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<blockquote data-quote="Brother MacLaren" data-source="post: 4019363" data-attributes="member: 15999">The point wasn't that the enemy was SO far out of their league, but rather that he wouldn't be the kind to let mortal enemies live.&nbsp; Sometimes the challenge isn't tantamount to suicide per se, maybe the PCs even have a ~75% chance of winning, but the PCs tactics are flawed, something goes wrong, things get worse, and they have to flee leaving some behind.&nbsp; You see how that's different than suicide?&nbsp; When facing a great evil, heroic PCs may indeed go into a fight where it is very likely that one or more of them will fall.Again, not my point.&nbsp; Even if the villain's primary motivation isn't &quot;Kill them all!,&quot; that's still a sound and logical response to people who have broken into your home trying to kill you (especially when you ARE the law).&nbsp; It is foolish to let such enemies live, since you know they're only going to try again.&nbsp; The BBEG's motivations might be &quot;Complete this artifact,&quot; &quot;Take over this kingdom,&quot; &quot;Avenge myself upon this person,&quot; or whatever.&nbsp; But the specific response to &quot;Hmm, I seem to have people who have broken into my home, defeated most of my wards, slain many of my guards, and actually injured me&quot; should be something definitive that will make sure these would-be assassins won't get another chance.&nbsp; You see how that's different than his motivations being &quot;Kill them all!&quot;? Even with death-lite mechanics, if a) you have a chance of being defeated, and b) defeated but not dead means you might be captured, and c) BBEGs make sure that those who tried to assassinate them never get another chance, then you'll still end up with dead PCs.I'm guessing that, in addition to death-lite mechanics, c) is where you change things.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Brother MacLaren, post: 4019363, member: 15999"] The point wasn't that the enemy was SO far out of their league, but rather that he wouldn't be the kind to let mortal enemies live. Sometimes the challenge isn't tantamount to suicide per se, maybe the PCs even have a ~75% chance of winning, but the PCs tactics are flawed, something goes wrong, things get worse, and they have to flee leaving some behind. You see how that's different than suicide? When facing a great evil, heroic PCs may indeed go into a fight where it is very likely that one or more of them will fall. Again, not my point. Even if the villain's primary motivation isn't "Kill them all!," that's still a sound and logical response to people who have broken into your home trying to kill you (especially when you ARE the law). It is foolish to let such enemies live, since you know they're only going to try again. The BBEG's motivations might be "Complete this artifact," "Take over this kingdom," "Avenge myself upon this person," or whatever. But the specific response to "Hmm, I seem to have people who have broken into my home, defeated most of my wards, slain many of my guards, and actually injured me" should be something definitive that will make sure these would-be assassins won't get another chance. You see how that's different than his motivations being "Kill them all!"? Even with death-lite mechanics, if a) you have a chance of being defeated, and b) defeated but not dead means you might be captured, and c) BBEGs make sure that those who tried to assassinate them never get another chance, then you'll still end up with dead PCs. I'm guessing that, in addition to death-lite mechanics, c) is where you change things. [/QUOTE]

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