Bullgrit
Adventurer
[D&D3.5] Six epic heroes (levels 4-6; an E6 campaign) lined up across a 20' wide corridor, braced for an epic battle to prevent an ancient evil from escaping the crypt dungeon. We hear the baying of hounds and the laughter of a terrible undead creature from down the hall. We're going to hold our line, as we may be the only ones capable of defeating this evil, and we have to stop it before it gets out into the world. This is going to be fantastic!
Two big dogs (shadow mastiffs) reach us first. One gives us his fear howl and we hold (I think maybe one character at the back of the group might have failed his save). The second dog howls . . . and the whole group panics, drops their weapons and shields, and flees.
Five of the six characters failed a DC 13 Will save (three natural 1s). The one who saved had to flee with us, as he was just a 4th-level cohort. What was set up to be an amazing heroic stand turned into a friggin' rout from two friggin' dogs. Our group left at least six magic items on the ground as we ran. Un-be-lievable!
Fortunately, we eventually got ourselves together and put up a good fight (including my enlarged war cleric grappling a mastiff to death with his bare hands!). The party barbarian (fast movement) managed to recover our weapons so we could face the undead creature, and we managed to fight him back into his crypt (though we didn't destroy him, yet).
In the end, it was a very fun and entertaining fight, but we didn't expect the "epic stand" to turn into a Keystone Cops skit.
This scene shows a big problem with powers that can affect everyone within an effectively unlimited range. Even if the save DC is low (like 13 in this case), it can sometimes get everyone. For instance, I've seen a harpy charm all five PCs in a party.
Has anyone else found this to be a problem (probably not often, but even once can completely screw up a campaign -- it's a route to TPK)? Does 4th edition "fix" this? If so, how?
Bullgrit
Total Bullgrit
Two big dogs (shadow mastiffs) reach us first. One gives us his fear howl and we hold (I think maybe one character at the back of the group might have failed his save). The second dog howls . . . and the whole group panics, drops their weapons and shields, and flees.
Five of the six characters failed a DC 13 Will save (three natural 1s). The one who saved had to flee with us, as he was just a 4th-level cohort. What was set up to be an amazing heroic stand turned into a friggin' rout from two friggin' dogs. Our group left at least six magic items on the ground as we ran. Un-be-lievable!
Fortunately, we eventually got ourselves together and put up a good fight (including my enlarged war cleric grappling a mastiff to death with his bare hands!). The party barbarian (fast movement) managed to recover our weapons so we could face the undead creature, and we managed to fight him back into his crypt (though we didn't destroy him, yet).
In the end, it was a very fun and entertaining fight, but we didn't expect the "epic stand" to turn into a Keystone Cops skit.
This scene shows a big problem with powers that can affect everyone within an effectively unlimited range. Even if the save DC is low (like 13 in this case), it can sometimes get everyone. For instance, I've seen a harpy charm all five PCs in a party.
Has anyone else found this to be a problem (probably not often, but even once can completely screw up a campaign -- it's a route to TPK)? Does 4th edition "fix" this? If so, how?
Bullgrit
Total Bullgrit
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