D&D 5E First 5e Kill this Weekend.

[GreyLord]

We have the most deaths at lower levels. Maybe it's the way I design and play it, but I find at 1-3 levels it is incredibly easy for PC's to die in my games.

With the +4 and +5 to hit of some of the common Low CR enemies, and the max AC of around 18 for PC's, I find enemies hit PCs rather often and with any sort of intelligent tactics seem to take down one or two PC's out of a group very quickly.

 

[overgeeked]

laughs in George RR Martin

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I had my first 5e PC death within a few months of starting to run it. And it was precisely because of overconfidence. The big bad was on the roof of a building, the secondary boss (that they were supposed to fight) was on the other roof with them. One player went to fight the secondary boss, one tried to fight both at the same time, and the third went to melee the big boss solo. And the results were predictable - the PC went to zero HP, started making death saves. And because the rest of the party was both busy and a whole building away with no way to get there quickly, failed three before the cleric could get to him.

The character that died belonged to a player that I would later discover was an inveterate cheater, so I suspect he really believed that he could beat the boss single-handed. I felt bad about it at the time, like I had messed up as a DM, but in hindsight that poor of a decision can only rest on the player's head.

Killing PCs happens sometimes, especially when they're over confident.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I had my first 5e PC death within a few months of starting to run it. And it was precisely because of overconfidence. The big bad was on the roof of a building, the secondary boss (that they were supposed to fight) was on the other roof with them. One player went to fight the secondary boss, one tried to fight both at the same time, and the third went to melee the big boss solo. And the results were predictable - the PC went to zero HP, started making death saves. And because the rest of the party was both busy and a whole building away with no way to get there quickly, failed three before the cleric could get to him.

The character that died belonged to a player that I would later discover was an inveterate cheater, so I suspect he really believed that he could beat the boss single-handed. I felt bad about it at the time, like I had messed up as a DM, but in hindsight that poor of a decision can only rest on the player's head.

I cannot fathom cheating in this game. The thrill is winning through risk. Shrug

 

[GuyBoy]

Khione sat on the rocky shore, her head slumped forward, tears streaming down her cheeks as the warm sun of Themis dried the seawater from her body and hair, leaving pale salt tracings on her leather armour.
Nearby the hulking Leandros seemed deflated, his vibrant confidence not in evidence, terrible wounds still leaking blood and burns from the hydra’s blood scarring his sun-bronzed skin.
Even Pani, the satyr bard, had no words. She had done what healing she could but she could only heal the physical, not the anguish.

Khione shook, her body wracked: Titus was gone. Titus who had fought beside her against the Stygian boar. Titus who had saved her from the savage maenads. Titus who had stood against the harpies on the northern cliffs. Khione did not know what else she could have done against the pyrohydra, but she surely could have done something. Titus was gone, and it was her fault.......

 

[Redwizard007]

Khione sat on the rocky shore, her head slumped forward, tears streaming down her cheeks as the warm sun of Themis dried the seawater from her body and hair, leaving pale salt tracings on her leather armour.
Nearby the hulking Leandros seemed deflated, his vibrant confidence not in evidence, terrible wounds still leaking blood and burns from the hydra’s blood scarring his sun-bronzed skin.
Even Pani, the satyr bard, had no words. She had done what healing she could but she could only heal the physical, not the anguish.

Khione shook, her body wracked: Titus was gone. Titus who had fought beside her against the Stygian boar. Titus who had saved her from the savage maenads. Titus who had stood against the harpies on the northern cliffs. Khione did not know what else she could have done against the pyrohydra, but she surely could have done something. Titus was gone, and it was her fault.......

If this is an advertisement to find new players, I'm in. Chances of death be damned.

 

[overgeeked]

Tolkien as DM. "You know what, on second thought. Boromir lives. Just kidding. I didn't roll three crits in a row. Boromir's fine, just unconscious."

Boromir's Player. "Oh. Okay. I guess. So we just win or lose based on your whim and not the dice?"

Tolkien as DM. "Yep. Whatever I say goes. The dice don't matter unless I want them to."

Boromir's Player. "So any time you want you could just stop the story and say we all win? Or lose? There’s no stakes. No drama. No tension. What's the point then?"

Tolkien as DM. "Shut up. On third though, Boromir's dead again. Get out."

 

[TheSword]

Tolkien as DM. "You know what, on second thought. Boromir lives. Just kidding. I didn't roll three crits in a row. Boromir's fine, just unconscious."

Boromir's Player. "Oh. Okay. I guess. So we just win or lose based on your whim and not the dice?"

Tolkien as DM. "Yep. Whatever I say goes. The dice don't matter unless I want them to."

Boromir's Player. "So any time you want you could just stop the story and say we all win? Or lose? There’s no stakes. No drama. No tension. What's the point then?"

Tolkien as DM. "Shut up. On third though, Boromir's dead again. Get out."

What you don’t know is that Boromir actually failed a Climb check and should have fallen to his death on the slopes of Carahdras but Tolkein fudged it so he got through to the more glorious death later on.

 

[Minigiant]

Like I said in another thread.

5th edition PCs don't die.
5th edition PCs get left behind, sacrificed, or wipe.

 

[blackflame]

They were pragmatic about it. The monk went back to protect the bard I think realizing that they would be killed if the hydra reached them. The bard fled not realizing the hydra could swim… not the greatest feat of logic.

The flight from the cave was a bit desperate I think. The barbarian almost died as well on the trip back to the surface as they were making death saves from being unconscious under water.

Hello! I am the bard in this party. It wasn't that I didn't think the hydra could swim. It was more that it was a gargantuan creature described as being so big that it had to gnaw its' own heads off to be able to move properly while the water tunnel out of the chamber started with a pool described as 'waist height' (so about 3 ft deep). As the hydra stopped at the edge of the pool and contented itself with snapping at us from the edge, I assumed it was too large to follow. Until it did. And then it was too late (with 10+ attacks vs lv8 characters, you don't get many chances to make mistakes).

Creatures placed in a chamber as guardians and then growing so large that they can no longer leave the chamber are a pretty common trope in fantasy (particularly in the case of something that grows at a supernatural rate such as a hydra). This creature was in effect a guardian beast for an important relic that would be quite harmful to the villains of the campaign, so I don't know if assuming it was trapped in the chamber (and thus unable to wander off and get itself killed by something even more dangerous) was too outrageous of an assumption to make-Particularly as the pool at the entrance was described as being quite shallow while the vast size of the beast was continually emphasized.

It was my fault for not asking more questions to clarify the exact situation, but my confusion was not based on the creature's ability to swim. I'm not a total idiot. Just, like, 90% idiot