Do you "save" the PCs?

[Theo R Cwithin]

Generally I try to make it clear through in-game hints and DM body language that they're in over their heads.

But if the PCs insist on charging ahead, well... let the dice fall where they may.

The caveat: I'll try to avoid a TPK (or allow an immediate rematch) if it's the DM's fault, like forgetting to mention a critical piece of information. This is important to me since I don't put a lot of emphasis on mechanical balance; if the PCs are heading into a situation where they're outmatched, I try to make sure they understand that before it's too late (or at least make sure that they try to get more information!).

 

[The Shaman]

The dice rolls are bad. The tactics have failed. The situation is grim. Yet, they won't run away.

I keep a ready supply of blank character sheets for just this situation.

 

[Odhanan]

The dice rolls are bad. The tactics have failed. The situation is grim. Yet, they won't run away. So what do you do?

If you are GMing and the PCs get themselves in a pickle, but through poor judgement, overconfidence or just plain stubbornness they refuse to leave a losing encounter and a TPK or similar fate seems imminent, do you save them? Do you fudge the dice or have some deus ex machina event save them? Or do you leave them to cruel fate?

I let the characters die.

It is part of the game. If there is no possibility for failure, success means nothing.

 

[caudor]

I simply remark 'you rolled poorly' and let them die. That's little tradition I have going doesn't seem to bother my players at all. They just whip up the character generator to roll up a friend or brother...eager for revenge.

Success is sweeter when you have risked your own hide in the process of getting it.

 

[weem]

I let the characters die.

It is part of the game. If there is no possibility for failure, success means nothing.

Success is sweeter when you have risked your own hide in the process of getting it.

Yea. I agree from the DM side, and even more so on the player side.

Knowing a DM I play under is pulling punches and saving the group kills my enjoyment of a game entirely. It may sound, I don't know... petty, or a small thing to be concerned about, but for me that pretty much kills it.

 

[Rechan]

Yes, I'd save them. In many cases I've pulled the punches either due to bad rolls or my own miscalculations.

The caveat though is that if I know the group would be offended by it/be OK with it, or if the Campaign could keep going despite it, I'd let them die.

 

[Reynard]

Yes, I'd save them. In many cases I've pulled the punches either due to bad rolls or my own miscalculations.

I am very much a let the dice fall where they may type when I run games, and kind of on the "adversarial GM" side of things, but despite that -- or perhaps because of it -- I tend to try and be as fair as humanly possible, so I might "save" the PCs in the latter circumstances if a) i had made an error in calculating some planned encounter's difficulty (note: this does not apply to random encounters), and b) things were happening so fast the PCs/players didn't really have a chance to adjust for it.

But poor dice rolls, bad choices and the like lead to whatever consequences emerge organically, IMO.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

The dice rolls are bad. The tactics have failed. The situation is grim. Yet, they won't run away. So what do you do?

It depends. If it's solely because of poor luck (which can include using tactics that in practice didn't pan out but looked good in their minds) I'm more inclined to throw a bone than if it's due to player ineptness. Refusing to run away if escape is possible is player ineptness as far as I'm concerned. If escape isn't possible, and I've seen situations where it isn't, I might start to reroll dice if my hot streak continues* and/or give the PCs rerolls when their luck defies common sense.
Player: *rolls below 10 for the 5th time in a row*
Me: That's bs, roll again.
Player: *rolls a 3*
Me: *rolls an 18* That's your score. Stupid dice.

I might choose ot take the PCs prisoner rather than kill them if it still turns out badly. I don't like the idea of an impromptu NPC rescue. If an encounter has a high EL, I might have a planned NPC ally to help out or leave the option open plot-wise for one to walk in if needed, but that's not quite the same.

In the case of player ineptness, barring very circumstantial case-by-case examples of a low mental scores PC genuinely trying to roleplay, even if it means doing very tactically unsound actions...I'm no where near as kind. Best example i can think of is actually from my friend's game. One of the PCs was a figher, got shot up for lots of damage, had few hp remaining. He decided, instead of drinking a healing potion, which he had, that he would charge a Large (read: longer reach) Fire Elemental. Of course, he died on the AoO before even getting to attack it. No sympathy from the DM, and I wouldn't have given any, either.

*Anyone else seem to roll MUCH better as a DM than as a player? Happens to me and one of my friends a lot. Was funny, I had a mage in his game, and he'd roll a nat 20 about 1/3 of his saving throw rolls against my spells, and in general seemed to roll a 15-20 at least 90% of the time on a save. Spurred me to look for no save spells much more than at any other point in my gaming history. So, tables turn, I'm DM, he's playing an arcanist. Guess who's suddenly rolling nat 20's on saving throws like it's the only number on the die? Sweet revenge.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

When there was an obvious chance to get away, surrender or something like this it is the PCs choice to die.

If it was mainly DM´s fault (mine) I am a bit more lenient. (A situation where surrender or running away is no option and players did everything right. It is a bit anticlimatic to kill them just because of some bad rolls.

But here it is important to hide the rolls or having an in game reason why i changed fate.

 

[Mercule]

Not nearly as much as I used to. It's not a zero thing, though.

For example, in 3.5, I let the newbie wizard player survive a disintegrate trap at the cost of an arm. In a combat, I might "fix" really bad (or good, in truth) luck by the PCs by tweaking a couple of rolls on my side of the screen.

For myself, I've become very much a "let the dice fall as they may" person with D&D. Any softness usually comes either because my players don't enjoy that as much or because there was some miscommunication ("Oh, you meant the dragon was as big as the king's throne room, not that the statue beside him was that big. Crap!") that is threatening to end a PC. Even in a "fall as they may" situation, I think it's a bit improper to allow obvious and reasonable misunderstandings ruin someone's evening.