Help me avoid slaughtering my party

[demiurge1138]

The Ogre Mage - suitably impressed that they got this far, and managed to kill a few ogres in the process, attempts to bargain with them - "I'll spare your life, and give you your gear back, if you do a little something for me. Refuse, and I kill you all."

This. Sets up a good revenge situation where they can come back in a few levels for the ogre mage.

 

[Mark]

Assuming the cavern is irregularly shaped, find a spot in the room whence the Ogre Mage can only target the ranger and rogue with his cone of cold and then come up with a reason why he is doing so from that spot, such as putting some sort of cache there, like hidden healing potions which he has had to use, either because of the damage from the party or some other encounter you decide he has had in the interim.

 

[Gilladian]

I think Der Kluge's idea is the winner! He'll bargain with them and make a deal. I didn't mention that this is a side-adventure on an adventure path and I'd prefer not to totally reroute the campaign.

It's also a slightly toned-down ogre mage, with only a 5d cone of cold, regen 1 per rd, and magic resistance of 16 instead of 19 (I wasn't being TOTALLY mean to them). Splitting the group has been the real weakness, here.

Anyhow, I think the Ogre Mage will use his cone to make a nice display of power (freeze some of the cave water) and threaten them into listening to him. He'll offer to return their stuff (a wand and a medallion) that he swiped earlier, if they deliver a box to a specific location (in town) and leave it.

I'll figure out what's in the box (some nice distinctive magic item, of course) and who it is being delivered to later (possibly an ally in the theives guild), if necessary!

 

[Merkuri]

Anyhow, I think the Ogre Mage will use his cone to make a nice display of power (freeze some of the cave water) and threaten them into listening to him.

I don't know if your group is like this, but some groups just want to fight and have a hard time recognizing a threat that's too high for their level. You might want to add in your description of the freezing water something along the lines of, "You're fairly certain that if you got hit with that you'd be dead," just to make it painfully obvious that they won't win the fight.

 

[ironfang]

My opinion, which seems to be pretty contrary to everyone elses, is let them die. Level 4 is pretty low level, and not too horribly difficult to get back to. These players seem to be pretty inexperienced (splitting up to face pretty lop sided odds), and thus need to learn that they need to stick together, work together, and not be so individualistic.

Let me take a step back.

Ask yourself this question: What did the players do WRONG. Not wrong by accident, but wrong by choice. If they willfully put themselves in a situation that gave them a very HIGH possibility that they would die, then they should most likely take the bullet, and learn from their mistakes.

Now if you as a DM simply miscalculated the challenge of the party and lead them into a death trap, then its on you to help get them out of it (all DM's have been there before so dont feel bad, give them an extra cookie to relieve your guilt). If you find that it was appropriately challenging, but they just failed, they still have to suffer the loss. Being stripped of all possessions and sold into slavery would be an ample reward (and segway into a new adventure).

I know it sucks to have to kill of a party (and yes, it makes people rather upset at times) but without the real threats of losing, your players will never truly savor victory. I've had friends not talk to me for hours because their favorite characters were killed because they did something extremely stupid. On the other hand, when their characters triumph, they are top of the world, because they KNOW it was not a shallow victory.

Just something to think about.

 

[der_kluge]

I think Der Kluge's idea is the winner! He'll bargain with them and make a deal. I didn't mention that this is a side-adventure on an adventure path and I'd prefer not to totally reroute the campaign.

It's also a slightly toned-down ogre mage, with only a 5d cone of cold, regen 1 per rd, and magic resistance of 16 instead of 19 (I wasn't being TOTALLY mean to them). Splitting the group has been the real weakness, here.

Anyhow, I think the Ogre Mage will use his cone to make a nice display of power (freeze some of the cave water) and threaten them into listening to him. He'll offer to return their stuff (a wand and a medallion) that he swiped earlier, if they deliver a box to a specific location (in town) and leave it.

I'll figure out what's in the box (some nice distinctive magic item, of course) and who it is being delivered to later (possibly an ally in the theives guild), if necessary!

I take XP in lieu of American dollars.

 

[Tewligan]

I agree with Ironfang - let 'em suffer the consequences of their actions, even if that consequence is death. Next time around, they'll play more tightly, and consider the risks before they just go dashing off into danger. Nothing hones a group of players into a lean, mean, adventuring machine like a couple of avoidable deaths!

Or, if you're more of a softy than I am, just don't have the ogre mage be there - if they don't know he's there, then there's no foul if you decide he was never actually there to begin with.

 

[avin]

Make the Ogre Mage capture them and sell them to slavery!

 

[Nyeshet]

I sort of have a different look upon the situation. Why not presume the Ogre mage has a meta-magic feat that allows his cone of cold to deal non-lethal damage? No one gets killed, and now the three are prisoners. The other two and work to try to free them while those imprisoned attempt a prison break from within. The Ogre mage occationally leaves - perhaps there is a pattern (every full moon leaves for three days, leaves every fourth day to scout his territory, etc). The items he initially stole from them - perhaps he is carrying one or two of them and the rest are hidden in the cavern. They can retrieve them when they escape or are rescued (or both). If afterwards they cannot leave via the cave entrance or the chimney for some reason, perhaps there is a hidden door leading into the underworld / underdark / whatever your campaign calls it. They may wander around there for a few weeks before finding their way back to the surface.


Perhaps the ogre mage has a 'pet' guardian living in the water that he does not wish to injure with a cone of cold. It may attack in the next round or two or the next time the PCs enter the water.


Or maybe the Ogre mage will hold off on using his cone of cold. After all, if he is flying and invisible perhaps the wizard is as well and just waiting for the ogre mage to reveal his position by attacking. The ogre mage likely does not know their 'level' as it were, after all. For all he knows they may be just high enough to use such a tactic. And sacrificing a lower level comrad is just the type of thing the ogre mage would do - and so something he may suspect the PCs might be willing to consider doing.


Granted, considering their level, I'm inclined to let them die - at least if you level them at the typical rate of advancement. If you require double the exp per level gained (as some DMs I know do) then you should try to keep them alive.


Lastly, consider having the Ogre Mage charm one of them. It is also a once a day ability, and if he charms a weak willed member (the ranger or rogue comes to mind), the others will have to scatter to escape potential attacks - thus making the cone of cold unworkable. Perhaps combine this with the pet in the water idea?

 

[avin]

I sort of have a different look upon the situation. Why not presume the Ogre mage has a meta-magic feat that allows his cone of cold to deal non-lethal damage?

They got magically frozen instead of dead. Then the Ogre Mage forces them into some services. If they succeed they are free.