My first TPK

[the Jester]

First of all, congrats on the tpk. I know you probably don't feel this way yet, but it gives you credibility as a dm who is willing to let his pcs lose. Now here's a test for you: if your pcs hit the BBEG with a finger of death on round 1, and you roll a 1 for his save behind the screen, out of player view, do you let the BBEG die? Because if you do, then I give you not one, not two, but three thumbs up.

Now, about confusion- I agree, it's dangerous and sucky, and removes decision making. I certainly hope it undergoes a serious revision in 4e, now that the subject has come up.

Hopefully the players enjoyed the game, and are down with starting a new group.

 

[Ravilah]

I had an accidental tpk once, but it turned into a really cool plot point. Other heroes resurrected them 30 years later, and they found that the whole world had gone to hell in a handbasket (they had failed in their quest to save the world after all). They had a great time trying to fix it.

 

[Amazing Triangle]

I had an accidental tpk once, but it turned into a really cool plot point. Other heroes resurrected them 30 years later, and they found that the whole world had gone to hell in a handbasket (they had failed in their quest to save the world after all). They had a great time trying to fix it.

Wow I really like this idea. This seems like something I may try in a future gaming session if I have a TPK.

As far as the OP, I agree with the monsters tactics more food is more food. TPK's are always accidental, sometimes you just have to live and it scares your Players into being more careful. This has to be done so that players don't get comfortable and feel like they can do anything they want.

 

[Rechan]

I had an accidental tpk once, but it turned into a really cool plot point. Other heroes resurrected them 30 years later, and they found that the whole world had gone to hell in a handbasket (they had failed in their quest to save the world after all). They had a great time trying to fix it.

That is cool. I'll have to use that sometime.

I had an almost-TPK. The PCs were storming the lair of a necromancer doing some favors for some priests of disease. Well, the necro kept carrion crawlers in his basement, to dispose of the wasted flesh. One of his wards was tripped when the PCs came in, so he had a skeleton release the carrion crawlers.

3 Carrion crawlers = CR 7. Each carrion crawler has 8 attacks (average: three hit). So that's three saves per round per PC. They went down. But I had an acolyte wander by, order the skeletons to pull the carrion crawlers off them, and locked the PCs in the dungeon. They then got to play James Bond escaping the badguy's clutches.

Of course, when they finally met the necro, he died in round 3 from a phantasmal killer. But I managed to have his butler give the PCs some serious grief, and they ended up tracking down the necro's daughter to give her a gift he was planning on mailing her.

In the current campaign I have running, if one of my PCs dies, I'm going to take them aside and roleplay them waking up in the middle of a sinking boat, with a man on a dock, offering them a hand. "Take my hand, and you won't succumb to the cold depths. But if you do, I expect you to return the favor." If they accept, they return to life at the end of the combat, gasping for breath.

 

[Warren Okuma]

Three players. Three 13th level PCs - sorcerer, abjurant champion, weretouched master - plus one 11th level cleric cohort.

One truly horrid umber hulk (CR14). Ambushed party in a forest while they were unbuffed, coming out of the ground right beside them. Everyone failed the DC22 will save, despite having action points (Eberron setting). Very unlucky. It fought for a bit, the weretouched master alone almost killed it. The monster retreated and let the PCs kill one another until there was only one left, then returned to finish him off. It was close, the umber hulk had only 12hp left out of 270 at the end.

I really hate confusion. D&D, and all rpgs, are about players making decisions. Confusion removes all decision making.

Umber hulks are nasty. Their best tactic is probably to appear on the surprise round, confuse everyone on round one, delay until the end of initiative then burrow back into the ground and let its victims fight it out. Repeat confusion ambushes until all but one is dead. Pretty dangerous.

Now leave their most of their equiment as loot. Tends to soften the blow. Or I say roll 1D6, 1-4 it's there, 5-6 it's not, for each item.

 

[GlassJaw]

Here's an action point house rule I use you might want to use:

Break the Chains
If you are affected by any condition that does not allow another saving throw, you may spend an action point to gain another saving throw. You may spend action points on this saving throw as normal.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I really hate it now. Yeah, I was the DM.

That is an immature response.

Maybe I’m getting old and plagued by winter thoughts (usually gray, cold and dark), but inconsistency in people’s behavior pisses me off.

If you did not want to use an umber hulk, then you should not have used one. You did use an umber hulk.

If you did not seek a TPK, they you should have backed off during the conflict. You did not back off and you achieved a TPK.

Take pride in your actions or stop whining to us like you’re the victim when you are in fact the perpetrator.

 

[Lanefan]

Sometimes, a fight the party should win clobbers 'em, or kills 'em outright. (e.g. 11 0th-level bandits vs. a party of 8 3rd-4th level types; sure the bandits were hiding in ambush but the battle should have been an absolute pushover for the PCs...yet it took one PC death, several near-kills, and the loss of a (to them) major magic item before they scraped out a win)

Sometimes, a fight the party should run from they instead win in a mere few rounds. (e.g. the same party later in the same adventure meets a Skeleton Warrior - 10 HD, needs magic to hit vs. a party with few magic weapons, lots of other nasty abilities...in other words this is an encounter the party is supposed to run away from and later avoid; so what do they do on first meeting it? Take it on and beat it in 5 rounds without losing a single character!)

::shrug:: It happens.

(then again, I'm of the school that says players should *always* have more than one PC in the game, whether retired or on active duty in another party...were this the case here, when party 1 isn't heard from in a month or two, the same players could easily form party 2 from their reserve troops and go looking for them...)

Lanefan

 

[Slife]

That is an immature response.

Maybe I’m getting old and plagued by winter thoughts (usually gray, cold and dark), but inconsistency in people’s behavior pisses me off.

If you did not want to use an umber hulk, then you should not have used one. You did use an umber hulk.

If you did not seek a TPK, they you should have backed off during the conflict. You did not back off and you achieved a TPK.

Take pride in your actions or stop whining to us like you’re the victim when you are in fact the perpetrator.

Dude. It looks a lot less nasty on paper.

Chill out.

 

[shilsen]

That is an immature response.

Maybe I’m getting old and plagued by winter thoughts (usually gray, cold and dark), but inconsistency in people’s behavior pisses me off.

If you did not want to use an umber hulk, then you should not have used one. You did use an umber hulk.

If you did not seek a TPK, they you should have backed off during the conflict. You did not back off and you achieved a TPK.

Take pride in your actions or stop whining to us like you’re the victim when you are in fact the perpetrator.

As far as I'm concerned, getting upset about what someone did in their own game and posted about to a messageboard is a bit of an immature response too.