Some Things Are Just THAT Deadly! *My players STAY OUT!!!*

[S'mon]

Said creature is CR 20+. It is a BBEG for MUCH later.

I had this exact same experience running Lost City of Gaxmoor, where ca 7th level PCs blundered into the presence of the CR20+ BBEG melee mincing machine. "Fortunately" a Raging barbarian NPC accompanying the PCs charged the BBEG on his action and got pureed in a couple of attacks (the BBEG had 2 more left on his Full Round Action). At this point the PCs conducted an Expeditious Retreat.

Edit: solution - make sure there's a tough-but-dumb NPC with the PCs for the BBEG to kill first. If the PCs still won't retreat, slaughter them.

 

[The_Gneech]

Said creature is CR 20+. It is a BBEG for MUCH later. They have been warned that even the vegetation has been warped by its presence. They have been told that evil undead treants guard the whole territory. They have been beset by groups of powerful undead (bog mummies, voidwraths, vilewights, etc.) even near this things lands. Hopefully they will have the common sense to run (or see my thread title) as they learn more about it, but you never know what players do.

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is make them slog through several waves of evil undead treants before they can reach the BBEG! If those don't make them run, then by the time they get through all that, they'll have leveled up considerably.

-The Gneech

 

[F5]

Make sure there's no reason that the PCs think they HAVE to go to the overpowered BBEG. Make it clear that they have other options to complete whatever kind of quest they're on.

If they think that the key to acheiving their goals lies within this bad guy's domain, they may go ahead and rush on in over their heads anyway. If their only motivation in going there is "cool. I wonder what's over there?", then they'll be much more likely to be turned aside by out-of-their-lege encounters.

 

[Zog]

Can they run if in trouble? Most encounters in D&D are *really* hard to retreat from. What is the lowest move of the party members? Highest move of the possible Bad Things? Many times, despite warnings, a party will only know they are in trouble by the time a party member goes down or in real danger. At this point, it takes a round to run - get to the fallen member, heal them, pick them up, etc. With AOO, panicked players, players refusing to leave someone beind - the encounter they were supposed to run from can turn into either a total party kill or GM fiat party escapes (really dumb bad guys, they start monologuing, mocking the PCs, NPC to the rescue, etc). A good retreat is very hard to pull off. It is just the way the system works.

Hit them over the head with the 2x4 of Clue. Dreams from the their gods, NPCs flat out telling them 'plan on running - and if you haven't got a oh crud we dead if don't run *now* plan, well, been nice knowing you, hope the next life works better'. Especailly at level 9-10, running means flying away at worst, teleport at best. Escape on foot is just not likely.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Time and time again problems arise when the DM thinks he's given plenty of hints but the players didn't notice. Really make sure they understand what's going on!

 

[Reynard]

Time and time again problems arise when the DM thinks he's given plenty of hints but the players didn't notice. Really make sure they understand what's going on!

This is imperative. Hints and warnings can often seem like enticements and promises. Remember that you serve as the the senses of the characters and sometimes that includes common sense. If the party stumbles across the remains of the previous victims of the BBEG, don't say "The victims seem as though they were torn to shreds before they could react." That is a spooky warning that will ultimately be unheeded. Say, "You can tell by the quality of the remaining gear that these guys were high level."

Yeah, it is metagaming, but this is a game. Miscommunication or unheard "clever" warnings can very quickly lead to messy situations. If you have a TPK because your players didn't get it, they might very well blame you for not warning them, even though you thought you did. It can even get personal, or seem personal, depedning on your players' general attitudes about such things.

Note that I am only talking about the sort of encounter that wolf70 is describing. If you want spookiness and apprehension, but ultimately know that a "fair fight" awaits the party, by all means drop 'fluff' hints and warnings. Then, a TPK is the result of either bad rolls -- which suck, but happen, and players should know well enough to cut their losses when luck abandons them -- or poor planning/tactics -- which they deserve.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

Make sure there's no reason that the PCs think they HAVE to go to the overpowered BBEG. Make it clear that they have other options to complete whatever kind of quest they're on.

If they think that the key to acheiving their goals lies within this bad guy's domain, they may go ahead and rush on in over their heads anyway. If their only motivation in going there is "cool. I wonder what's over there?", then they'll be much more likely to be turned aside by out-of-their-lege encounters.

If they actually go, they will be going for the "cool, I wonder what's in there" value. The name of the area intrigued them, plus they have heard about the undead treants and are thinking about the xp value (I actually saw the "xp lights" in their eyes). They will find two destroyed towns on the way there that the BBEG has taken out the entire town. They will see his power and ferocity and then, if they keep going, they will run into increasing numbers of his minions. Lots of undead... HUGE undead (skeletal dragons, undead treants, souped-up wights, wraiths and mummies, then if they enter the BBEG's hideout, there will be more minions and finally evil priests and a vampire - the BBEG's right-hand "man") before they get to him/it. There is nothing they need there.

Actually, the clue they need to know where to go next is in the possessions of someone they have allowed to live (I was sure they would kill her) and who is still with them. I tried to have the troll they fought last session kill her, but the party rogue jumped in the way and attacked the troll. I am hoping they will find the clue at some point, if not, I fall back and punt. They will find the McGuffin they are looking for next session probably and then we will see how smart they are.

DM

 

[Stalker0]

Try running a powerful defense oriented monster as the first warning encounter. Its AC is stellar, its saves are incredible, it has good SR.

Now give it decent damage but not overwhelming. That should give the players time to realize that they aren't winning, and can run without being decimated.

 

[painandgreed]

Sounds like there is plenty of cushion between players and CR 20+ BBEG. Some undead, a few warped treants, a few encounters later as they start to scale up, they should be thinking bout how to get out rather than how to get to the center. Let them try and fail. they should be better for the expereince and perhaps they can even pull it off or come closer than you give them credit.

I remember once, my 1E party was about 10th level which was really high for the campaign world and we decided to take on an underground orc lair despite DM warnings. We got close and started to fight orcs and more orcs arrived. Much later, we'd killed hundreds of orcs including many with levels of fighter. We were surrounded by hundred more protected by soem walls of fire that were running out of time. Our spells were running out, hit points low, and while doing ok, we were wondering if we could even fight our way out of the spot we had gotten ourselves into. We finally decided to use one of our two remaining wishes in a ring to get us out of there. it was a humbling but very rewarding (both RP and XP wise) experience and we never even got to the entrance of the complex we thought we could take on. it really helped us to put the world into presepctive and we didn't even fight anything above 6HD.

 

[Quicken]

Two options that have worked for me (and in some cases, worked ON me!)

Have an NPC (or 2 or 3 or 10) get slaughtered before their eyes. If it's a NPC they've seen previously deal with Treats like saplings they'll take the hint. However if it's nobody they know they'll take it as a challenge.

Have an obvious alarm sound and HORDES of enemies rush them. The flight from the Balrog in LoTR is a good example. And I mean hordes. Be prepared to have 10-20 enemies rush them at once. But have them heavily armoured or otherwise slowed so it's clear they could out run them.

Ultimately. Be prepared to kill them. You can only do so much. They might take the hints more seriously next time if they remember how badly they were out matched this time.