D&D 5E (2014) How do you kill a 10th level character?

[DaveDash]

I almost TPKd my group last night with an Arcanist Mind Flayer, Drow Wizard, and a few trash mobs. Brain suck = dead 13th level PC.

Don't charge into fight a mind flayer when 3/4 party members have -1 to +0 Intelligence saving throws.

 

[steeldragons]

Don't charge into fight a mind flayer when 3/4 party members have -1 to +0 Intelligence saving throws.

Or without making sure the chin strap on your helmet is double buckled.

 

[AmerginLiath]

DM: "Rocks fall. Everyone dies."
Monk PC: "Deflect Missile! Natural 20!"
DM: *headdeak*

 

[Sorrowdusk]

That's the surest way to lose your players. You don't have monsters attack downed PC's to kill them. The gnolls can stuff their extra attack!

Well on the one hand their are other characters still able to fight so they shouldnt....I mean they're not of any harm. Unless there's a cleric so maybe they would. But suppose they all go down..........what do the gnolls do? Eat them? Rob them? Sacrifice them in an overly elaborate ritual to Yeenoghu?

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

I'm passing here just to point that I had a pack of six zombies attacking a downed PC yesterday and nobody left my game. The poor elf druid just reincarnated as a halfling rogue.

 

[SirAntoine]

I'm passing here just to point that I had a pack of six zombies attacking a downed PC yesterday and nobody left my game. The poor elf druid just reincarnated as a halfling rogue.

This is what most people here have been saying, but rather than proving it to be true it underscores my point that you should find out how your players would feel about that. I only intended to say that some players would really have a hard time with it.

 

[SirAntoine]

Well on the one hand their are other characters still able to fight so they shouldnt....I mean they're not of any harm. Unless there's a cleric so maybe they would. But suppose they all go down..........what do the gnolls do? Eat them? Rob them? Sacrifice them in an overly elaborate ritual to Yeenoghu?

I run a very traditional game, so gnolls would actually be very likely to bandage their enemies because they are very lazy and use slaves more than most humanoids.

 

[DMZ2112]

PC durability is absolutely my biggest complaint about D&D5 (it's still not a very big complaint, though). Beyond about 3rd level, barring very specific abilities and spells that don't make sense in all campaigns or all encounters, a TPK is more or less the only way to put a PC down by the RAW.

But I don't think the real problem is that PCs are hard to kill. The problem I'm seeing is that a player with a character at 5 HP plays his character the same as he would at full health, because the risk to him is so minimal. With a life cleric in the party being knocked unconscious is barely an inconvenience.

Which is why I're revised my position on coup de grace. I've always thought of it as a dick move, and in previous editions where a single attack would kill outright I think it was. PCs were unlikely to get back up during combat, so the coup de grace was reserved for only the most villainous of opponents with an interest in demoralizing their foes. Using it more often smacked of desperation on the part of the dungeon master -- one should not have to resort to mean-spirited tricks to challenge one's players.

But in a world where a fallen combatant is decidedly /not/ out of the action, monsters are going to learn to make sure they stay down. Smacking a downed enemy once to rid it of two death saves before moving on is a very attractive strategic consideration. And it means PCs are going to be a lot more careful about being at low HP.

 

[Storminator]

People said the same about 4e, and I still racked up a pretty decent body count. Sure, the cleric can save people, but if there are 3 PCs making death saves when the last foe drops, he might not be able to save them all.

PS

 

[Dausuul]

But I don't think the real problem is that PCs are hard to kill. The problem I'm seeing is that a player with a character at 5 HP plays his character the same as he would at full health, because the risk to him is so minimal. With a life cleric in the party being knocked unconscious is barely an inconvenience.

There are some handy ideas in the DMG to discourage this. For example, there's the Lasting Injury table. One of the suggested options is to require a roll on the table any time someone drops to zero hit points. Most of the injuries are removed by any form of magical healing... but sooner or later a PC is going to lose an eye or a limb, which takes a 13th-level cleric to fix.