D&D 5E When you've made the battle too much to handle...

[Crimson Longinus]

GM can of course always fudge and otherwise adjust rules, or cause a deus ex to save the characters. But if things are already going terribly, it might be hard to do in a way that is not rather obvious to the players, which probably would deflate the tension for the rest of the campaign. And I generally feel that if the PCs take the risks, it also entails that sometimes they might lose, even badly.

That being said TPK can be a campaign killer. Some characters dying is fine, if at least some survive to carry on the continuity of the story. (And then they have a motivation to take revenge for their fallen comrades!) So what I would do is try to find some plausible way for some of the characters either being able to escape or be taken as prisoners. The lich wanting some service from them is already mentioned. Could they also want some of them to be imprisoned to be interrogated later or for some other purpose? (To be sacrificed in a dark ritual etc.) This would give the characters a chance to escape, perhaps with the help of the alu-fiend, or some other NPC you could introduce (I'm sure you could easily come up with some reason for some of the lich's minions having reasons to work against their master.) Alternatively could the alu-fiend arrange some sort of a distraction that would let some of the characters escape?

Failing that, there is always an option the lich turning the slain characters into revenants or some such, so the party could continue their adventures as the lich's undead minions, perhaps secretly working to regain their freedom... But that's a thematic character shift all the players might not be comfortable with.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Separate the players from the lich, allow them to regroup, recover and potentially encounter one of those missed ally opportunities, maybe the lich recovers some too but the important part is the players recover more, maybe even get enough exp from the fight to level up in preparation for round 2.
Maybe the lich casts erupting earth causing a cave in between the lich and the party or it causes the floor to collapse in taking them to caverns below(both also good for changing up the battlefield with piles of rubble providing cover or difficult terrain, holes in the floor they have to go around the edges of) tidal wave/tsunami (I don’t know the spell’s name) washes them all back out into the dungeon

 

[beancounter]

There are a number of really thoughtful and creative post above.

However, I would let them suffer the consequences of their actions, and get ready to rollup new characters for the next session...

OT: The fact that a number of people are trying to find ways for the PCs to avoid death, just substantiates the point that I've made in another thread, that it is hard to die in 5E... (because in this case - DMs feel obligated to find a way to save the PCs)

 

[DEFCON 1]

Remind the group that some people actually believe D&D is not 90% about combat and then let them use the Exploration and Social pillars to win instead.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Don’t fudge dice. It’s so unsatisfying as a player to find out the dm spared you. Suddenly nothing feels like a challenge or is exciting anymore.

If the PCs have a chance to flee, start telegraphing it. Have the Lich talk the whole time,

“I will destroy you! Flee now or become my thrall”

that kind of thing to telegraph that the lich won’t pursue if they run. If they don’t run, Once the lich kills one of the PCs, you can have the lich start offering deals,

“Can’t you see that resistance is futile? Surrender now or I will take your fallen ally and turn him into my minion”

or whatever. If they surrender, they can flee or barter a deal to get the bodies of their fallen allies back.

if they don’t get the hint, you kill them. Maybe one escapes or maybe not. They might have a chance to recover bodies or they might not. Just make sure the player KNOW that death is on the line so they have the information to make choices.

I agree with Isereth. Sometimes the PCs get their butts kicked.

 

[aco175]

A great part of movies and books is when the heroes first meet the BBEG and they fail, maybe to the point of giving up since there is no way of coming back from that beatdown. They regroup and find someone/thing to aid them and they come back to save the day at the last minute. Kind of like how Rocky was feeling all 8th level and then Clubber Lang put on the beatdown. Poor Rocky had to travel to the secret grove of Apollo to be healed of his fear and gain the secrets of the "eye of the tiger". Only then was he able to come back and win in the end.

What is your prediction for the fight?

Perhaps Micky the Mage has been scrying the PCs since the day they helped him long ago and he can teleport them out at the last minute, or he is the court mage of the neighboring kingdom and pulls them out since the elimination of the lich would benefit his kingdom. This kind of saving should not be done more than like, once per campaign or the players will start to depend on it.

To make the PCs suffer a bit as a price of being saved you can have the lich cast a spell as they are being teleported away and have each of the PCs magic items make a save or be left behind.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Don’t fudge dice. It’s so unsatisfying as a player to find out the dm spared you. Suddenly nothing feels like a challenge or is exciting anymore.

Says you.

For me, when the DM comes clean and says they f-ed up when designing this encounter (especially after we got our butts handed to us)... I am more than happy to acknowledge the DM isn't perfect and is trying to be fair and rectify things after the fact. And considering I don't use "Did our PCs live?" as the measuring stick as to the excitement of playing D&D... I can go on playing in the game and still feel the thrill of playing and the excitement of overcoming challenges in the future, even if we had that one hiccup.

I have never found hewing to the rules of the board game as the end-all-and-be-all of D&D and that everything falls apart if you don't. I think that's just silly. Because quite frankly the board game rules of D&D just aren't written that tightly or that well to put that much pressure on them to be that flawless.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Says you.

For me, when the DM comes clean and says they f-ed up when designing this encounter (especially after we got our butts handed to us)... I am more than happy to acknowledge the DM isn't perfect and is trying to be fair and rectify things after the fact. And considering I don't use "Did our PCs live?" as the measuring stick as to the excitement of playing D&D... I can go on playing in the game and still feel the thrill of playing and the excitement of overcoming challenges in the future, even if we had that one hiccup.

I have never found hewing to the rules of the board game as the end-all-and-be-all of D&D and that everything falls apart if you don't. I think that's just silly. Because quite frankly the board game rules of D&D just aren't written that tightly or that well to put that much pressure on them to be that flawless.

If a dm does this too much, I have seen players begin testing the limits of what the dm will do to save the PCs just to see if the dm will kill them. Also, I have, personally, lost total motivation to play a campaign where the dm fudges rolls or saves my character from some stupidly I’d accidentally put myself into.

so, maybe it’s some people’s preference to be bailed out but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. According to the OP, they don’t seem like the kind of dm that is trying to prevent a tpk at all costs but is trying to figure out a way to pad a mistake in encounter strength. Fair enough.

I’m recommending they don’t start creating unlikely plots and NPCs to bail them out and make the players feel overshadowed by heroic NPC plot devices. Or fudging dice. If you are going to do that, continuing the fight is pointless. It would be more fair to, as you say, Stop the combat, tell your players that you messed up and work together to come up with a narrative of how they lost/escaped/were rescued. This kind of out of character solution works too. In fact, I’d prefer this to fudging dice.

To me, if you’re fudging dice to give them the win anyways, why waste everyone’s time. Just tell them they won.

 

[steeldragons]

When the battle is too much to handle, it is up to the players to figure out their way out of it.

If they are too stubborn or proud to flee when things aren't going their way, that is on them. If they didn't bother to take any time or bread crumbs for allies or assistance along the way, that is on them. If their resources were depleted before this began, or even if they weren't "depleted" but the party wasn't at full strrength and decided to go running into a battle with the "boss" anyway, that is on them.

There is nothing for the DM to do here, particularly in the midst of a break in an already initiated battle, but to play the game. Roll your dice.

On a separate note: I can't even wrap my head around the idea of an "11th level caster" lich. How'd they even become a lich? I wouldn't even look at a lich that was under 15th. And, yes, a party of 8th level characters should have a tough time against them, but decent preparation and a bit of planning, it should be doable. A group (I'd say 4-7 characters) of 8th level characters against an 11th level caster should be a cake walk.

 

[beancounter]

Says you.

For me, when the DM comes clean and says they f-ed up when designing this encounter (especially after we got our butts handed to us)..

Why are you assuming it's the DM who screwed up? It seems to me that the players have options that they aren't considering (e.g. running away)