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When you've made the battle too much to handle...
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<blockquote data-quote="ninjayeti" data-source="post: 8564990" data-attributes="member: 6789120"><p>I'd give them a fair opportunity to run. If your group isn't normally inclined to do that you could suggest that to them either in-fiction (maybe the alu-fiend says "He's too strong! We need to get out of here!") or straight up suggest it to them out of character ("The lich seems like he is just getting stronger the longer you fight. You don't know if you can defeat him.") If your PC's choose to fight then they have made a choice and you can let the dice fall where they may. If they run the lich can try to pick off stragglers, so escaping with everyone alive can feel like a "win." (One of my most memorable sessions as a player was narrowly escaping from a massive goblin ambush that would have TPK'd us if we had tried to fight). The PCs now have an long term enemy that they are genuinely hate and his eventual destruction will be far more satisfyingly. </p><p></p><p>I'd recommend against pulling your punches on this. Deus ex Machina is a bad technique in fiction and it is even worse in RPG's because players understand that the DM has saved them from their own bad choices. Similarly "consequences" like being captured or forced to work for the bad guy rarely work because: 1) players understand that they have been saved by DM fiat, 2) they rarely feel like consequences rather than speedbumps. (I don't think I have ever seen PC stay captured for more than half a game session before they escape and get their gear back; telling adventurers "now you have to go on adventures for the bad guy" is less a consequence as it is a plot hook.)</p><p></p><p>TLDR; 1) give them a chance to run, 2) flat-out suggest it to them if it otherwise wouldn't occur to them, 3) if they choose to fight to the death - let them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ninjayeti, post: 8564990, member: 6789120"] I'd give them a fair opportunity to run. If your group isn't normally inclined to do that you could suggest that to them either in-fiction (maybe the alu-fiend says "He's too strong! We need to get out of here!") or straight up suggest it to them out of character ("The lich seems like he is just getting stronger the longer you fight. You don't know if you can defeat him.") If your PC's choose to fight then they have made a choice and you can let the dice fall where they may. If they run the lich can try to pick off stragglers, so escaping with everyone alive can feel like a "win." (One of my most memorable sessions as a player was narrowly escaping from a massive goblin ambush that would have TPK'd us if we had tried to fight). The PCs now have an long term enemy that they are genuinely hate and his eventual destruction will be far more satisfyingly. I'd recommend against pulling your punches on this. Deus ex Machina is a bad technique in fiction and it is even worse in RPG's because players understand that the DM has saved them from their own bad choices. Similarly "consequences" like being captured or forced to work for the bad guy rarely work because: 1) players understand that they have been saved by DM fiat, 2) they rarely feel like consequences rather than speedbumps. (I don't think I have ever seen PC stay captured for more than half a game session before they escape and get their gear back; telling adventurers "now you have to go on adventures for the bad guy" is less a consequence as it is a plot hook.) TLDR; 1) give them a chance to run, 2) flat-out suggest it to them if it otherwise wouldn't occur to them, 3) if they choose to fight to the death - let them. [/QUOTE]
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