DMing Dilemma

[Jack of Shadows]

OK,

Last night I killed a PC, here is the scenario.

I'm currently running the Savage Tide AP for my group. The party was approaching the tar pits to find the big T-Rex that was driving the locals away. The catch was that they approached in a gondola carried by a Roc. The Roc had been psionically charmed by the party's Erudite after a random encounter the day before. Said Erudite had used a mindlink power to give the Roc direction to carry the gondola. The Gondola was in fact the Erudite transformed through his metamorphosis power. Unfortunately while in the form of a gondola the Erudite can't use his other powers. No worries, the party's Druid can direct the Roc what to do while in flight.

Party spots the big T-Rex while flying overhead. Druid attempts to direct the Roc to take the party over to the T-Rex. I call for a Handle Animal check to "push" the Roc as it has not been trained, DC is 20. At this point the Druid states he only has a rank or two in handle animal and the roll is a 5. The Roc continues flying in the direction the Erudite had originally told it to go.

At this point the Druid, Dragonborn Dragon Shaman, and Warlock bail out and plummet towards the T-Rex. The Dragonborn unfurls his wings and swoops out of the dive, the Warlock uses his flight power and blasts the T-Rex from above, and the Druid turns into a little bird and flies within reach of the T-Rex. The round continues with more hijinks on the now departing Roc and when the T-Rex's action arrives there are no other targets within reach of the beast. It snaps at the little bird that has flown up near it because it's hurt and enraged and the movement draws its attention. I ruled that the bird was too small to be hit by the T-Rex's jaws (yes, I like to be kind now and then) but the T-Rex still swallows the little bird.

Druid turns back to normal after dismissing the Little Bird spell but is over come by gizzard and stomach acid. Player is now very upset because he doesn't believe the T-Rex would ever have bothered with a bird that size (about the size of a sparrow). I judged that it was a perfectly reasonable reaction to the circumstances given the nature of this creature.

Opinions? Was I unfair in this encounter or did the player get what he deserved? Would you have handled it differently?

Jack

 

[Festivus]

You are the DM... your word is final. It seems reasonable to me as long as the T-rex had to make an touch attack roll on the bird (with appropriate size modifiers for the huge trex and the tiny? bird) followed by an opposed grapple. I liked your adjudication of no bite on the bird, and going straight into the mouth. I would argue that it would swallow whole on following round with a successful grapple check.

 

[TracerBullet42]

Opinions? Was I unfair in this encounter or did the player get what he deserved? Would you have handled it differently?

Nope. You did well. You were even extra generous in dismissing bite damage. If a player thinks he can just fly right up to an angry T-Rex, well, that player needs to learn that there are consequences for such an action.

Tasty, delicious consequences.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Kind of a weird death. A flying party with missile weapons should be able to kill a T-Rex with absolutely zero risk. Arguably it's not even an encounter. Why was the druid so close to it?

As to whether it would try to eat the bird those are the calls a DM has to make. I think your decision was perfectly reasonable. Of course having it not attack the bird would also be perfectly reasonable.

 

[werk]

"Combat
A tyrannosaurus pursues and eats just about anything it sees. "

Could the T-rex see the bird?
His stomach capacity is broken down into tiny and diminutive for a reason.

Case closed.

 

[amethal]

The player got exactly what he deserved.

Show the T Rex some respect next time little birdie!

 

[Rhun]

I probably would have ruled the same way, except WITH the bite damage.

 

[delericho]

The only thing that makes me say "hmmm..." is this:

Druid turns back to normal after dismissing the Little Bird spell but is over come by gizzard and stomach acid.

How much damage did the acid do? And how many hit points did the Druid have?

Anyway, other than that, the encounter was absolutely fine - the Druid did something stupid, and suffered the consequences.

 

[wedgeski]

Wild-shaping druids should *always* be careful around hungry critters. You handled it fine.

 

[Jack of Shadows]

The only thing that makes me say "hmmm..." is this:



How much damage did the acid do? And how many hit points did the Druid have?

Anyway, other than that, the encounter was absolutely fine - the Druid did something stupid, and suffered the consequences.

The character takes 1d8+8 from being crushed by the gizzard and then an additional 8 points of acid damage.

Jack