Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8710815" data-attributes="member: 6801845">So two situations, one were I think it would have been my fault if the&nbsp; PC died, one where it was not.In my current game we're playing&nbsp; ToA and in the session 0 we discussed that character death was definitely on the table, we were all OK with it. We get into a situation where we're at the top of a big pit and there's a large dragon flying up.&nbsp; My PC (a monk) chugged a potion of invulnerability and then on his first turn spent his last ki point to jump down onto the flying dragon. As a melee character I'm much more effective going toe-to-toe and this gave the rogue sneak attack he wouldn't have had otherwise.Thanks the giant spider druid webbing the dragon twice, lucky rolls on our side and bad ones for the dragon, I survived with a dozen HP. But it was a huge risk on my part and if I had died it would have been fine. I would not have felt punished.On the other hand I was in an interactive AL game, just about done with a tough encounter with my 2nd level PC.&nbsp; Then the organizer had a giant come crashing in, attacked all PCs (ignoring NPCs) everyone in the room doing something like 30 points of damage* instantly killing my PC and my wife's since we were only 2nd level.&nbsp; Oh, and of course no chance to see it coming or even opportunity attacks as it left.The first? I took a risk to save my group. I knew the risk and took it anyway. The latter? That was a Bozo-no-no in my book and bad DMing.&nbsp; The monster was far, far above our CR, we had no chance to react, the organizer ignored the rules for the monster.&nbsp; It was the&nbsp; equivalent of &quot;rocks fall,&nbsp; everyone dies&quot;.So sometimes I put death absolutely at the feet of the player. Take a&nbsp; risk, suffer the consequences.On the other hand (third hand?) while the&nbsp; DM can go out of their way to kill PCs, unless you house rule, the risk can't be totally avoided.&nbsp;&nbsp; Want to kill PCs?&nbsp; Focus fire and double tap.&nbsp; Once someone is down,&nbsp; every hit is a crit which cause two failed death saves.&nbsp; Two strikes and you're out.Then there are just times when the dice go sideways.&nbsp; Bad luck on behalf of the PCs, good luck for the opponents, somebody goes down and nobody gets to them fast enough.&nbsp; Throw in a couple of 1s on death saves for the PC for good measure.&nbsp; Sometimes s**t happens.The DM can always change the rules,&nbsp; but there are no guarantees in life.&nbsp; Or D&amp;D.*or thereabouts, I just remember it being more than the giant (probably a mouth of Grolantor) should have done, enough to take me to negative max HP.&nbsp; So max damage instead of average?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8710815, member: 6801845"] So two situations, one were I think it would have been my fault if the PC died, one where it was not. In my current game we're playing ToA and in the session 0 we discussed that character death was definitely on the table, we were all OK with it. We get into a situation where we're at the top of a big pit and there's a large dragon flying up. My PC (a monk) chugged a potion of invulnerability and then on his first turn spent his last ki point to jump down onto the flying dragon. As a melee character I'm much more effective going toe-to-toe and this gave the rogue sneak attack he wouldn't have had otherwise. Thanks the giant spider druid webbing the dragon twice, lucky rolls on our side and bad ones for the dragon, I survived with a dozen HP. But it was a huge risk on my part and if I had died it would have been fine. I would not have felt punished. On the other hand I was in an interactive AL game, just about done with a tough encounter with my 2nd level PC. Then the organizer had a giant come crashing in, attacked all PCs (ignoring NPCs) everyone in the room doing something like 30 points of damage* instantly killing my PC and my wife's since we were only 2nd level. Oh, and of course no chance to see it coming or even opportunity attacks as it left. The first? I took a risk to save my group. I knew the risk and took it anyway. The latter? That was a Bozo-no-no in my book and bad DMing. The monster was far, far above our CR, we had no chance to react, the organizer ignored the rules for the monster. It was the equivalent of "rocks fall, everyone dies". So sometimes I put death absolutely at the feet of the player. Take a risk, suffer the consequences. On the other hand (third hand?) while the DM can go out of their way to kill PCs, unless you house rule, the risk can't be totally avoided. Want to kill PCs? Focus fire and double tap. Once someone is down, every hit is a crit which cause two failed death saves. Two strikes and you're out. Then there are just times when the dice go sideways. Bad luck on behalf of the PCs, good luck for the opponents, somebody goes down and nobody gets to them fast enough. Throw in a couple of 1s on death saves for the PC for good measure. Sometimes s**t happens. The DM can always change the rules, but there are no guarantees in life. Or D&D. [I]*or thereabouts, I just remember it being more than the giant (probably a mouth of Grolantor) should have done, enough to take me to negative max HP. So max damage instead of average?[/I] [/QUOTE]

Verification