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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 3028812" data-attributes="member: 22424">It's unfair to spring a combat on characters that they cannot reasonably survive and cannot avoid. So, this would be unfair.However, this is just dumb play, and the PCs in question deserve to be splatted.All these "Is it fair?" scenarios boil down to one question: is it possible for the group, through good play, to survive without fatalities? In your original scenario it was, through the simple expedient of avoiding combat with a known (and overbearing threat). In the scenario with the map it was, through doing basic research of the dungeon beforehand.In the revised example with the dwarves who couldn't run away, and the giant who immediately attacked, it was not. Likewise, in the map example where research was predetermined to fail by the DM, it was not. In either of these cases, I determine the scenario to be unfair.The example with the lever is more tricky. I still maintain that merely having a lever in the room is not sufficient information for good play to lead to survival (because either pulling the lever or not pulling the lever could be the required response, and there's no way to know). However, I'm less certain of that than I am of the fairness or unfairness of either of the other scenarios.</blockquote>