What is the best party level to have a TPK?

[jsewell]

OOPS! I voted 20th before I read the TPK should be an accidental TPK. So, I change my vote to 1st.

 

[JoeBlank]

I'm voting 2d level, since that is when the most recent TPK I was a part of occurred.

I must say, if howandwhy99 was my DM I would be getting paranoid about now.

 

[jeff37923]

Any level is good for a TPK!
Seriously, I've really only seen TPKs happen when the players just absolutely strive to get themselves killed. I've come to consider it evolution in action.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I think howandwhy99 is asking his DM (me .. .or at least one of his DMs) for a TPK. Guess I'll have to oblige.

 

[maggot]

TPK at 1st level sucks because you put a bunch of time into your character concept and you didn't even get to play. At high-levels you've put too much effort into your character to just up and die. So at mid levels, it is okay. You've explored the concept, but you haven't dedicated several years to the character (assuming standard advancement rules, and the fact we play once every two weeks). So I voted 9th.

 

[was]

Since I did not see NEVER as an option, I voted for first. I've found that that TPK's at higher levels really screws up a campaign and makes a lot of work I've done in preparing it utterly useless. Especially if you have already incorporated the now-deceased characters' goals and backgrounds into it.

 

[IronWolf]

I went with 4th but there are so many ways to look at it.

Let's see 1st could be good because the character hardly has a start, no real tales of adventure to tell yet, but then again the team will be starting from scratch after they probably put some real thought into their character.

Getting into 3rd and 4th level there has been time to have some adventures under their belt. The player is probable getting a pretty good feel for the character. Good level for the reality of bad dice rolls and overpowered encounters to hit. Far enough long to have more vested with the character, but not far enough long to throw the whole game off.

Lower mid-levels to Upper mid-levels, by now the character has lots of tales to tell. The player could be getting bored of the character by now, so less loss. Or they could be close to completing a major leg of the campaign and a TPK would be a major setback (or a great launching point for the right DM).

19th to 20th levels, hhmmm could be a good reason to not learn the epic rules. Or it could be the mountain collapses as the party destroys an artifact and they die as heroes. Or maybe they fell just short of the goal they worked so hard for.

So many ways to look at it.....

 

[MonsterMash]

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.

Agree with that. At 1st and 2nd its just too easy to have an accidental TPK on dice luck.
"Oh my god, that Kobold just critted and killed my 2nd level fighter?"

 

[LeapingShark]

I didn't pick 1st, because the players will get the feeling it is has been a colossal waste of time to barely finish filling out a complete character sheet and history, only to see it all down in flames before getting a chance to do anything. Also there is almost zero attachment, so a TPK doesn't really have much dramatic effect anyway, I mean who cares, the PCs don't lose anything cuz they never had anything!

So I voted for 2nd; because at that point they've at least had a chance to spin the PC through an adventure or two and get a feel for things they would do differently next time, while it's still very very early in the cycle before they get too attached.

 

[Umbran]

It isn't a matter of level, it is a matter of story. If a TPK is goig to happen, it would be best to have it very early in the campaign, so that the players aren't too attached to their characters yet, or very late in the campaign, so the players feel they've had a good run.

Of course, a TPK late in a tight story arc is pretty miserable. But same goes for the middle.