Level Up (A5E) Removing Pointless Death (+)

[Retreater]

Do you really run a serious risk at your table of killing all your characters in regular play? That's rough. My PCs are rarely in serious danger of getting killed (although one did die a couple days ago).

Yeah, I do. I've had players complain about how lethal my games are for over a decade.
So I'm trying to find some positive changes I can do to stop this from being such a regular occurrence.
It's a real headache for me too, and a major point of stress when running games.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah, I do. I've had players complain about how lethal my games are for over a decade.
So I'm trying to find some positive changes I can do to stop this from being such a regular occurrence.
It's a real headache for me too, and a major point of stress when running games.

Fair enough. Why do you think that is? Are you running challenges beyond the level guidelines? Are your players not making good tactical choices? Are they getting into situations they can't get out of?

 

[Selganor]

Have you tried compiling (or recording) one of those combats in detail (down to every roll) to do a deep dive into if it was just dumb luck/unluck, tactical errors (or "too effective" tactics) or whatever other factor?

We sometimes have the opposite effect in our games when after (and usually in the middle of the fight) we notice that we should have all died multiple times (and a quick check of CR/encounter points confirms it) but with crazy tactics on our side and lots of bad luck of our gm we somehow pull through...

 

[Retreater]

Fair enough. Why do you think that is? Are you running challenges beyond the level guidelines? Are your players not making good tactical choices? Are they getting into situations they can't get out of?

"Maybe" the challenges are beyond the level guidelines.
I have a few issues:
1) Running adventure modules "by the book" - which sometimes end up being too dangerous.
2) Creating my own encounters by the rules - sometimes they end up being too difficult OR
3) After having so many easy ones, I push it more difficult until it jumps from being "way too easy" to "oops, I killed the entire party."
It's very difficult to find what I think is an acceptable amount of challenge that can be dangerous, fun, cinematic, etc.