What is the best party level to have a TPK?

[Angel Tarragon]

I rolled an 18, does that make it a critical TPK?

Nope. You first have to roll a natural 20 and then confirm the crit.

 

[ElvishBard]

20th. The playerws think they are big and bad themselves and tend to be pretty darn arrogant with the kind of power the characters possess.

20th, because then you don't have to bother reading the epic rules.

Both excellent points, 20 gets my vote.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Aside: It does seem strange folks would vote for 7th or 9th. Maybe 9th is a throwback to 1E's normal retirement age?

OK, so TWO people qualifies as a spike?

I'm one of the two people who voted for 9th. This is the point at which the PCs first get access to really cool powers. A character that went for a PrC is 2 to 4 levels into it and getting the neato mojo. A spellcaster acquires 5th level spells (raise dead, permanency, etc.).

So, here's the group of PCs that have been adventuring together for a few months, maybe a year or two of real-life time. They get the power boost that comes at 9th level, and they start to think of themselves as pretty tough. The swagger about town and tell town guards to go screw themselves. They laugh at goblinoids and orcs and most animals.

Now, to reel the PCs in a bit and bring them back to reality, the DM drops a challenging (not over-kill) EL 11 or 12 encounter on them. Because the EL is derived by adding character levels to standard DnD monsters the PCs under-estimate the encounter. The PCs think that they are the toughest thing around, and a stupid mind flayer and his ogre meat shields are no challenge. That same mind flayer with a couple of levels of sorcerer and the ogres with a few levels of barbarian are a different matter altogether that make things very bad for the PCs.

Crushing the over-confident is fun!

 

[Pinotage]

I voted 5th. At first level you're still excited about your new character, can't wait to roleplay him and a TPK puts a serious damper on your plans. By 5th level you've gotten used to the character, maybe bored with it, and you're coming in to those nice abilities. So at least then when a TPK happens and you redesign your character, you've got something meaty to work with, and you're not that attached to the character. By that time you'll also know if you liked the concept, so you might be hoping for a TPK. At later levels they're more likely to happen, sure, but then if you got that far you might really be attached to your character.

Pinotage

 

[werk]

None. A TPK shouldn't happen, unless maybe you are ending a campaign (or starting a Ghostwalk campaign?) and the players would enjoy having their characters killed off. TPKs aren't fun -- for players anyway

This is my answer. But I'll vote 20, because 'they needs killin'

 

[Old_Man_Fish]

Players hit 5th level, get fireball and lose their freaking minds.

 

[Darkness]

This should really be a multiple choice poll.

Anyway - the best time for a TPK is generally at the end of a (major part of a) campaign, whatever level the PCs are at the time.
Or, not quite as good but still good: 0-2 levels after the level they had at the start of the campaign.

 

[RithTheAwakener]

Id say its definately easiest for a TPK to happen at lvl 1. Characters MIGHT have 12-14 hp (barb or strong fighter), and a crit from nearly any weapon can drop a PC no problem. Longsword against a mage? doesnt even need to crit, max damage and hes halfway to -10. Crit on a heavy xbow? down goes the barbarian.

I guess what i mean is that its simply down to dice rolls. And its not usually in the PCs favor.

 

[lukelightning]

Definitely 5th level...the level wizards get their fireball spell. If the TPK involves the wizard's fireball spell you get extra points!

 

[Zappo]

The only TPK I've ever had was at 10th, so I voted 10th. But my guts tell me that TPKs should be easier at 5th/6th (due to area effect spells).