Why having loyal characters is bad (long)

[Grim]

So my group just finished up a campain in the absolute worst way possible:

Everyone died.
The mage, the cleric, the barabarian, the ranger, the palidin, Everyone!

Not just went unconciousness, but ourtright died.

Here's what happened:

We had just defeated a nasty vampire, and went to the church of Helm, god of protection, for healing. They said they would cure us of our level drain if we destroyed an "abandoned" temple outside town. We agreed, but when we got there, we found the place full of Lycanthropes. We fought, and then we retreated, but the ranger and the mage stayed behind to scout. Everything was fine until the mage (Then invisible and flying) decided it would be a good idea to drop a fireball on the gathering horde of Were-stuff. He did, but his damage rolls were horrible and he didnt drop a single thing. And then the Were-tigress sorcerer started dispelling all his stuff. he and the ranger ran for it, but the ranger was overtaken and Were-wolfinized...

A week later, the rest of the party returned to free him. The ranger had turned evil, cast some spells on his bow, ambushed us, and ended up almost killing the mage. And then the rest of the horde of lycanthropes showed up. My character, a Lawful Neutral Cleric of Helm, decided to stand and protect the injured mage. So did the lawful good palidin. And so did my cohort, the dwarven barbarian. The ranger started porcupining with arrows, but instead of healing myself, i cast magic circle against evil on the mage, made the mage down an invisiblity potion, and then cast inflict critical wounds.

And by that time we were surrounded, with were people only ten feet away on 3 sides. And then my character went unconcious. So the dwarven barbarian picked me up and started running. The palidin picked the mage up and ran too.

The dwarf was overtaken, he dropped my body, and fought valiently until he too collapsed. Meanwhile, the Ranger's wolf turned good on him, and almost killed him, while the palidin got fried by some lightning bolts from the sorceress, but not before he healed the mage. The mage flew away, the palidin went down.

And then the mage did something dumb. He cast fireball on the entire area, killing all our characters, including the ranger, singeing some were-boars, and turning him visible. OoC he claimed he did it to save the party from the curse of lycanthropy, but i think he did it for fun.

And then since he was visible, he got shot down.

And so ended the campain, with all characters dead simply because we refused to abandon our friends. (and had a stupid mage)

And it wasnt even heroic.

 

[fsck]

And so ended the campain, with all characters dead... because we... (had a stupid mage)

Honestly, there's your whole problem right there! No need to blame it on loyalty when plain old stupidity does it's job as good as ever

 

[MythandLore]

Honestly, there's your whole problem right there! No need to blame it on loyalty when plain old stupidity does it's job as good as ever

I gotto agree, loyalty doesn't kill parties as much as stupidity does.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I see three mistakes here:

1. Poor scouting.

2. Waiting a WEEK to go after the Ranger. Should have gone the next day.

3. Very dumb mage actions.


Combine all three the way you guys did and you got what was coming to you.

 

[Kichwas]

loyalty combined with wisdom is what keeps a party alive.

lack of wisdom combined with anything is what puts them down.

On the surface it sounds like the mage made the bad call. But not seeing the details who can say. It does sound like you managed to put yourselves into an overwelming situation but again not being there I lack the details that would say how to have avoided it.

 

[reapersaurus]

what levels were you guys?

What levels were the lycanthropes?

Sounds like the lycanthropes alone would have been too much for you guys?
Did you ever use everyone together on the lycanthropes, or just get taken out one-by-one?

 

[Quickbeam]

loyalty combined with wisdom is what keeps a party alive.

lack of wisdom combined with anything is what puts them down.

That says it all, right there. With the possible exception of very bad dice rolling...just ask Old One's group about their first few encounters .

In the long run, this may turn out for the best in that you've learned a few valuable lessons:
1) Sometimes, it's OK to run away before you're near death.
2) Don't wait to rescue lost/captured companions.
3) Avoid attacking enemies when they are all congregating together. Wait until their strength and numbers are somewhat divided.
4) Casting fireball and similar spells near wounded friends is bad...unless you're looking to start over with new characters .

 

[Pillars of Hercules]

Another lesson learned...

5. Mages are devastating when played intelligently. Mages are devastating to the party when played UNintelligently.

6. Never let anyone with a real life INT of 6 try to play the mage with in-game INT of 18.

Actually, all of the above is just for humor. I'm pretty sure the mage's player just decided that the party was dead meat, so he chose to end the campaign intentionally.

 

[Ds Da Man]

I think they did all right! Kudos to the party for attempting to live together/die together!

Also, who the heck would want to be a werewolf, and who would stand by and watch their friends get turned? I mean, the what should have the mage done? I wouldn't have waited a full week to return for the ranger, but other then that, I would have done the same!