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Author Topic: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?  (Read 3647 times)

CD

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How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« on: October 29, 2021, 06:39:43 PM »
How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character? Three and a cliff to fall off of, with a spike pit at the bottom, follow that up with throwing oil upon the character and lighting them on fire, when they get out of the pit, 100 human soldiers fires arrows into them.
Players - "So far I failed two save vs. death rolls, but the cleric has helped me, my character is stable now".
DM throws his dice at the players head.

5e Dungeons & Dragons - Saving Throw Vs. Fun
https://youtu.be/K8t-EQzTw7M

DM_Curt

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2021, 06:50:07 PM »
If your 5e DM isn't killing characters, he isn't doing it right.

CD

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2021, 06:54:06 PM »
 ;) DM Curt.

If he isn't killing your 5e character with - "Three dragons and a cliff to fall off of, with a spike pit at the bottom, follow that up with throwing oil upon the character and lighting them on fire, when they get out of the pit, 100 human soldiers fires arrows into them", they are not doing it right.

Wait in 5e, if the DM is not killing the 5e character they are doing it right(as far as 5e is concerned)?

Svenhelgrim

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2021, 06:56:49 PM »
Y’all need some o’ Tucker’s Kobolds. 

https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/TuckersKobolds.pdf

CD

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2021, 06:59:46 PM »
Tucker’s Kobolds always have made me laugh.
I use to make goblins and kobolds only aim for the privates. They would try to remove breasts and characters little weewee lol. It scared the crap out of a lot players.

DM_Curt

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2021, 08:04:23 PM »
5e has the Difficulty Slider set at Easy by default, but easy enough to shift if you're not playing with the target audience: new players.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2021, 08:11:51 PM by DM_Curt »

PsyXypher

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2021, 08:39:35 PM »
5e has the Difficulty Slider set at Easy by default, but easy enough to shift if you're not playing with the target audience: new players.

Another thing tainted by trying to appeal to a "Wider" audience.

IDK what the big deal is. 3.5 was easy enough for me to learn and I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I personally like the -10 rule, where between 0 and -9 Hit Points, you're dying. Adds some drama to it, and makes it more difficult to get one shot by a House Cat. I think making that part of the main rules was an improvement over earlier editions.
I am not X/Y/Z race. I am a mutant. Based and mutantpilled, if you will.

CD

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2021, 08:42:07 PM »
I 100% agree about the minus 10 gimmick, I am an ad&d 2ed ole hat, so I do prefer that option over most.

CD

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2021, 08:43:43 PM »
I get where Curt is coming from, but as I said to Curt in the comment section of the video, I see most abusing this, I have seen one that came closer to making it a challenge, but even then it was too easy.

Mistwell

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2021, 09:55:48 PM »
It's really not hard at all to die once you're knocked unconscious.

"If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead."

"Unconscious Condition: Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature."

In other words, if a dragon has three attacks or more (like an adult dragon), and it knocks you out with the first and then closes with your unconscious body to complete the remaining attacks, the other two attacks will kill you. No save, and their attacks are all at advantage once you're unconscious as well.

Opaopajr

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2021, 10:38:40 PM »
Thank you Mistwell.  8)

We've had this discussion before where I cited chapter & verse of Basic 5e and how quickly you can kill PCs. Any character with two 'Light' property weapons (thus granting the universal bonus action for Two-Weapon Attack) can kill off a Death Saving PC at 5' range in one turn: both club (or sickle/dagger/handaxe/etc.) attack on turn, that's two crit attacks, that's 4 failed death saves, downed PC is dead. No Lay on Hands for 1, no Healing Word, nada. Gotta use rezzing magic, not healing magic.

5e is deadly. Read the rules and play it RAW for a bit before adding extra optional content. Are there issues especially with added content and loose interpretations? Yes, but this hyperbolic complaint example is an obvious stretch.  :P
Just make your fuckin' guy and roll the dice, you pricks. Focus on what's interesting, not what gives you the biggest randomly generated virtual penis.  -- J Arcane
 
You know, people keep comparing non-TSR D&D to deck-building in Magic: the Gathering. But maybe it's more like Katamari Damacy. You keep sticking shit on your characters until they are big enough to be a star.
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DM_Curt

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2021, 12:07:51 AM »
2 Light Weapons? Also consider the Multi-attack feature of many monsters.
For example, the Good Ol' "Claw/Claw/Bite".

S'mon

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2021, 03:07:37 AM »
I see a lot of dead PCs in my current 5e game, even with 8-player groups. One player lost 3 PCs in 3 consecutive sessions playing with me recently, though admittedly those were 1 5e and 2 4e games.

5e Young dragons are very deadly compared to PCs a few levels below the dragon CR due to their powerful breath weapons. If you want to kill PCs without going overboard on the CR I'd suggest three young dragons breathing consecutively. If you drop PCs with the second breath, the third dragon can use melee attacks to dead-dead kill one; or all three breaths on a clustered PC group may drop the entire party.

Young White Dragons https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/young-white-dragon are particularly good for this - only Challenge 6, breath does 45 damage, has a good AoE and is a CON save so Evasion does not work. Overlapping white dragon breaths should drop all the squishy PCs including the healers. Then the dragons move in to finish the Barbarian still standing.  8)

SHARK

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2021, 08:09:10 AM »
I see a lot of dead PCs in my current 5e game, even with 8-player groups. One player lost 3 PCs in 3 consecutive sessions playing with me recently, though admittedly those were 1 5e and 2 4e games.

5e Young dragons are very deadly compared to PCs a few levels below the dragon CR due to their powerful breath weapons. If you want to kill PCs without going overboard on the CR I'd suggest three young dragons breathing consecutively. If you drop PCs with the second breath, the third dragon can use melee attacks to dead-dead kill one; or all three breaths on a clustered PC group may drop the entire party.

Young White Dragons https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/young-white-dragon are particularly good for this - only Challenge 6, breath does 45 damage, has a good AoE and is a CON save so Evasion does not work. Overlapping white dragon breaths should drop all the squishy PCs including the healers. Then the dragons move in to finish the Barbarian still standing.  8)

Greetings!

*Laughing* NICE! I love it!

All the crying about 5E and players not being killable...heh. I don't think they are reading thoroughly enough, and applying the rules like a good, ruthless DM should.

The difficulty slider knob I think is a good example mentioned. The game is set up initially in many of the rules to make it a soft, cushy playpen for new gamers and little kids.

Dig though. And always remember that YOU are the DM, and change stuff around, and make a set of notes to remind yourself o the relevant rules, as well as particular interpretations you have made to the game, and keep that note book handy. Apply it with a swift hand when playing with adults and experienced gamers, and 5E can very well be played with a rough, old school edge. ;D

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
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Ghostmaker

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Re: How many dragons does it take to kill a 5e character?
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2021, 10:16:53 AM »
You need dragons? I had a swarm of zombies, backed by some variant ghouls, actually force my players to pull back from the haunted village they were investigating. They killed a lot of them, but y'know, quantity has a quality all its own and they got VERY lucky on a couple clutch rolls.

No one died but they definitely got their confidence rattled a bit.