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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1533256" data-attributes="member: 3146">As others have said, that encounter was almost certain to defeat the party.Your party is about equivalent to an ordinary party of level 4.5 or so. 3 +1 for excellent stats and +.5 for a 5th character. You might add another .5 for high price equipment though something like a keen greatsword but I wouldn't (the +1 keen greatsword is ordinarily worth more than the DMG starting 3rd level value of all the characters put together is, practically, only slightly better than a +1 or even a masterwork greatsword in this situation (it most likely only boosts your average damage per round by one or two points). Furthermore, it's important to consider that, while high stats make characters as effective offensively as significantly higher level foes, they don't give them the same staying power. A third level fighter with an 18 strength, hits as hard as a 4th level fighter with a 16 strength but has significantly fewer hit points. So, high-stat parties tend to be effected more by turns in the dice because they're capable of dishing out the damage to take down higher level foes but not capable of taking the damage dealt by higher level foes.As others have said, each individual orc was an EL 5 encounter and together they were a EL 9. So, at best the DM should have expected to kill several characters with a TPK a definite possiblilty. In fact, it probably still would have been a definite possiblity had you been 4th or 5th level. At 6th level, it still would be a challenging fight.Orcs are also undervalued in terms of their LA--at least for fighter and barbarian types.  Starting with the elite array, +4 strength orcs end up with a 20 strength at 4th level and above (15 base+4 racial+1 at 4th level=20). I don't know what "good equipment" means but it wouldn't take much to sway their effective level. Giving them high crit multiplier weapons like greataxes makes it even easier for a single lucky blow to sway the course of the battle.Setting the orcs up to ambush the PCs increases the EL of the encounter by 1. The orcs could expect to kill a few sixth level characters if they got an ambush in. A TPK would be a possibility.Despite what others have said, I don't think your party was poorly prepared for the encounter. Glitterdust and Color Spray are the kind of spells you'd want to have against such foes. Web and anchor points to use it would have been even better. Obscuring Mist or Fog Cloud would have then helped you escape (after you blinded some orcs). However, there was almost no way you would have been able to win without splitting the orcs up using high level scrolls (cloudkill, solid fog, Evard's Black Tentacles, etc), or gaining some kind of dramatic terrain advantage (a wall or steep slope lined with caltrops for instance).</blockquote>

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