PC death early in a combat. What to do?

[Obryn]

I'll go ahead and disagree with Umbran here. If you know you're facing a potentially-deadly combat, you should try to take out as many of the opposing forces as you can, right away. Opening with Wail of the Banshee is a great way to start - your players would do the same to them, after all. (Also, if they don't drop it on round one, given the way high-level 3e parties can mess with a bad guy, they may never get to drop it.)

If there's a surviving cohort they could take over, that's the best option, IMO. Summoned creatures, too - those are a good idea.

I like letting the player take over a BBEG in theory - but in practice, opponents of this high level take a lot of prep work to run properly. You will know what spells and whatnot the guy has; odds are you know what they do, if you went through the SRD and catalogued them all. The player will not have this prep time. (Of course, if the foe is mostly just a thug who hits things hard, ignore everything I just said. )

-O

 

[Brandigan]

3) Run some of the BBEG's minions

 

[NewJeffCT]

You know, there's an option between "Don't use save-or-die" and "use it first thing in the combat". You don't have to use the bad guy's nuke to strike fear into the party. If nothing else, staring with one of the most powerful hits is a bad idea for that, as players will recognize it as a spent resource that isn't coming back again.

In all likelihood, if the bad guys are the right sort of challenge, they don't have a lot of those sorts of abilities. The bad guys are intelligent, right? They are going to be tactically smart about when and where they use those heavy-hitting spells. And right at the start of the fight may not be the best time to use them, especially if the bad guy is thinking about his or her own survival, especially.

So, for example, the evil wizard is going to save Wail of the Banshee for when he's got a couple/few of the party almost on top of him - not at the first shot in the fight, when he doesn't know if he's hit the real dangers or not.

True, you can't really drop a Power Word Kill in the first round of combat because every PC save the sorcerer has over 100 hit points and would be unaffected by it. Of course, the wizard could use it to take out the Sorcerer in that first round?

However, if the wizard dropped a quickened Fireball, followed by a Chain Lightning in round 1, it would wear down the party hit point wise, likely also leaving the cleric and rogue/spellthief vulnerable to PWK as well.

 

[Umbran]

I'll go ahead and disagree with Umbran here. If you know you're facing a potentially-deadly combat, you should try to take out as many of the opposing forces as you can, right away.

That really depends on your goals for the encounter, what powers are at your disposal, and the details of the tactical situation.

If outright sheer survival in the short term is your goal, you simply leave. Teleport away, or somesuch.

If the combat is taking place outdoors, such that the party can engage from range, and are spread out, Wail of the Banshee could be an awful waste of power, as it only has a 40' radius, and you may only get one or two of the party members in the area of effect in the fist place, much less kill them all.

Also, if the party is knowingly entering the encounter, they are coming in at maximum buff - and the individuals shake off the Wail with a simple Fortitude save, which will probably be highest for the first couple/few of rounds of the fight.

If the bad guys know the PC's capabilities, they will tend to target the ones that seem most dangerous, if they don't know the PC's, they'll tend to target the ones that seem most dangerous, which are not necessarily the same thing.

And lastly, personality does matter - even among tactical geniuses, each has an individual style. If the villain is a coward at heart, he will keep a reserve to save his own bacon (actually, even if he isn't - reserves are SOP in real-world combat engagements).

And so on.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I thought "run, run as fast as you can".
If the PCs also have a (useable) save or die spell, it shouldn't be a big problem. If they have, taking over an NPC (be it enemy or ally) is probably your best bet.

There are only few "save or die" or even just "die" spells that require a weakened party, but using them would certainly be a good choice, too.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

This is why I like to have an NPC or two tagging along with the party. It gives a player some method to contribute if their PC gets incapacitated for more than a round or two.

 

[Rechan]

I personally agree with Umbran. But from a different angle.

3e has a lot of debuffing spells. I'd slap a Bestow Curse on a weak target, and make them take a Con penalty. That drops their HP and their Fort save for the oncoming Wail. In fact, if you could chain or twin or whathaveyou Bestow Curse, you hit multiple targets with it and then wail on them.

Or combine BC to hit their saves, have an ally hit them with a con-draining poison, then next round Wail them.

Boom. Or, Enervation is another good investment.

 

[Akaiku]

Don't forget to point out how Soulfire armor is a good solid investment and death ward isn't that hard for a cleric to cast before bbeg fights....

At 16th level, most parties have realized that negative energy sucks and they should never have to deal with it ever again.

 

[Bungus]

I personally agree with Umbran. But from a different angle.

3e has a lot of debuffing spells. I'd slap a Bestow Curse on a weak target, and make them take a Con penalty. That drops their HP and their Fort save for the oncoming Wail. In fact, if you could chain or twin or whathaveyou Bestow Curse, you hit multiple targets with it and then wail on them.

Or combine BC to hit their saves, have an ally hit them with a con-draining poison, then next round Wail them.

Boom. Or, Enervation is another good investment.

And, at higher levels, you have Mage's Disjunction and Dispel Magic-Chain, among other spells.

 

[GlassJaw]

Action Points!!