Not "near death" like Rob's example which was near in a sorta galactic sense, but actual PC DEATH, as in needing a Raise Dead.
Who, What, Where, When, How...
Ready, set, go...
None yet. We have only had three sessions of actual play so far.
None in our 5e games either, not even close really.
We haven't had a whole lot of combat though... a lone assassin/mage and some lizardmen.
In my first 5e group, who have hit 5th level by now (they started playing using the playtest rules) I've had one death - to a save-or-die poison trap, despite the character having advantage on the save - and I can't remember how many close calls. They took the body back to town and paid for the character to get raised.
In my second 5e group (who have been playing for a month and just reached 2nd level) we haven't had any deaths yet, but we've repeatedly had close calls with people on the floor and failing one or two of their death checks before being healed. In fact in the last fight of yesterday's game we had three characters all go down in the same fight with one of them only two damage away from being killed outright in a single critical hit from a hobgoblin (this was after they'd reached second level). That fight was fairly touch-and-go and they only just averted a TPK by using some good tactics.
Nevermind. Didn't see the 5E tag.
I've had one-a 2nd level paladin tried to take on an owlbear alone.
TPK: Mines of Phandelver in the very first cave with the goblins. Hit us from multiple sides.
One death in the 1st episode of HotDQ. Three people went down, but only one full death.
One death in my own Campaign I'm DMing. Giant ants took out one PC and the rest were able to flee.
Lower level PCs in 5e are rough. Just like AD&D. And I don't mind at all ;)
None yet, but we're only one session in. Two of the three characters were down and making death saves, but that was as far as it got. I think getting 2nd level (and some solid HP rolls, no less) will help be a bit of a buffer.
Recent online session.
Jannet playing her first, and possibly last halfling ranger. Kefra playing a human fighter and me playing a human warlock. All level 2.
Group was travelling through a swamp and was literally jumped by four Bullywugs and a pair of giant frogs. Me and Kefra have at it with the bullywugs while Jan was ganged up on by the frogs. She dropped one with an arrow before its fellow did a leap and succeeded in getting a bite. And swallowed her whole on the next round.
There wasnt a thing we could do about it as we were dealing with the bullywugs who were alot harder than we expected. 2 attacks a round for a CR 1/4 monster? Suffice to say by the time we cleared that up Jan was DOA from the stomach action and the darn frog was gone. Kefra and myself were pretty dinged up, but miraculously I hadn't been KOed or killed this time. Witch Bolt turned the tide.
Even if we'd been able to kill the frog and cut her out it wouldn't have done any good as not only weren't there any healing temples local that could raise dead. We didn't have the funds to pay for it had there been one. (Though lacking gold I'd have tried bargaining a raise for services.)
Next time we go in the swamp I'm getting and prepping Armour of Agathys first!
Bemusingly we were in the swamp looking for a local druid as an alternative for healing and reincarnation if it came to that. Short rests are vastly over-rated...
The group that I am DMing for on the other hand has not lost anyone yet. Though came close during a one-on-one duel.
None yet. Two PCs have gone down, but made their death saves.
We are four sessions into our 5E campaign. We started play with The Lost Mine of Phandelver. (There is a SPOILER for that adventure below in the details of the 1st character death we experienced.)
The 3rd level party had arrived at a ruined town and set about exploring a tower with a collapsed roof. The party entered the tower observing some dead giant spiders outside the tower that appeared to have been mauled by a beast.
Upon hearing "Who dares enter my lair?" the rash Gnome Barbarian charged up the crumbling stairway to confront the voice, coming face to face with a young green dragon.
The dragon poured his poisonous breath weapon upon the head of the gnome and down the stairway to the party members at the base of the stairs.
The poison gas was more than the poor Bard Mival Siannodel (https://swords-for-adventure.obsidianportal.com/characters/mival-siannodel) could take.
Mival's lungs burned and the searing pain and poison were more than his respiratory system could handle. Mival fell to the cold stone floor dead as his eyes melted from the poisons as well.
The rest of the party fled (including the gnome who had survived the fumes).
R.I.P. Mival
First permanent character death happened last night.
When the party is already wounded, tired, and low on resources, it is not the best time for a couple of characters to wander into an unexplored room in a haunted ruined mansion.
The rest of the party was still milling around in a ruined dining hall. A secret door had been located in the fireplace. The dwarven warlock and gnome wizard decided to go through the door and check things out while the rest of the party was still poking around the dining hall.
Bad idea.
Soon after entering the room (an art gallery), four animated suits of armor sprang to life and attacked the wandering fools. ( The players did know that this was supposedly a hauntedmansion).
The warlock beat a hasty retreat back to the dining hall. The gnome was not so fortunate on initiative (I was nice enough not to give the animated armor a surprise round) and was struck twice, one of those hits a crit-and sustained 19 points of damage. The poor gnome had only 6 hit points so she was pulped.
The rest of the party fought the armor in the dining hall. The warlock and the paladin were dropped to 0, and other party members were down to a handful of hit points before defeating the ghastly armor.
The party wisely decided to head back to the inn for a long rest after that. :)
None yet: the half-orc's racial resolute ability saved him three times so far in the Lost Mines of Phandelver from having to make Death Saving Throws. But my players have acknowledged how easily they can die (all three times were one-shots from full health: goblin archers, usually). Needless to say, they resort now to cleverness and guile instead of direct combat.
Squirrel an elven wizard was killed by Glasstaff in the fifth or six session. Just gunned him down with Magic Missile. There is also has been three near TPKs two of which boiled down to everybody down and one PC rolling a natural 20 on a death save and was able to get up.
Last session, a 3rd level PC got taken down by three stirges during his watch. Luckily enough party members woke up to take them out and revive the fallen character.
Goblin can ambush
Zombie can save to come back at 1 hp.
Orcs get double moves.
In of themselves the extra abilities don't add much to the monsters however in the right circumstance they are devastating.
Basically a 5e party needs to be on their toes and be well prepared. If they get distracted or scattered around the locale. Things will go south fast in 5e.
Session last weekend ended with the first PC down. A rather irate villainess cultist nailed the groups sorcerer with hold and then proceeded to score two criticals on him next round and he went down instantly.
Made his first death save and if the groups paladin had not made a leaping save and diverted her attention she would have finished him off next round. As was the groups Wizard who was down to around 5 HP from kobold slingers before the dust cleared. Paladin got the Sorcerer back on his feet.
Exiting they very nearly walked right into the violet fungus theyd unknowingly missed on the way in.
The group is certainly learning to respect combats even with things so seemingly simple as a group of kobolds.
My son (14) ran a couple of sessions to try out his DMing skills for the first time.
He ran a little adventure of a Bullywug and giant toads accosting caravans, taking jewels etc..
There were 4 characters in that little adventure and it was nearly a TPK.
On paper it was a balanced encounter. But as it was 1st level characters (which are notoriously fragile) and there were some unlucky die rolls for the characters and my son got about 3 natural 20s in a row for the Toads.
The net result was the Halfling rogue got swallowed by a Giant Toad and died.
The rest badly wounded and ran away.
They did return later and defeated them, but it was too late for the Halfling.
I had a player death this weekend in Cragmaw cave. The elf scout found the chimney in the back of the wolf den and climbed up. He saw Klarg and Ripper and the two goblins. The wolf smelled something wrong, so the elf set a grapple hook in the chimney and climbed down to tell the party. Of course while this was going on, since one of the goblins from the ambush got away, Klarg knew there were humans about, and went snooping around and found the grapnel. So when the elf went back up Klarg was waiting and hiding.
Bam! Brute for 2d8, surprise for 2d6, one shot kill. Of course it was a first level thief. In the ensuing brawl, Klarg would have dropped the Barbarian to zero, but Rage resistance saved him and the barbarian, fighter and wizard were able to take them out.
We'll see how it goes from here.
Many close calls, and the "furry" druid has been at 2 failed at least twice now--lots of hp, but crud AC.
Characters are whizzing through levels in Whore of a Dragon Queen...sure hope powers and abilities don't spiral out of control.
Quote from: danskmacabre;790970The net result was the Halfling rogue got swallowed by a Giant Toad and died.
The rest badly wounded and ran away.
They did return later and defeated them, but it was too late for the Halfling.
We lose more halflings that way... See halfling Jannets fate to giant frog.
Quote from: Omega;791000We lose more halflings that way... See halfling Jannets fate to giant frog.
Heh, a bit later when I was running Temple of elemental Evil" at the Moathouse.
There were some Giant frogs out the front.
There's a Halfling Monk in the party, and sure enough, he got swallowed too..
For a few rounds the frog was hopping around attacking the rest of the party with the Halfling inside it's belly.
He didn't die though, as the fighter in the party finished off the Frog that swallowed him.
I DID rule that as the fighter was chopping at a Giant frog with a Halfling in it, any damage over what the Frog had in HPs, transferred to damage to the Halfling, but it wasn't that bad and it's better than getting digested by a Giant frog. :D
Straight up death in the first episode of HotDQ. My fighter was taken down to 0 hp by kobolds/cultists. Failed first death save. Rolled a 1 on my second. The end.
Just tonight I lost my first PC in The Lost Mines of Phandelver, along with another fighter - both of us 4th level.
We were short our cleric for the session, and came upon what looked like a drow and two bugbears. We thought we could take them and closed, but then four giant spiders popped out. We barely got any further actions in at that point, since we were overwhelmed with webbing, and were both cut down.
Our wizard cut and ran to get away, but the fight wasn't even close.
I was a little annoyed, because it seemed like there wasn't even any warning about the giant spiders. Up until that encounter, all of our fights had gone pretty smoothly - except against a small dragon where we just got lucky.
One bit of good luck & timing kept my group from a TPK along the stream entrance in Phandelver at 1st level. 50% of the party was making death saves by the second round, but luck got everyone out of the cave alive.
Has anyone given much consideration to re-entry of players of dead PCs? At lowest level it seems like having people come in at 0 xp is good for us. But we're thinking about having new PCs come in at the bottom of each level tier beyond that. The xp curve seems different enough from 1e, so I'm we're not really sure yet.
Good question. Lots and lots of ways to go about it.
Personally Im leaning to having the new character come in at the same level as the rest of the group simply for ease of bookkeeping. And on the reasoning that someone showing up late in the adventure could reasonably be assumed to be there by dint of experience. Just like NPCs oft show up at levels comprable to the group.
The other option is to start them off at level 1 and let them catch up eventually due to the curve in EXP needed. The drawback is keeping the new guy or gal alive long enough to level up. And this is the main reason I am leaning to new characters at the same level as group. The sheer lethality of encounters means that the replacement can die right out the gate.
Of course if they live... well... boom - huge chunk of exp could advance them two levels or so.
The group is likely to vote for replacements at same level if only because they wont be keen on safeguarding the new kid every step of the way in an allready hazardous system. Have not yet really broached the subject with them yet. Been waiting to see how far they actually get before someone kicks off as that will change the dynamics.
Quote from: Omega;791232Good question. Lots and lots of ways to go about it.
Personally Im leaning to having the new character come in at the same level as the rest of the group simply for ease of bookkeeping. And on the reasoning that someone showing up late in the adventure could reasonably be assumed to be there by dint of experience. Just like NPCs oft show up at levels comprable to the group.
The other option is to start them off at level 1 and let them catch up eventually due to the curve in EXP needed. The drawback is keeping the new guy or gal alive long enough to level up. And this is the main reason I am leaning to new characters at the same level as group. The sheer lethality of encounters means that the replacement can die right out the gate.
Of course if they live... well... boom - huge chunk of exp could advance them two levels or so.
The group is likely to vote for replacements at same level if only because they wont be keen on safeguarding the new kid every step of the way in an allready hazardous system. Have not yet really broached the subject with them yet. Been waiting to see how far they actually get before someone kicks off as that will change the dynamics.
I think that starting at the same level works if there's not non-death related xp drift. By and large my groups tend to be individual xp trackers so occasional absences or the like can lead to that drift.
But, still I think you could do as you propose by setting the incoming PC xp to match the lowest in the party. It could lead to erosion of party strength, but adventuring is tough bid'ness.
I have had dead characters start one level under the average party level and at 0 xp.
Quote from: iandimitri;791317I have had dead characters start one level under the average party level and at 0 xp.
I read that as 0 hp...
Well that sure would save alot of paperwork...
Quote from: Omega;791328I read that as 0 hp...
Well that sure would save alot of paperwork...
That's pretty hard core.
No deaths yet, but have had a party member make his Death Save just in time....
Just had another one in my campaign. From rot grubs nonetheless ;)
The player had never heard of them before. At first I thought he would have avoided them because he rooted through the pile of garbage with his sword. When I said he sees giant maggots squirming about, he said he picked one up to show the half orc rogue.
Oops.
And while I was explaining to him what was happening as the grub was making its way up his arm, he refused to cut it away because "as a dual wielding fighter, what good is it to have only one arm?"
Well, he found out that being dead is worse lol
Quote from: Sacrosanct;791366Just had another one in my campaign. From rot grubs nonetheless ;)
The player had never heard of them before. At first I thought he would have avoided them because he rooted through the pile of garbage with his sword. When I said he sees giant maggots squirming about, he said he picked one up to show the half orc rogue.
Oops.
And while I was explaining to him what was happening as the grub was making its way up his arm, he refused to cut it away because "as a dual wielding fighter, what good is it to have only one arm?"
Well, he found out that being dead is worse lol
:rotfl:
Wow! That is a whole new level of idiocy.
Playing Hoard of the Dragon Queen here, and just had a character death.
A critical hit from a roper...45 points of damage, poor cleric never had a chance. "*yum*, crunchy on the outside, juicy in the inside!" shouted the roper.
I'm still debating the wisdom of changing the monsters in 5e from what they were in AD&D. One the one hand, it's very cool because now the players, the veterans anyway, don't really know what they're up against.
On the other, the AD&D roper really doesn't behave like the 5e roper (at least, the one in the adventure), which kinda made things rough for the players...I bet the fight would have gone differently without the preconceived notions of how a roper behaves.
That is funny as the group described previously ran into the roper, who was trying to sneak away quietly rather than face off against a trio whod just taken out Mondath and her kobolds.
The dwarf though was shoot first and ask questions later and I got out. "you notice something moving over..." followed by "I blast it!"
The now blasted roper focused on said dwarf and there proceeded this absurd wrestling match where the roper kept grabbing the dwarf and the dwarf kept shrugging odd the tentacles. It simply could not get a grip on this guy! The battle ended with not a one of the PCs taking any damage...
The exact opposite of PC death from what should have been a pretty hard struggle.
In 5e we have had several but the most memorable one is Dragon Breathes everyone dies. Yup tpk. It was in Hoard or the Dragon Queen.
Quote from: Omega;791425That is funny as the group described previously ran into the roper, who was trying to sneak away quietly rather than face off against a trio whod just taken out Mondath and her kobolds.
The dwarf though was shoot first and ask questions later and I got out. "you notice something moving over..." followed by "I blast it!"
The now blasted roper focused on said dwarf and there proceeded this absurd wrestling match where the roper kept grabbing the dwarf and the dwarf kept shrugging odd the tentacles. It simply could not get a grip on this guy! The battle ended with not a one of the PCs taking any damage...
The exact opposite of PC death from what should have been a pretty hard struggle.
The difference between the two experiences with the same encounter speaks highly of the game in play to me.
Quote from: Exploderwizard;791389:rotfl:
Wow! That is a whole new level of idiocy.
Same guy who, a few years ago when I was DMing ToEE and they found the giant fountain full of clear liquid, said he was "jumping in dive style".
Yep, that fountain. The one full of acid.
This guy is a Darwin award in action.
Re: battling ropers, the group fought their own last night as well, but not in HotDQ, but in my Felk Mor campaign. They were all level 4, and at full resources when they faced it:
1/2 orc rogue thief
tiefling sorcerer
human moon druid (his favorite animal was the giant toad they fought earlier)
human eldritch fighter
The druid had the observation feat, so he was able to detect the roper before they got too close, ruining the roper's planned surprise attack. So initiative was rolled rather than a free attack with advantage.
Druid and fighter were grappled on the first round. Pulled close on the second. The thief was shooting his bow from being hidden, used his move to go back behind the wall, and then cunning action to hide. Rinse, repeat. The sorcerer ended up crit'ing on a scorching ray which did a shit ton of damage. The fighter was getting munched and was everything he could do just not to die. On another round the toad shaped druid got munched hard, making him revert back to human form where he almost died. The roper was also tired of the sorcerer hitting it with spells and grappled her
In the end they beat it, but they used just about every spell and ability they had, and the fighter and druid were almost dead.
Quote from: Omega;791425That is funny as the group described previously ran into the roper, who was trying to sneak away quietly rather than face off against a trio whod just taken out Mondath and her kobolds.
The dwarf though was shoot first and ask questions later and I got out. "you notice something moving over..." followed by "I blast it!"
The now blasted roper focused on said dwarf and there proceeded this absurd wrestling match where the roper kept grabbing the dwarf and the dwarf kept shrugging odd the tentacles. It simply could not get a grip on this guy! The battle ended with not a one of the PCs taking any damage...
The exact opposite of PC death from what should have been a pretty hard struggle.
The roper never succeeded on a single tentacle hit, ever, and never managed a bite?
That's pretty amazing. 4 tendril attacks at +7 just about guarantee a hit a round, with 2 hits being far more likely. Shrugging it off is possible, but with a DC of 15 and disadvantage on strength checks, hardly a sure thing. Unfortunately, before the player gets a chance to shrug it off, the roper has a Reel effect. The Reel effect is automatic, and that's every creature hit with a tendril. The bite, likewise is at +7, and the roper will have advantage if it "somehow" managed a tendril hit that very same round.
That was one clumsy as heck roper!
Five 16th level PCs in a cave on the Isle of Dread. Fought several spectators and one reflected a cone of cold back onto the paladin.
A beholder boss floated in. Eventually attacked the paladin. 10 for a death ray. Damage exceeded paladin's hp. Bam, dead.
Quote from: Doom;791460The roper never succeeded on a single tentacle hit, ever, and never managed a bite?
That's pretty amazing. 4 tendril attacks at +7 just about guarantee a hit a round, with 2 hits being far more likely. Shrugging it off is possible, but with a DC of 15 and disadvantage on strength checks, hardly a sure thing. Unfortunately, before the player gets a chance to shrug it off, the roper has a Reel effect. The Reel effect is automatic, and that's every creature hit with a tendril. The bite, likewise is at +7, and the roper will have advantage if it "somehow" managed a tendril hit that very same round.
That was one clumsy as heck roper!
That is the insane part. I was scoring critical after critical with the tentacles on the dwarf and with disadvantage the dwarf made every single check to shrug off the tentacles.
But the whole session was this series of criticals all over. Mondath being the biggest example with scoring both halberd hits on the sorcerer and taking him out in one go. One of the kobolds really had it in for the dwarf and scored at least two criticals on him. As said elsewhere. One more round of that and only the Paladin would have been left standing and he couldnt reach the kobolds. Not sure what he would have done then.
Running the Moathouse (converted from ADnD).
4th Level party of 4.
After some bad judgement by the Druid in teh party, the end boss and minions were alerted to their presence.
I changed the enemy set up a bit so there were reduced amounts of cult troops (basically low level fighters).
But I added an NPC wizard with the Cleric who the party had been chasing from another home brew adventure I ran earlier.
It ended up with a big fight in one large room with various exits and entrance points.
At one point it was looking pretty grim with the NPC Wizard throwing a fireball at the party, knocking out 2 party members, but they got brought back with potions fortunately.
Then a bit later a lightning bolt got fired, again, knocking out the other 2 characters, but again they were brought back.
However by that point, the Cleric and Wizard enemies) who were the only 2 left after the fighter and Sorceror of the party had whittled down by sword and spell the minions.
Then the Monk got close to the enemy wizard and took him to pieces with his brutal KI attacks , giving him multiple attacks, knockdown etc..
The Fighter, which is often maligned in 5E as weak or boring, really showed how useful he was with his superior HPs, the extra attack, plus his improved crit range and so on.
The second wind was nice too to boost up his HPs, which really made a difference.
So not a TPK, but pretty close as at one stage it was 2 down and unconscious (Monk and Druid both making death saves).
The Sorceror was on 1 HP and all that was left was the fighter on relatively good health,
But the Sorceror managed to get a potion to Monk and Druid and they came back from the brink.
Thereafter the Druid started healing people up.
5E is interesting as the combat was very swingy. going to the brink at some stages, but characters have various ways to heal up quickly as well.
Fireballs and Lightning bolts are REALLY nasty at low level as they do 8D6 right off the bat. Luckily the characters make their DEX saves otherwise it would almost certainly have been a TPK.
It made the players think about positioning tactically better in future.
That and NOT making loads of noise when exploring tunnels in dungeons.
All in all, very satisfying for all.