D&D 5E One-shot kills

[MerricB]

Every so often, it happens...

My players are playing Curse of Strahd. They come across a hag... and she attacks one, crits, and kills him outright.

Of course, it was helped by him being first level at the time. And I'm pretty sure he was pushing it.

There were two the nice things about the death:

1) it reinforced the "it's dangerous in Barovia" theme I've been trying to build
2) They party actually ran, rather than staying to enact a second TPK in two sessions!

I'm quite happy that "you're hit, you're dead" is much less a thing in this edition than it was in early editions... but I was wondering how much you've seen it in play.

Cheers!

 

[Mark CMG]

It's true that the rate of death for PCs seems to be swinging back toward center if not further for 5E on the all-editions-pendulum. Not that you claimed this, of course, but I don't think the deaths in 5E tend to be capricious or unforeseeable, so perhaps we won't see quite as many hurt feelings from players in this regard. As long as you have this thread going, I'm wondering if folks can also address what they see as the biggest culprits of PC death and TPKs that folks have seen or perceive. How about you, MerricB? Thanks!

 

[ExploderWizard]

It has happened in our campaigns but not beyond 1st or 2nd level.

In my Greyhawk campaign, a little 1st level gnome wizard, Bedbug, was killed indirectly by the dwarven warlock, Doober. The party was exploring an old ruined mansion and decided to split up ( what a great idea!).

Bedbug had gone into a room revealed by a secret door through a fireplace. She had gone in just to take a look around when Doober (who has a terrible habit of needing to touch EVERYTHING) darted in and started messing with things. The rest of the party was out in the main hall beyond the fireplace. As expected, Doober's blundering had catastrophic results. Touching everything activated the two animated suits of armor in the secret room. Doober rolled a very high initiative score and fled back into the main hall. Poor little Bedbug wasn't so fortunate. The automatons beat her to death on the way out of the chamber while chasing the dwarf. She didn't even get to act.

Such is the life of an adventurer!

 

[JonnyP71]

It has happened once, an Erinyes vs 4 lvl 6 PCs who were nursing their wounds after being hit by the breath weapons of 2 Hell Hounds, a very tough fight and not one they should charge into headlong.

But charge they did, so she took to the air and fired her bow at them, 3 arrows, all 3 hit poor Mhurren the Bard, 1 was a Crit - the Poison damage was obscene and he went a long way over his instant-kill threshold.

...and he was the only one who had got out of the Hell Hound encounter relatively unscathed.

 

[Mark CMG]

It has happened once, an Erinyes vs 4 lvl 6 PCs who were nursing their wounds after being hit by the breath weapons of 2 Hell Hounds, a very tough fight and not one they should charge into headlong.

But charge they did, so she took to the air and fired her bow at them, 3 arrows, all 3 hit poor Mhurren the Bard, 1 was a Crit - the Poison damage was obscene and he went a long way over his instant-kill threshold.

...and he was the only one who had got out of the Hell Hound encounter relatively unscathed.

What a shame they didn't visit a potion seller and purchase his strongest potions . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_FQU4KzN7A

 

[Arawn76]

My players had a few close calls with creatures they've traditionalists got used to dismissing since 3e so I like that apprehension they now feel in and out of gameplay

 

[Rhogar_Rarr]

The only character death I've had, been playing about ~8ish years, has been a 4th level wizard in this edition. I had a flirtatious wizard who died when he tried to make out with a succubus. It did his full HP in one shot, reducing his HP maximum to zero. Last words: "Worth it!"

But since it was adventurer's league he got a free revive. He came back to life a little less charismatic and intelligent and a little more sturdy (free rebuild). To top it off, h e is now mistrustful of beautiful women.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Every so often, it happens...

My players are playing Curse of Strahd. They come across a hag... and she attacks one, crits, and kills him outright.

Of course, it was helped by him being first level at the time. And I'm pretty sure he was pushing it.

There were two the nice things about the death:

1) it reinforced the "it's dangerous in Barovia" theme I've been trying to build
2) They party actually ran, rather than staying to enact a second TPK in two sessions!

I'm quite happy that "you're hit, you're dead" is much less a thing in this edition than it was in early editions... but I was wondering how much you've seen it in play.

Cheers!

I think I've only seen it once in a year and a half of play. It was recently; a first-level dwarven cleric got critted by an orc and killed outright.

There was another time when a third-level half-orc fighter took a dose of (adult red) dragon fire to the face and came within (IIRC) 3 HP of being instantly vaporized. That is, he had something like 33 HP and the dragon's breath weapon did 63, and if it had been 66 he would have died right then and there... but he didn't, and since he was a half-orc that meant he was actually still on his feet, which impressed the dragon enough that he was made able to open negotiations.

Most deaths in my campaign come through failing death saves (either over time or due to auto-crits while down), not through insta-death.

 

[Sunseeker]

Outside the first couple levels? No. Then I modified "death" to occur at negative Con score, got rid of attacks affecting death saving throws. Now even a high-level hero risks death from a real good hit and being at low health, but still alive, matters.

I find 5E pretty safe past level 3. Killing low-level players with nothing but luck doesn't impress me in a system anyway.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I'll second the previous posters. Its not uncommon at low levels. (There are a lot of low-CR creatures with very nasty additional capabilities against a low-level party. Bugbears in particular.) At higher levels, the characters have more of a buffer and are unlikely to be dropped in a single hit, so they have the opportunity to do something about it if their HP start to drop.