D&D General Do You Play Out Every Combat?

[AlViking]

In 2e, level 1-3 characters died like flies. No max hp on lv 1 and roll for hp means even fighter can have naughty word HP (seen couple of them). Also, hirelings are not mindless automatons that obey every command without question. They have self preservation instinct and will flee or just refuse to go on adventure if they think it's too risky. In 3.x, crit multipliers were culprits mostly. Even with max hp at level 1, low lv characters are kind of squishy ( specially d4 HD classes). Also, roll for hp didn't help. On top of all that, in every edition, bad luck on player part, good luck on dm part, bad tactic on player part, biting of more than they can chew, etc. But point is, prior editions characters tend to be on the soft side first few levels.

That was not my experience in 1e or 2e. Just goes to show that everyone played the game with different expectations and styles.

 

[el-remmen]

And so, very shortly after I started DMing, I got in the habit of recording everyone's hit points, spell slots (or spell points when I used that system), and currently-ongoing effects e.g. invisibility or protection-evil etc.

I don’t go that far but I do do this. . .

The “+10” is upcast aid. “AW” means an abjurer’ arcane ward.

 

[GrimCo]

That was not my experience in 1e or 2e. Just goes to show that everyone played the game with different expectations and styles.

I know. That's why i asked how? It was genuine curiosity, what did he or you do, specially in 2e (haven't played 1e), to not have any TPK-s. In 5e, i had exactly one TPK. And it was against goblins. Those little buggers are nasty if they get drop on party.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

No, I do not.

However, when I do skip the end, I make sure this isn't out of line for the players. Maybe they want their bloody vengeance. Maybe they want to specify precisely how the fight ends. Whatever the reason, I give them the chance to do that instead if they prefer. No secretly wiping out a combat I think is done by just having things die well before they should.

 

[Lanefan]

I know. That's why i asked how? It was genuine curiosity, what did he or you do, specially in 2e (haven't played 1e), to not have any TPK-s.

That's just it - it's not so much what I-as-DM do or did, it's what the players do or did.

If the players in-character are willing to bail out if-when things go sideways even if it means losing half the party, TPKs become close to impossible.

The only TPK I've ever DMed came through a situation where bailing out was impossible as there was quite literally nowhere for them to run. They were on a little tiny demiplane in a confined space and their top Fighter got dominated against them by an undead; he mowed down most of the rest of the PCs then the foes finished off what was left, the Fighter was kept as a mindless slave until he died of thirst a week or so later.

Touch wood, I've never been in a TPK as a player; though I've been in at least two situations where there was only one survivor.

 

[Zardnaar]

Generally yes bit I wouldn't use goblins at 7. Probably orcs or refluffed npcs CR 1-3.

If they're there they're a distraction.

 

[wedgeski]

Some combats are world building.

This is an important consideration in my games. A random encounter might not tax the PC's, but it can be a delivery mechanism for so much more.

 

[DragonLancer]

I only do encounters I want the party to have. If they are high enough level and passing through the goblin forests, I'll either gloss over any potential fights or they just don't encounter anything.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Soft combats are for colour, exposition, pushing story forward and maybe even character development, GM/players can-back-and-forth narrate how it plays out - one need not roll, unless you see an opportunity for player-flex/healthy competition between players (fun at the table).
Otherwise no rolls are needed, and the combat is but part of the travelling montage of experience.

 

[kigmatzomat]

This is an important consideration in my games. A random encounter might not tax the PC's, but it can be a delivery mechanism for so much more.

I also use random encounters as a kind of live "world building" exercise.

A large band of goblins could be a nomadic group, on their normal rotation inside their established range. Perhaps it is a raid/punitive attack on other goblins. Maybe refugees after being displace. A mastadon hunting party. A monster-hunting party.

Or possibly a caravan with guards, on their way to trade various animal pelts and spell components at a regularly scheduled trading moot. Which would make any fireball-happy, goblin-corpse-looting PCs become bandits in the eyes of the locals, especially if they unload those swamp-wesel pelts, preserved glow worms and two dozen shortswords with the rune of tribe Grimmthuk within 50 miles of the goblins.

Or they could be invading non-goblin territory, and the party could get a reward for anihilating them, if they can prove they did stop a goblin war band, possibly by handing over two dozen shortswords with the rune of tribe Grimmthuk. Of course, this could be only one band of many, and would the heroes mind helping hunt down the others? Keep in mind, your answer will affect your standing in this region.....