Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 7452129" data-attributes="member: 2629">Not entirely true.&nbsp; I once killed a 6th level party with a single kobold.&nbsp; They decided to scale down a cliff to come at the Kobold Lair from an unexpected angle - ABOVE!&nbsp; They didn't spot the kobold on watch on the cliff above, and the lonely kobold was too scared to fight them... but not to cut the rope.&nbsp; All the PCs fell.&nbsp; All died when the falling damage was pretty high per die.&nbsp; As a DM, I described the scenario.&nbsp; I set up the challenge.&nbsp; But the PCs decided to attack it from an angle I had not expected, and it backfired on them in a way none of us expected.As a DM I could have said, &quot;Nope.&nbsp; I'll just write the lone kobold lookout out of the adventure.&quot;&nbsp; I could have decided not to have the kobold try to kill the PCs.&nbsp; But where does that mentality end?&nbsp; Should I have a giant decide not to attack a PC because a max damage critical could take them down?&nbsp;&nbsp; Both bad luck and bad decisions can put the PCs into danger.&nbsp; I believe the DM's job is to create a reasonable path to victory, but that does not mean there can't be real threats of death... to me, it just has to be a real threat that makes the story better.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 7452129, member: 2629"] Not entirely true. I once killed a 6th level party with a single kobold. They decided to scale down a cliff to come at the Kobold Lair from an unexpected angle - ABOVE! They didn't spot the kobold on watch on the cliff above, and the lonely kobold was too scared to fight them... but not to cut the rope. All the PCs fell. All died when the falling damage was pretty high per die. As a DM, I described the scenario. I set up the challenge. But the PCs decided to attack it from an angle I had not expected, and it backfired on them in a way none of us expected. As a DM I could have said, "Nope. I'll just write the lone kobold lookout out of the adventure." I could have decided not to have the kobold try to kill the PCs. But where does that mentality end? Should I have a giant decide not to attack a PC because a max damage critical could take them down? Both bad luck and bad decisions can put the PCs into danger. I believe the DM's job is to create a reasonable path to victory, but that does not mean there can't be real threats of death... to me, it just has to be a real threat that makes the story better. [/QUOTE]

Verification