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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nevvur" data-source="post: 7336816" data-attributes="member: 6783882">First and only TPK in 5e: goblins with grenades against a level 2 party. The PCs interrupted a caravan raid by goblins. The wagons were secretly transporting dwarven explosives, and the goblins managed to escape with a couple crates. The caravan master divulged the secret manifest, so I felt I had fairly established any future goblins they meet could be wielding grenades. Fast forward to next session, some goblins have murdered the residents of a farm house outside of town in order to set up a staging area for sewing additional chaos. Unbeknownst to the goblins, they were witnessed by a villager, who reported the incident to the mayor, who in turn beseeched the PCs for help.Off the PCs go. They basically have the goblins pinned down in the barn, so they can approach the situation methodically. Instead, the wizard goes charging in guns blazing. The other PCs respond by... joining him. In the interest of avoiding a TPK, I decide the goblins won't throw grenades on the first round, but I do end that round with the goblin leader barking out, "Use the boom boom!"All the PCs have higher initiative, so it's my hope they'll spread out/get out of the barn. None of them do. A grenade gets tossed when the goblins' turn comes up.The grenade in question is basically a low yield fireball: All creatures in a 20 foot radius must make a DC 15 Dex save or take 6d6 damage, or half that amount on a success. All the PCs are in the blast radius, they all fail their saves, and I roll nearly maximum damage (32, if memory serves). We talked it over as players. I felt awful about it, but they felt like they walked into it, so we agreed to stand by the TPK and start with new PCs, treating those first 2 sessions as a sort of one-shot/prologue.</blockquote>

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