Underpowered Group Found BBEG

[gyor]

Have the BBEG use none lethal damage and sell them to another bad guy then them a chance to escape.

 

[Tazawa]

Have the duergar offer to help them defeat the dragon in return for half of the dragon’s treasure. But first they have to prove themselves by clearing the haunted halls to the North.

The characters can either take the duergar’s offer or decide to fight the duergar. Either way, after they defeat either the undead or the duergar, give them enough XP to have them level up before facing the dragon.

The final encounter with the dragon will be tough no matter what they do, but they might be able to learn the dragon’s capabilities and likely tactics from the duergar. If they’re experienced players they should be able to turn this to their advantage.

 

[Retreater]

Update:
The group decided to go back and take care of the troglodytes, thinking the reptilian humanoids might be in league with the dragon. They didn't get a lot of helpful information from the trogs due to the language barrier, but they were able to level up through combat and diplomacy.
Now at 4th level with 4 party members including a fighter, ranger, monk, paladin, and wizard, the party decided it was time to visit the dragon. In short, dragon killed the ranger and fighter. The other three fled for their lives, barely escaping the dragon. They ended up doing a combined 14 points of damage to the dragon before running away.

 

[Stalker0]

And now they will fear dragons for many a year to come, excellent

 

[hawkeyefan]

Update:
The group decided to go back and take care of the troglodytes, thinking the reptilian humanoids might be in league with the dragon. They didn't get a lot of helpful information from the trogs due to the language barrier, but they were able to level up through combat and diplomacy.
Now at 4th level with 4 party members including a fighter, ranger, monk, paladin, and wizard, the party decided it was time to visit the dragon. In short, dragon killed the ranger and fighter. The other three fled for their lives, barely escaping the dragon. They ended up doing a combined 14 points of damage to the dragon before running away.

How did that go over with the players?

 

[Retreater]

How did that go over with the players?

One of the players experienced his first character death. He was a little salty about the surviving characters leaving him for dead. Then he read the adventure and said I didn't follow the tactics listed in the module and if I had, his character would've lived. His next character concept is a disruptor to mess with the other characters. I might need to put a stop on that.
The remaining characters are giving up the adventure and trying to find something else.
So it could've gone better.

 

[hawkeyefan]

One of the players experienced his first character death. He was a little salty about the surviving characters leaving him for dead. Then he read the adventure and said I didn't follow the tactics listed in the module and if I had, his character would've lived. His next character concept is a disruptor to mess with the other characters. I might need to put a stop on that.
The remaining characters are giving up the adventure and trying to find something else.
So it could've gone better.

Ugh that’s rough. Sorry to hear that.

Is the PC definitely dead? Do the PCs that fled know for sure their comrades actually died? Maybe you can undo it and have them be alive, held prisoner by the dragon?

If not, then I’d definitely have a talk with the one player to try and reconcile the situation. I’d talk abouthow the tactics in the module are only a suggestion, and how you’re going to run things the way you feel is best. But I’d then ask him what HE would feel is best. Involve the other players at some point, too. Talk about everyone’s expectations for te game. Talk about the movies/books/comics you all want to emulate. Look at how those sources handle things like character death.

If you’re all into Game of Thrones and similar fiction....then PC death is very possible. If you guys are more into Lord of the Rings, then PC death is pretty rare. If you’re into super heroes, then it’s something that almost never happens, and when it does, it never sticks.

I’d use this as a learning experience.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

One of the players experienced his first character death. He was a little salty about the surviving characters leaving him for dead. Then he read the adventure and said I didn't follow the tactics listed in the module and if I had, his character would've lived. His next character concept is a disruptor to mess with the other characters. I might need to put a stop on that.
The remaining characters are giving up the adventure and trying to find something else.
So it could've gone better.

So you failed, you allowed them to evade encounters necessary to gain the XP to handle the final threat.

Consider this a learning experience and in the future make sure that players have to be intentionally stupid and dense to get in this situation again and make sure that clever solutions award as much if not more XP than brute force and killing does in getting past a problem.

 

[Mort]

One of the players experienced his first character death. He was a little salty about the surviving characters leaving him for dead. Then he read the adventure and said I didn't follow the tactics listed in the module and if I had, his character would've lived.

The group was 4th level? The Dragon is CR 7?
and a strong cr 7 at that.

While CRs are fuzzy in 5e, an inexperienced group will have a near impossible time with a +3 CR monster (especially at low level, IME CR means less at mid levels and MUCH less at high levels, but at low level +3 CR is massive).

Since it's a new group with new players, you may want to analyze the encounter with them. Show why what happened happened etc. Show how it could have gone better, which parts were just bad luck etc.

His next character concept is a disruptor to mess with the other characters. I might need to put a stop on that.

Absolutely put a stop to that. I've seen DMs allow that (even allowed it myself many, many years ago) and it NEVER ever goes well.

Talk to the player and discuss his grievances, but make sure he understands the goal is the fun of the group.

The remaining characters are giving up the adventure and trying to find something else.
So it could've gone better.

Sounds like a bit of a bummer.

But talk to the players, discuss what could have been done differently, both on their end and on yours. The goal is to turn this into a positive, both enhancing future adventures and encounters.