them about. Incidentally they walk into that damned elevator trap I tried to avoid having to run. The group is separated. Stradht joins them in the cabin later and pummels everyone to 0HP, except the paladin who panicked and teleported out and fell to a gruesome death down the shaft.

There were 3 players left: a bard, a rogue and a warlock, who didn't get into the trap. I told them that they heard the elevator trap go to the upper most part of the castle, and that if they got to their friends in time, they might be able to save/stabilize them.

They walk the stairs and get to that corridor with the rug and the painting. I was counting on them defeating those easily. I considered the idea of having the vampire lover step on if the encounter proved a bit too easy. I wanted to have them sweat a little to save their friends. But once again, they walked in their ignoring the particularly ominous way I described the place. The bard was attacked by the rug, and the painting started casting spells.

The bard goes first.

Yes : - "The rug is suffocating you and crushing your bones slowly. What do you do?"

Bard: - "I sing a song to help my friend the rogue"

Yes: - "Herr... you might wanna consider, I don't know... trying to force the rug open and get free... I don't know...?"

Bard: - "No way! I only have a strength of 8! It would be a waste of time!"

Yes:- "You know that the sound of your singing might be... muffled with the rug and all!"

Bard: - "I don't care! It's magic, right? So it should work nontheless!"

Yes: - "Rogue, you get one inspiration dice from the desperate song of the bard trapped in the rug. The painting of Stradht waves it's hands and casts a spell on you. You feel it's trying to toy with you mind. Make a wisdom saving throw"

Rogue: -"15!"

Yes: - "You resist it's influence. The spell was "Crown of Madness"' to get you to hurt your comrades. It's your turn. What do you do?"

Rogue: - "I attack the rug with my rapier."

Yes: - "... you know your bard friend is there. There's no way you won't hurt him inside the rug if you attack it with a rapier..."

Rogue: -"He's getting killed anyway! Might as well damage the rug and help him!"

Yes: - "Well... okay. Attack roll."

The rogue attacks the rug, and I tell him there's blood on the rug. I tell him the bard and the rug share the damages. It's the warlock's turn.

Warlock: -"I cast eldritch blast on the painting!"

Yes: - "Ok. Just as a reminder. The painting is just a few steps from you. You have a dagger in your other hand, right?"

Warlock: -" Yeah, I know. I cast Eldritch Blast!"

Yes:-"Okay. You hear an anticlimactic spell fumble sound as the painting uses counterspell on your eldritch blast."

Warlock:- "Seriously?!"

Next turn goes exactly the same way. The bard sings for his rogue friend to continue puncturing him. The rogue attacks the rug. The warlock announces her intention to cast eldritch blast again, except, she fails her saving throw against the painting's "Hypnotic's pattern". It was very difficult for me to see them make all this poor choices and fail all these crucial saving throws but...

I then tell them this. Hoping to shake them a little bit from their catastrophic course of action...

"A young vampire wearing a nightgown opens the door, rubbing his eyelids. He looks at the scene, seeing a tiefling in leather piercing a bloody rug. The rug sings in a half cheering - half painful muffled tone. He eyes the warlock, with her imp on the shoulder, both fascinated by waves of sparkling lights and completely oblivious to the demise of their friends. The young vampire's lips part and he whispers "Yes...". One of his hands goes slowly to his chest and he watches you with intensity... clearly aroused..."

But they didn't change anything.

The bard died in the rug. The rug attacked the rogue. The vampire walked to the bard's corpse and dragged it to his room and closed the door. The rogue died in the rug too, wich in turn killed the warlock. All of their friends in the elevator trap succumbed from their wounds. And the paladin was reduced to a pulp down the shaft...

My first and only TPK to date.

 

[Raith5]

I remember having a high level 1e TPK in Q1 Queen of the Demonweb pits. From memory it was in a room with Drow spell casters on Pyramids/raised platforms. We had been ploughing through Drow for sometime in the preceeding D1-3 adventures and were somewhat over confident and charged in and it went wrong very quickly when we were hit with multiple fireballs. I think the thief in the party may have made it to the door.

 

[DeanP]

1st edition Tomb of Horrors. Same players, two separate sets of characters, same results. They never went back and we never completed the module by defeating Acecerak.

 

[pogre]

Back in the 1970s TPKs were a given part of play. We had them all of the time. My players typically had several back-up characters.

I have had one in 5e with 1st level PCs when we got started, but none since then.

 

[StormbringerAUS]

The first time I played was basically a one shot to try the game. I think there were four of us and a new DM. All I remember was that we were overwhelmed by a shrewdness (locked up collective noun for Apes was this or troop) of Carnivorous Apes - so my Ranger and the rest of us were eaten.

As a DM a group massacred by a horde of Orcs - I remember giving them warning after warning that this was too much for them but they continued - in the end I remember thinking oh well they get what they deserve.

 

[Immoralkickass]

Getting rekt by the Red Brands in LMOP. DM rolled quite a lot of crits that day.

 

[cthulhu42]

Never had a TPK as a DM (is that a bad thing?), but we had one as players.

***Small Against the Giants spoiler ahead***

3.5e, one of our group is running us through AtG. There had been several deaths as we progressed, but we'd keep teleporting back to the city and resurrecting and then, back at it again.

We made it to the fire giant king's treasure chamber, our rogue leading the way. A hydra rounds the corner and tears him to shreds.

The rest of us see a dozen or more chests that we just know are full of gold. We unfold the portable hole and start kicking those chests open, and damn the traps!

There were a lot of traps.

And a lot of giants.

Giants keep coming, we keep fighting, and everyone keeps dyeing, until my dwarf barbarian is the only one left standing. I knew I needed a lot of gold to raise the whole party, so I'm shoveling in gold to the hole as fast as I can, and traps are going off left and right, plus poison snakes are hanging all over me, biting away, but I'm breezing through the saving throws.

Out of character, the other players are yelling, "Go! Go! Get out of there!"

And I know there's more giants coming, but I've got the ring of teleport, and there's just a couple more chests left. Just a couple more!

And as I'm shattering the lock on the last one, here comes the fire giant executioner with his vorpal axe.

All I had to do was grab the portable hole and teleport out of there, but I want the rest of that treasure!

I go toe to toe with that giant, giving it all I've got. He's dishing it out, but I've got mad hit points and I'm wearing him down. I'm gonna win.

Then the DM says, "the giant is almost dead. He's barely on his feet. One more hit from you and he's going down. But it's his turn."

Our DM comes out from behind the screen and drops his d20 in the middle of the table for all to see.

20.

He picks up a d6.

"He'll chop your head off on a 6." He says, "Anything else is a limb."

I know if he leaves me with my head I can still win this thing.

He tosses the d6 onto the middle of the table.

***

I hated it so much, but it was one of the most memorable nights of D&D ever. We still talk about it to this day.

 

[Fellentos]

Had my first TPK in my first DM game, with first time players in Lost Mines of Phandelver. It happened in the Goblin Cave of part I against 3 goblins and a goblin boss. I modified the encounters for a 3-man party (paladin, cleric & ranger) but I rolled in the open, so no fudging. They didn't play very cautiously or try other options than combat and so quickly ran through their skills/abilities and HP. In the last fight they rolled really badly, and the goblins rolled 16+ and they dropped each every other turn. Before that they tried to rest right outside the door (why not deep in the forest?), but they already set off the guards so they had a random encounter, and no regen of their abilities.