All PC dead, what to do?

[trancejeremy]

Well, it's not like the spell "Raise Dead" doesn't exist in the game. Just have an NPC raise them, but expect something in return. Someone could find a party of 7th level PCs fairly useful.

 

[cthulhu_duck]

Man, that´s brutal, what adventure module is this?

Bump. Has this been answered yet? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

[Amazing Triangle]

I love a TPK even when I play a PC. Usually it means we were not careful enough.

As to what to do:
I personally would rather roll a new character and be hired to "investigate" the murder. Then find out that what these people were up to, and as a group decide to take over to find who is at the top of the chain.

My side notes and reasoning:
Personally for me, I hate when the DM handles my PC with kid gloves. Sure the DM is not to cheat to kill you but he should try and kill you in your sleep when you have been harassing the wrong people. This kind of thing happens, this is why my low level characters sleep with two sleeping bags, or use rope trick. Rope trick is an hour per level. Characters have to be ready for anything, or at least a low level assassin. Things like sleeping in the tavern without a guard should never have happened. Don't get caught up in keeping your PC's alive that should be their job. You wouldn't have saved their bacon had they stayed instead of ran in a big fight. Same thing for not having a guard when you sleep, same thought. Didn't think ahead.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

RBDM Advice

Either you own up to your mistake to your players, or you start a new campaign.

What mistake? I don't see any rules violations, and turnabout is definitely fair play.

Let's face it, if the party rogue had slit the throats of six sleeping orcs ... I doubt anyone would care.

-Samir is the TPKillah

​

 

[The Thayan Menace]

True Dat!

It is one thing to have a TPK because the PCs made bad decisions ....

Like sleeping in separate rooms ... in a town with an active thieves' guild.

-Samir

 

[der_kluge]

Like sleeping in separate rooms ... in a town with an active thieves' guild.

-Samir

It wouldn't have made any difference - all the PCs failed their listen checks, and all their Fort saves (which, coup de grace Fort saves are difficult to save against).

The guy already said he didn't understand the rules. If he'd bothered to read up on the rules for pulling this off before hand, he might have realized that there was a very high likelihood that he would have a TPK on his hand.

The open locks thing was never a problem. The rogue took 20. So, all locks were opened.
The listen check thing was a wildcard. So, there's a good chance that someone would hear it, but at 7th level, the most you're looking at on a Listen check is somewhere in the order of +10 up to a +16 if they have an 18 wisdom, and the alertness feat. There's a -10 penalty to listening while asleep. That has to beat the rogue's Move Silently. A 4th level rogue is looking at about a +10 Move Silently. So, if the PCs are effectively at +0 Listen checks, against a rogue's +10 Move Silently. Even if the rogue rolls a 1 on her MS check, the PC (assuming they have at least 10 ranks in Listen), have to roll at least an 11 to hear her. So, the odds are definitely against them here.

Then, the coup de grace. The rogue is delivering a coup de grace for a 10+4d6+2. That's a Fort save of 26 on average. A 7th level fighter with a 14 con has a Fort save of +7. Assuming the rogue rolls average damage, the fighter has a roll a 19 or 20 on the Fort Save to save against it. Wizards or sorcerers basically stand no chance at all.


So, the mistake here is clearly that the GM didn't fully understand what the repurcussions were.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Or, you could tell them that they are now with their god(s) and having a wonderful afterlife. Isn't it amazing how unsatisfying that sounds, when it should be their real goal!

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Oh, Really?

It wouldn't have made any difference.

It might have, especially if they kept a watch.

-Samir

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Question to ask yourself - Would you enjoy a game where the DM told you 'Sorry, you all die in your sleep'?

I know that I wouldn't, so I do not put that kind of encounter in the game, the DM always has the ability to kill the PCs, so why bother doing it while the characters are asleep? Even in Call of Cthulhu this would be a not-fun encounter, but live and learn.

That said, you should also have been more familiar with the rules governing the encounter before springing it on the group, but we have all had that problem, oh, once or twice... (This is what bathrooms were invented for, after all, to allow the DM to sneak off for a few minutes to familiarize himself with the rules. )

The Auld Grump

 

[was]

Use it as an adventure hook..have a deity send them on a mission on another plane in spirit form..(ethereal?)..maybe check out the ghostwalk supplement.....just brainstorming here