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<blockquote data-quote="DMCF" data-source="post: 6811355" data-attributes="member: 6790388"><p>Let me start with Ilvara and the Yochlol. <strong>MM129 </strong> says the Yochlol sticks around for 10 minutes, <strong>until it's summoner dies,</strong> or it is dismissed. If the priestess died the players shouldn't have had a Yochlol to whale on for 2 rounds. Based on the sequence of events I'd use the rule for a multipart encounter if I did let the Yochlol live. Bear in mind that the Yochlol's alignment of CE <strong>mm65</strong> means I'd make it go nuts and attack both drow and players if I let it stick around. </p><p></p><p>Seeing as how your encounter is hovering at approximately 11,000 it is still deadly. You wanted a deadly encounter. Why didn't you kill the champion?</p><p></p><p><strong>phb197</strong> states: <em>"If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death."</em></p><p></p><p><strong>phb292</strong> states regarding unconscious characters that: <em>Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature."</em></p><p></p><p>NPCs generally do not get death saves. Monsters <em>practically never</em> get death saves. This means that with the same stats the edge will go to the player. The fact that you need extra moves to kill someone gives whomever is alive a better chance to survive. That is your license to kill people. You chose not to kill the champion. That is not the fault of the system.</p><p></p><p>My guess is most DM's don't want to pull the trigger this way because the player will see it as an affront. </p><p></p><p>In the player's mind it is logical that when someone/something is no longer a threat they should move on. That's why they maximize their damage at level 5 by making sure they roll each attack as if they made it in well parsed three-second intervals so that if the threat dies they can move and stab something else. Your NPC's don't have to be as smart as players. An NPC can stab-stab right away because NPC farts <em>don't smell like roses. </em></p><p></p><p>The fact an encounter is hard or deadly means that the DM with average or better tactics will very likely be presented an opportunity to kill someone.<strong> <---- If this was in the DMG it would clear up a lot of confusion.</strong></p><p></p><p>What hurts the encounter calculation is the general assumption that the chance of death will be based on a random dice fall that actually manages to take a creature to negative max HP. To achieve that the game would focus on less strategy. Monsters would <em>have to have</em> big dice damage or huge inescapable AoEs that always has a chance to kill players at a certain CR. This would hurt the game strategically. Certain NPCs would be harder to use with others because the chance of random insta-kill is too high.</p><p></p><p>I can kill my players regularly with medium/hard encounters. I know my NPCs. I know the synergy of the fight because I set it up. They also role play their characters in battle instead of "meta rush cuz dps is same at 1hp lolz". If your players are like that last part. Do it back to them. Start with medium encounters. Focus kobold fire on the closest thing in robes. I can't honestly believe that 100% of the time a party will survive 3 medium encounters back to back with no one going down when the DM is playing their best. </p><p></p><p>You set the encounter to deadly. Make it deadly. Kill someone. Don't look back.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DMCF, post: 6811355, member: 6790388"] Let me start with Ilvara and the Yochlol. [B]MM129 [/B] says the Yochlol sticks around for 10 minutes, [B]until it's summoner dies,[/B] or it is dismissed. If the priestess died the players shouldn't have had a Yochlol to whale on for 2 rounds. Based on the sequence of events I'd use the rule for a multipart encounter if I did let the Yochlol live. Bear in mind that the Yochlol's alignment of CE [B]mm65[/B] means I'd make it go nuts and attack both drow and players if I let it stick around. Seeing as how your encounter is hovering at approximately 11,000 it is still deadly. You wanted a deadly encounter. Why didn't you kill the champion? [B]phb197[/B] states: [I]"If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death."[/I] [B]phb292[/B] states regarding unconscious characters that: [I]Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature."[/I] NPCs generally do not get death saves. Monsters [I]practically never[/I] get death saves. This means that with the same stats the edge will go to the player. The fact that you need extra moves to kill someone gives whomever is alive a better chance to survive. That is your license to kill people. You chose not to kill the champion. That is not the fault of the system. My guess is most DM's don't want to pull the trigger this way because the player will see it as an affront. In the player's mind it is logical that when someone/something is no longer a threat they should move on. That's why they maximize their damage at level 5 by making sure they roll each attack as if they made it in well parsed three-second intervals so that if the threat dies they can move and stab something else. Your NPC's don't have to be as smart as players. An NPC can stab-stab right away because NPC farts [I]don't smell like roses. [/I] The fact an encounter is hard or deadly means that the DM with average or better tactics will very likely be presented an opportunity to kill someone.[B] <---- If this was in the DMG it would clear up a lot of confusion.[/B] What hurts the encounter calculation is the general assumption that the chance of death will be based on a random dice fall that actually manages to take a creature to negative max HP. To achieve that the game would focus on less strategy. Monsters would [I]have to have[/I] big dice damage or huge inescapable AoEs that always has a chance to kill players at a certain CR. This would hurt the game strategically. Certain NPCs would be harder to use with others because the chance of random insta-kill is too high. I can kill my players regularly with medium/hard encounters. I know my NPCs. I know the synergy of the fight because I set it up. They also role play their characters in battle instead of "meta rush cuz dps is same at 1hp lolz". If your players are like that last part. Do it back to them. Start with medium encounters. Focus kobold fire on the closest thing in robes. I can't honestly believe that 100% of the time a party will survive 3 medium encounters back to back with no one going down when the DM is playing their best. You set the encounter to deadly. Make it deadly. Kill someone. Don't look back. [/QUOTE]
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