I'm skeptical about this. It's virtually impossible for a single attack to take a lvl 9 PC HP all the way down to negative maximum. And it's very unlikely for s PC to bleed to death with failed death saves.Note that he did say the PCs were not optimized. When PCs are not optimized, or players are still relatively new (first few years) to the game, the suggested level of Deadly encounters can remain a challenge all the way through.
Further, as a DM, when a player says something like this, I like to remind them not to take anything for granted. I promise you that any 9th level 'by the book' party can be TPKed by an encounter that isn't even deadly if the DM really runs the right bad guys cleverly.
not so much...Note that he did say the PCs were not optimized. When PCs are not optimized, or players are still relatively new (first few years) to the game, the suggested level of Deadly encounters can remain a challenge all the way through.
Further, as a DM, when a player says something like this, I like to remind them not to take anything for granted. I promise you that any 9th level 'by the book' party can be TPKed by an encounter that isn't even deadly if the DM really runs the right bad guys cleverly.
Kill a 9th level PC in one blow? Unlikely, but I wouldn't want to play that game anyway. TPK over several rounds? Not hard at all.I'm skeptical about this. It's virtually impossible for a single attack to take a lvl 9 PC HP all the way down to negative maximum. And it's very unlikely for s PC to bleed to death with failed death saves.
5e is too lenient.
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Note that he did say the PCs were not optimized. When PCs are not optimized, or players are still relatively new (first few years) to the game, the suggested level of Deadly encounters can remain a challenge all the way through.
Further, as a DM, when a player says something like this, I like to remind them not to take anything for granted. I promise you that any 9th level 'by the book' party can be TPKed by an encounter that isn't even deadly if the DM really runs the right bad guys cleverly.
A dragon, flying, applying his breath and then diving to one of the weakened characters to apply his claw claw bite tail (wings) routine, does this count as a single attack?I'm skeptical about this. It's virtually impossible for a single attack to take a lvl 9 PC HP all the way down to negative maximum. And it's very unlikely for s PC to bleed to death with failed death saves.
5e is too lenient.
It won't take the character all the way down to minus max HP. They won't die unless the DM deliberately attack the downed character.A dragon, flying, applying his breath and then diving to one of the weakened characters to apply his claw claw bite tail (wings) routine, does this count as a single attack?
In other words, do you mean single attack in the first round or single attack after one or more PC are not at max HP?
Which can happen - even without targeting them. If the BBEG has a breath weapon or area-effect spells, they're not going to deliberately avoid the downed character with them.It won't take the character all the way down to minus max HP. They won't die unless the DM deliberately attack the downed character.