D&D 5E How to not murder my PC's

[Boughbuts]

I'm stuck trying to run HOTDQ it's my second time ever doing and I have no PC's that are fighters or any real combat other than magic. Almost every game I find myself rolling crazy high. And my players dying frequently.. is there anyone that can give me a good idea to stop this or to maybe run the campaign setting better

 

[Harzel]

So if it's damage that you are rolling high on, just use average damage for monster attacks. Or, if, like me, you still want dice, but with less swing, you can use the average for some of dice in a roll and roll the others, or you can use smaller dice. Or a combination of both. For example, instead of 5d8 (max = 40), you can use 3d8 + 9 (max = 33) or 1d8 + 18 (max = 26), or 5d6 + 5 (max = 35), or 5d4 + 10 (max = 30), or 3d6 + 10 (max = 28), etc.

In case it's not obvious, the calculation for using smaller dice is really easy: for each die, for each step you decrease its size (d12 -> d10 -> d8 -> d6 -> d4), just add 1 to the constant. So if you start with 4d12 and want to use d6s, that's 4 dice times 3 steps of size decrease, giving a constant of 12. So you could use 4d6 + 12 instead of 4d12.

Not much you can do about attack rolls, unless you start fudging them, but, personally, I am averse to that.

However.

I do kind of wonder if high dice rolls are really the problem. You'll probably get more useful advice if you can give a bit more information about the circumstances. How experienced are your players? What classes are the PCs? What level(s) are the PCs? Describe the encounter that resulted in the most deaths. (Not a blow-by-blow account, just what monsters they were facing.)

 

[Boughbuts]

right now the PCs are at level 4 and they have been fighting kobolds cultists and the very occasional veteran depending on the encounter in the adventure. 4 PCs wizard lore mastery, druid circle of the moon, monk drunken master, bard college lore. the bard has never played before the wizard started playing in 5e about 2 years ago the monk has only played 3 games before this one and the druid has never done magic before.

i love the advice for damage should definitely slow down the death progression i checked my average. last game it was 16 on all die rolls made over 7 hours my PCs were rolling an average of 8-12 i try to run in depth for the adventure when it comes to fights though we are only on chapter 3 of Dragon Queen. the highest death encounter was rough Rearguard a veteran 2 acolytes and 6 cultists. the group just couldnt hit the veteran but did a decent job on the rest. my bard got one shot almost died on damage roll alone

 

[S'mon]

Moon Druid at level 4 should be tanking pretty well as a Bear - twice per short rest, full hp recovery on every Wildshape.

Otherwise I'd say they need an NPC Barbarian between them and the monsters!

Edit: also, change your dice?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

1) Make the encounters easier. Usually by reducing (I suggest halving) the number of enemies. Contrary to what some people on forums would have you believe, not all players are tactical geniuses, nor optimise their builds. There is no reason the DM can't reduce the difficulty setting.

2) Give each of the players a sidekick (Essentials) to cover the skills they lack and help with action economy.

3) Allow the party more opportunities to avoid or talk their way out of fights. Luck will always factor when it comes to fighting, the best way to avoid that is not to fight at all.

 

[pogre]

I'm stuck trying to run HOTDQ it's my second time ever doing and I have no PC's that are fighters or any real combat other than magic.

The thing is WOTC produced adventurers, or really any commercial adventures, are going to be designed for a more conventional party. Aside from the average damage suggestion above, perhaps go over to a random generator like random.org and crank out a bunch of randomized 1-20 numbers - print it out and use it sequentially.

My other suggestion is a little tougher to implement - you need to customize encounters in the adventure a bit. [edit: most of my suggestions were ninja'd by Paul Farquhar]

 

[Todd Roybark]

One Shot items, like a scroll with a high spell DC can also help.
Occasionally not rolling for monster saving throws and using ‘passive saves’...base 10 + Mod can also help.

Saving Throws are more ‘swingy’ then Attacks...even Spell Attacks.

I know Tolling Bell is supposed to be a good cantrip. In play, the Wisdom saving throw gets made a lot, even by low Wisdom creatures.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

No one rolled a fighter. Let the pain come. Maybe someone'll get smart a roll one up. No need for training wheels.

 

[Harzel]

And by the way, welcome to ENWorld. There's some XP for you.

 

[pogre]

No one rolled a fighter. Let the pain come. Maybe someone'll get smart a roll one up. No need for training wheels.

I disagree with punishing the players for choosing classes they want to play.

Sure it would be nice for the DM (easier) if players choose to be the fighter and the cleric, but what if no one wants to. Being roped into a role you don't want to play is less satisfying for some folks.

I cannot imagine a newish DM getting a positive reaction form his players with a TPK and announcing, "That's what you get for not having a fighter!" That's counter to fun IMO.