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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Meech17" data-source="post: 9403165" data-attributes="member: 7044459">I originally was going to title this with an expression about firearms, but decided to make it more on-brand. I want to ask a question, and ask for some advice regarding how to handle purposefully deadly encounters.  Spoilers ahead for the 20 year old adventure The Sunless Citadel. If you're un-interested in the background of my campaign, skip ahead to the bolded portion.So my players are into the Goblin controlled territory of the Citadel. They successfully captured Calcryx thanks to risking life and limb in order to protect Meepo so he'd be present to talk her down. I even introduced a new subplot to the story in which the reason Calcryx was captured in the first place is that Meepo had snuck her out of her cage and was attempting to flee with her. He loved her like a pet (I play with four people who work in the veterinary field, so it was an easy heart string to tug at.) and wanted to save her from her potential future as a Kobold War Machine. The players, opted to help Meepo sneak out of the citadel into the Underdark, where he assured them he knew a safe location to take them. I'm very proud of my players, because they knew they were giving up potential loot by not turning the dragon back over to the Kobold Queen Yusdrayl.The next phase of the dungeon is going to be a showdown with the goblins and their Chief Durnn. The party was able to prevent any of the goblins from garnering reinforcements, but instead of pressing forward, they doubled back to allow Meepo to escape, and to take a long rest. This means the Goblins most certainly found their slain allies, and knew something was afoot. I'm not sure what to do with them next. Will they maybe launch a counter-assault on the Kobolds? Or perhaps bunker down and prepare for a second attack? I'm leaning towards the latter. I think it might be fun to try and draw the players into a pincer trap with some guerilla tactics. I'm happy to take any advice on this part but what this thread is really about is:I want to built a pit, and make my players horrified that I'm going to kick them into it.In Durnn's throne room there is a hole in the floor that leads down to the caves below. Many of my players (4/5 of them to be exact) are Baldur's Gate 3 players. I've started playing around with grid combat, and I want to kick things up a notch and add verticality, which is a really fun part of BG3 combat.I'm planning on trying to build some sort of simple terrain. I was thinking maybe just kind of like a square donut. I've saved some cardboard boxes and I was just going to put them together in some rectangles, and put those together in a square to essentially make like a 3-5 square wide walk way around a 6x6 (Or maybe larger) hole, and then wrap the whole thing in gridded wrapping paper.I think this could be a lot of fun. The party is going to have to deal with goblin archers shooting them from across the hole, they can kick some gobbos down the hole, etc..The problem is, I don't want to point this threat at my players, and then not use it. If the Paladin and Durnn get nose to nose, and grapple, and the Paladin loses... Durnn is going to throw him down that hole. The crux of this issue, is that I want to present my players with a deadly situation, that is actually deadly. I don't want them to have a gun pointed at them, and then they walk away thinking "He was never going to pull the trigger". But rather I want them to walk away thinking "Holy cow.. I'm so thankful he didn't pull the trigger.. I was certain I was getting shot!"Big Questions:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Of course, PC death is going to be on the table. I'm not super concerned about that. There's going to be vines and stuff for them to catch on to.. It might happen.. If it does.. What are some ways that I can make sure it's as dramatic as possible? If someone dies, I want to make sure it was worth it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Here's what I'm especially worried about.. What if someone almost dies? So imagine the Paladin get's tossed down the hole, but he's able to catch onto some of the vines and save himself. What are some ways I can ratchet up the tension so that the turn or two he has to spend climbing back up doesn't feel boring or wasted?</li> </ol>What are some ways I can project to my players "Hey.. There's a hole here.. And I WILL throw you down it if you let me!" without having to throw them down the hole? I guess what I'm getting at is, how can I make my players know I'm serious, so that if they do end up dying, it feels reasonable?Also, any tips or tricks from anyone who's done this before are always helpful. Or stories from times where you've done something similar.Thanks!</blockquote>

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