PCs Running away when they should
- Thread starter Greybar
- Start date
My favorite line in a game:
Me: Okay, the evil wizard laughs maniacally as you enter his chamber. Roll init. (rolls) Okay, evil wizard goes first. He casts a Quickened Haste, then Dimensional Anchor on the Wizard, and then as his extra partial action, a Dimensional Anchor on the Fighter.
Fighter: Hm. I charge and attack!
Me: Your attack glances off some kind of force armor he's wearing.
Cleric: I cast Flame Strike.
Me: The flames pour down around him, just missing the Fighter --
Fighter: Thanks!
Me: -- but when the flames die away, the wizard appears unhurt.
Wizard: Hm. Magic Missile and Quickened Magic Missile.
Me: Again, they splash harmlessly around him.
Rogue: I'm running up and moving into a flanking position, then I attack!
Me: Great. Your strike ALSO glances off his force armor. Oh, it's the wizard's round again. As his primary action, he casts Dimensional Anchor on the Cleric, and as his extra partial, he casts Dimensional Anchor on the Rogue.
Cleric: Swell. The one time we WOULD run away if we could...
Me: Okay, the evil wizard laughs maniacally as you enter his chamber. Roll init. (rolls) Okay, evil wizard goes first. He casts a Quickened Haste, then Dimensional Anchor on the Wizard, and then as his extra partial action, a Dimensional Anchor on the Fighter.
Fighter: Hm. I charge and attack!
Me: Your attack glances off some kind of force armor he's wearing.
Cleric: I cast Flame Strike.
Me: The flames pour down around him, just missing the Fighter --
Fighter: Thanks!
Me: -- but when the flames die away, the wizard appears unhurt.
Wizard: Hm. Magic Missile and Quickened Magic Missile.
Me: Again, they splash harmlessly around him.
Rogue: I'm running up and moving into a flanking position, then I attack!
Me: Great. Your strike ALSO glances off his force armor. Oh, it's the wizard's round again. As his primary action, he casts Dimensional Anchor on the Cleric, and as his extra partial, he casts Dimensional Anchor on the Rogue.
Cleric: Swell. The one time we WOULD run away if we could...
"Players always run the wrong way!"
It's an old joke with an old friend, and former GM... He sent a group of "corrupt cops" into a place to try and chase us out the otherr end. His combat-prone brother charged, and got himself captured by the remaining 10. My PC was hiding, watching while they threatened and interrogated him...
Fortunately, I had an area-affect weapon, and managed to take out eight of them, without getting his brother's PC. He then managed to get the one outside the area of effect, and grapple with the leader interrogating him. So two of us took out 10...
In the first-level campaign I'm in now, nine of us just "overcame" 36+ gnomes & halflings. I met the other PCs after they had been in a bar fight, and had been brought into the "Drunk-Tank" where my healer (and another PC) worked. One of the "prisoners" heard someone outside talking about "Put it right here, next to the wall... No, that's too much powder!"
I quickly unlocked the cell across the hall, and got the PCs (and drunken NPC Gnome) out of there, asking the other Cleric if he had Create Water prepared. A Druid prisoner did, so he tried to cast it. The explosion went off while he was casting, but the PCs in the other cell were protected, and the healers in the hallway made their saves (the Druid was stunned, and hors de combat, but alive).
We then found ourselves laid claim to by the pirates who wanted the Gnome, and anyone in his immediate vicinity. They crawled through the breach in the wall. I shut the cell door and stepped back, leaving them in the cell, with us behind locked bars (and apparently, none of them had missiles weapons... which was a good thing, because we couldn't get out).
So, after some posturing and attempts at tom-foolery with a Charmed Judge, the spell wore off, and the pirates fled! Hmmm!... What's the XP for 36+ Gnomes & Halflings, anyway?
So, no, players don't know when to run. It is very hard to tell. We didn't expect to beat 36 Halflings, but we did.
It's an old joke with an old friend, and former GM... He sent a group of "corrupt cops" into a place to try and chase us out the otherr end. His combat-prone brother charged, and got himself captured by the remaining 10. My PC was hiding, watching while they threatened and interrogated him...
Fortunately, I had an area-affect weapon, and managed to take out eight of them, without getting his brother's PC. He then managed to get the one outside the area of effect, and grapple with the leader interrogating him. So two of us took out 10...
In the first-level campaign I'm in now, nine of us just "overcame" 36+ gnomes & halflings. I met the other PCs after they had been in a bar fight, and had been brought into the "Drunk-Tank" where my healer (and another PC) worked. One of the "prisoners" heard someone outside talking about "Put it right here, next to the wall... No, that's too much powder!"
I quickly unlocked the cell across the hall, and got the PCs (and drunken NPC Gnome) out of there, asking the other Cleric if he had Create Water prepared. A Druid prisoner did, so he tried to cast it. The explosion went off while he was casting, but the PCs in the other cell were protected, and the healers in the hallway made their saves (the Druid was stunned, and hors de combat, but alive).
We then found ourselves laid claim to by the pirates who wanted the Gnome, and anyone in his immediate vicinity. They crawled through the breach in the wall. I shut the cell door and stepped back, leaving them in the cell, with us behind locked bars (and apparently, none of them had missiles weapons... which was a good thing, because we couldn't get out).
So, after some posturing and attempts at tom-foolery with a Charmed Judge, the spell wore off, and the pirates fled! Hmmm!... What's the XP for 36+ Gnomes & Halflings, anyway?
So, no, players don't know when to run. It is very hard to tell. We didn't expect to beat 36 Halflings, but we did.
peteyfrogboy
Explorer
In our previous campaign (where I was a player) we knew ahead of time that if you go into the mountains you may run into giants and dragons. We ended up seeing a *lot* of giants and dragons, because for whatever reason we kept going through the mountains to get to places we needed to be to advance the plot. Our usual retreat tactic from a giant fight was to scatter and regroup later, hoping that the one that got chased could outwit or hide from the giant.
In the current campaign that I'm running, one of the problems is the fact that low level characters can get creamed by almost anything if the rolls go the wrong way. Even so, there are some people around that are just plain too tough for the party to take on. It's a city campaign, and a city full of 1st level commoners just isn't believable.
I'm slowly teaching my players that there are times to fight and times to run, but some of them learn the lesson better than others. If any of them read this, they should know who they are.
In the current campaign that I'm running, one of the problems is the fact that low level characters can get creamed by almost anything if the rolls go the wrong way. Even so, there are some people around that are just plain too tough for the party to take on. It's a city campaign, and a city full of 1st level commoners just isn't believable.
I'm slowly teaching my players that there are times to fight and times to run, but some of them learn the lesson better than others. If any of them read this, they should know who they are.
