Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dark Dragon" data-source="post: 1956842" data-attributes="member: 1115">Ahh, RttToEE... Hm, the party made it to the crater island. After being repelled by the Fire Temple in a huge battle. We had sessions just with making plans, getting equipment, searching allies and so on. And? Two dead PCs during the fight against the fire guys (plus two other casualties before). Raising them was expensive. But still we pushed on (the DM made clear that time was running out, and a PC was held captured by the cultists), had a last brutal fight to escape from the island but we failed. TPK. All good plans didn't help.Why? Partly it depended on the system (it was 3.0), being harmed followed by a quickened ILW is quickly boring.Partly it depended on the DM who tried to adapt the module to a level 14 party. At some point, he used opponents too strong and wasn't able to make it easier when it became obvious that the group won't survive for long. And if time is running out, the group is forced to fight as long as possible.Partly it depended on the PCs who tried to push through by sheer power. Negotiations were barely an option, our paladin refused to work with evil guys. With the countdown in mind, ideas like infiltration were set aside.Personally, I'd try to avoid TPKs unless the group is following some stupid plan. If the dice roll in favor of the DM's monsters and the PCs' rolls are bad...hm, so be it. This equals sooner or later. Have seen a HPK in a Demons vs. Party fight. The barbarian died by a failed save on massive damage, the cleric was hacked into pieces by a balor, and the fighter by a vorpal hit (the player forgot that his PC had an armor of med. fort.). But in the end, the deepwood sniper critted the remaining, almost unhurt balor, rolled up about 70 damage. The DM rolled openly the balor's Fort save for massive damge - it was a 1...half of the party was dead...the other half survived the explosion with luck. This fight was controlled by the dice, less by planning.So, if the group acts to receive a TPK, let them. If the DM makes clear that PC death is possible during the campaign, it is likely that the players will be a bit more careful about their PCs actions.</blockquote>

Verification