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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 5206068" data-attributes="member: 3586">The incident happened about 9 years ago - wow, where did the time go? As part of my Greyhawk campaign, there was an arena in which gladiatorial combats took place for profit. One PC - the 3rd level ranger - enrolled himself into a fight which was (IIRC) until unconsciousness or yielding. His opponent was the 1st-level half-orc, and the PC didn't get an action before he was dead. I mean, looking at the risk to the character before entering the arena, you were talking about 27 hit points to 5... even with weapon damage for the orc at 1d12+5 or thereabouts, you'd expect to survive a hit. Yeah, good old criticals and swingy combat.Yes, it is an extreme example, but that basic form of swingy combat applies to all low-level pre-4e combats. Characters are fragile as anything, and if the dice go against you, despite preparation, you're likely dead.(The sad thing in 3e is that even higher level combats could occasionally run that way. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown&nbsp; &nbsp; :("&nbsp; data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" />)You'd hope so. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I mean, I'm not against risk in combat. I'm not against unwinnable combats. I just like having the PCs have the option to make a decision that the combat can't be won and get out of there... rather than suddenly going from &quot;I'm fine!&quot; to &quot;I'm dead!&quot;Cheers!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 5206068, member: 3586"] The incident happened about 9 years ago - wow, where did the time go? As part of my Greyhawk campaign, there was an arena in which gladiatorial combats took place for profit. One PC - the 3rd level ranger - enrolled himself into a fight which was (IIRC) until unconsciousness or yielding. His opponent was the 1st-level half-orc, and the PC didn't get an action before he was dead. I mean, looking at the risk to the character before entering the arena, you were talking about 27 hit points to 5... even with weapon damage for the orc at 1d12+5 or thereabouts, you'd expect to survive a hit. Yeah, good old criticals and swingy combat. Yes, it is an extreme example, but that basic form of swingy combat applies to all low-level pre-4e combats. Characters are fragile as anything, and if the dice go against you, despite preparation, you're likely dead. (The sad thing in 3e is that even higher level combats could occasionally run that way. :() You'd hope so. :) I mean, I'm not against risk in combat. I'm not against unwinnable combats. I just like having the PCs have the option to make a decision that the combat can't be won and get out of there... rather than suddenly going from "I'm fine!" to "I'm dead!" Cheers! [/QUOTE]

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