DM Intent on TPK [Archive] - Wizards Community

DM Intent on TPK [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
psilontech
06-19-07, 02:26 AM Right, in one of the games I'm currently playing (FR), we have been playing the same group (well... More or less. There have been a few deaths and additions. Still have my original character, whoo!) for a good, looong time. We started at level 1, and we are now currently level 17. The campaign has been fun, especially with our DM rolling 1's at critical junctures in the plot, making seemingly impossible things die easily when they weren't supposed to, and after the majority of the group temporarily becoming avatars of their respective Gods to prevent a Dark God from resurrecting after X Thousand Years, I think our DM has decided upon attempting a TPK, or something extremely close to it.

It would seem our actions have drawn the attention of various Deity's, and have somehow been abducted by various non-lawful or Good Gods and Demi-gods for a... Kind of Gameshow, whose title is something to the effect of "Watch them die!". Anyway, from what we've figured out of the rules, the game only ends when either the whole group is killed, or only one is left. That one character that is left gets everything that the other group member's owned, as well as all the 'prizes' that had been won. Each 'round', the group faces off against a challenge, each round getting more and more difficult (+3CR), and if the threat is killed (Note: Not eliminated or overcome. Apparently sending something to hell, where it promptly dies, not of your hand, does not count as a 'kill') the group gets to decide upon an item they will receive upon 'winning' the contest. These items can be traded in to resurrect a fallen ally, though.

I'm currently a Wizard10/Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil 7

So, we went from fairly easy for my group, to our last encounter before the session ended for the night, with two Ancient Red Dragons... In a Volcano. With our spelltrapper (that's what it's called, right...?) flying ship slowly sinking towards the lava of the active volcano. We narrowly avoided becoming extra crispy thanks to my Green Veil (Stops all breath weapons) in reactive mode... Several times. They where finally disposed of with the creative usage of Wish after they went under the surface of the lava to regenerate...

Now... After that, I'm not expecting us to live much longer. The only thing I can think of to keep my character alive for the 'end of the contest', would be to wait until the last POSSIBLE moment, and then hide inside my little dimensional pocket (Rope Trick) as whatever epic death reins down upon my group... Thus, giving me the money, items, etc of the entire group, along with the prizes, which amount, at this point, to nearly a million gold in worth. (Sadly, no epic-level items...), giving me PLENTY of gold to have them resurrected with... assuming they CAN be resurrected :P

So, do you guys have any ideas on how my character, or whole group, can get out of this one, other than what I just thought of? Already tried Gate, and even Gate Paired with a Wish, but to no avail, as well as any other spell I can think of to get back to the material plane (or any other plane for that matter...). Heh, it even seems that our prayers to our various deity's have been blocked!

Any ideas would be appreciated. Apparently, he isn't going for an attempt to end the campaign... but still, come on! :rolleyes: :D
Rabid Dire Wolverine
06-19-07, 03:32 AM If a gate and a wish didn't work, the DM seems pretty intent on keeping you there. However, if you have a big enough bag of holding and a portable hole, you might want to try putting everyone but one person in the bag and the last person hop in holding the portable hole. It causes a rift that sucks the contents of the bag to the astral plane.
Ayra
06-19-07, 03:33 AM It sounds pretty exciting, actually! Maybe he just wants to test what kind of CR you guys can face and plans some kind of divine intervention once your party wipes and he's just waiting for it to wipe.

How exactly are the rules set on getting items after winning? I suppose you get to choose from a random list of items, or choose to resurrect a party member? If this is not restricted, then spend some time looking through books with epic items in it.

Anyway, it's quite hard because from what I can tell now is that your DM is railroading you by making it impossible to leave, leading me to think that he has something planned. Giving you a lot of money also leads me to believe that he's not planning to kill everyone. When only one party member survives and the others have to pass up their gear to that one party member, then even after they resurrect or roll a new character this one survivor will be way stronger than the rest.

Conclusion is that I think he might have something planned for you, otherwise I wouldn't have a clue how to survive this. Maybe try to bend his tournament rules in a weird way? Look for opportunities to escape during fights as well, etc.
kelcimer
06-19-07, 03:57 AM Well, the DM may not be intent on TPK as such. Death in DnD is not a career ending proposition. I had a half orc in my game whose orc diety raised him on the condition that he kill the parties half-elf before he got out of the underdark as proof of his commitment to his god. He wound up telling the party what happened except that he told them he was supposed to kill his human half brother who was also in the party. He aslo told them that he wanted a fair fight and told them to go thgouh the portal to the surface and that he'd come out ready to kill the other PC in 8 hours. He did this to set up a situation for the other PC to have the opportunity to be courageous. After the rest of the Party left, he ran off deeper into the underdark. The god put an invisible portal in the half-orcs path there by bringing him to the surface and, after a short conversation, killed him. He let the halforc's soul go to Kelemvor, but due to the intervention one of the ghosts in the parties bard he became a wandering spirit. 10 sessions later the character was ressurected. In between he played another character. Good times. But the reason he came back was because I, the DM, liked this long standing character and didn't want him lost to Kelemvor.

If I was DMing this game of yours it would all be to go no holds barred on the PCs to push them to the absolute limit. The players are all going to die, but the interesting part is seeing how long it takes to happen. I would expect the PCs to last much longer then I or the PCs themselves would otherwise think their characters would. Once dead your characters spirits would be placed for the next leg of the campaign.

In the short term don't trust the DM.
In the long term trust the DM.

But I'm not your DM so he might really be out to TPK you.

If you have any immovable rods or bags of holding you could last a few more rounds easily enough.

Say you're up against those dragons again. Teleport in front of the dragon and set an immovable rod. When my wizard did this he tried to land on the snout, but wound up getting chomped on in the dragons mouth. He had enough hit points, if barely. The dragon was moving at about 170 ft per round. At best a immovable rod can be moved ten feet in a given round. The rod shot out the back of the dragons head at 160 ft per round. Effectively I busted a cap in the dragons head with a stationary object. Instant kill.

Bags of holding are another trick. The DMG states what happens with putting one in a portable hole and vis versa. In those cases everything within five foot radius is sucked into either the astral otr etherial planes. But the DMG doesn't say what happens when you put a bag of holding in a bag of holding. In previous editions everything simply ceased to exist or was lost for all time. (Or in my game, get sent to Ravenloft.) If your DM agrees to the "everything within the five foot radius being wiped from existance" option then you could possibly "kill" some big baddies easily enough. Jury rig two lances to funtion like a trombone. Have on the outer lance have the bag of holding jury rigged open so when you hit the BBEG, the inner lance shoves the other bag of holding into the first bag. I haven't tried that one yet and am itching to try. The other option I've though of is to make a land mine out of 'em.

It won't get you out of the situation, but you'll possibly make a few more rounds and impress or frustrate your DM. :D
kelcimer
06-19-07, 04:00 AM However, if you have a big enough bag of holding and a portable hole, you might want to try putting everyone but one person in the bag and the last person hop in holding the portable hole. It causes a rift that sucks the contents of the bag to the astral plane.
Wow. I knew that, I put that same info in my last post, but didn't think of that as a way out. That's genius! :cool:

Of course the gods could overrule that easily enough, but still!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
psilontech 06-19-07, 02:26 AM	Right, in one of the games I'm currently playing (FR), we have been playing the same group (well... More or less. There have been a few deaths and additions. Still have my original character, whoo!) for a good, looong time. We started at level 1, and we are now currently level 17. The campaign has been fun, especially with our DM rolling 1's at critical junctures in the plot, making seemingly impossible things die easily when they weren't supposed to, and after the majority of the group temporarily becoming avatars of their respective Gods to prevent a Dark God from resurrecting after X Thousand Years, I think our DM has decided upon attempting a TPK, or something extremely close to it. It would seem our actions have drawn the attention of various Deity's, and have somehow been abducted by various non-lawful or Good Gods and Demi-gods for a... Kind of Gameshow, whose title is something to the effect of "Watch them die!". Anyway, from what we've figured out of the rules, the game only ends when either the whole group is killed, or only one is left. That one character that is left gets everything that the other group member's owned, as well as all the 'prizes' that had been won. Each 'round', the group faces off against a challenge, each round getting more and more difficult (+3CR), and if the threat is killed (Note: Not eliminated or overcome. Apparently sending something to hell, where it promptly dies, not of your hand, does not count as a 'kill') the group gets to decide upon an item they will receive upon 'winning' the contest. These items can be traded in to resurrect a fallen ally, though. I'm currently a Wizard10/Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil 7 So, we went from fairly easy for my group, to our last encounter before the session ended for the night, with two Ancient Red Dragons... In a Volcano. With our spelltrapper (that's what it's called, right...?) flying ship slowly sinking towards the lava of the active volcano. We narrowly avoided becoming extra crispy thanks to my Green Veil (Stops all breath weapons) in reactive mode... Several times. They where finally disposed of with the creative usage of Wish after they went under the surface of the lava to regenerate... Now... After that, I'm not expecting us to live much longer. The only thing I can think of to keep my character alive for the 'end of the contest', would be to wait until the last POSSIBLE moment, and then hide inside my little dimensional pocket (Rope Trick) as whatever epic death reins down upon my group... Thus, giving me the money, items, etc of the entire group, along with the prizes, which amount, at this point, to nearly a million gold in worth. (Sadly, no epic-level items...), giving me PLENTY of gold to have them resurrected with... assuming they CAN be resurrected :P So, do you guys have any ideas on how my character, or whole group, can get out of this one, other than what I just thought of? Already tried Gate, and even Gate Paired with a Wish, but to no avail, as well as any other spell I can think of to get back to the material plane (or any other plane for that matter...). Heh, it even seems that our prayers to our various deity's have been blocked! Any ideas would be appreciated. Apparently, he isn't going for an attempt to end the campaign... but still, come on! :rolleyes: :D
Rabid Dire Wolverine 06-19-07, 03:32 AM	If a gate and a wish didn't work, the DM seems pretty intent on keeping you there. However, if you have a big enough bag of holding and a portable hole, you might want to try putting everyone but one person in the bag and the last person hop in holding the portable hole. It causes a rift that sucks the contents of the bag to the astral plane.
Ayra 06-19-07, 03:33 AM	It sounds pretty exciting, actually! Maybe he just wants to test what kind of CR you guys can face and plans some kind of divine intervention once your party wipes and he's just waiting for it to wipe. How exactly are the rules set on getting items after winning? I suppose you get to choose from a random list of items, or choose to resurrect a party member? If this is not restricted, then spend some time looking through books with epic items in it. Anyway, it's quite hard because from what I can tell now is that your DM is railroading you by making it impossible to leave, leading me to think that he has something planned. Giving you a lot of money also leads me to believe that he's not planning to kill everyone. When only one party member survives and the others have to pass up their gear to that one party member, then even after they resurrect or roll a new character this one survivor will be way stronger than the rest. Conclusion is that I think he might have something planned for you, otherwise I wouldn't have a clue how to survive this. Maybe try to bend his tournament rules in a weird way? Look for opportunities to escape during fights as well, etc.
kelcimer 06-19-07, 03:57 AM	Well, the DM may not be intent on TPK as such. Death in DnD is not a career ending proposition. I had a half orc in my game whose orc diety raised him on the condition that he kill the parties half-elf before he got out of the underdark as proof of his commitment to his god. He wound up telling the party what happened except that he told them he was supposed to kill his human half brother who was also in the party. He aslo told them that he wanted a fair fight and told them to go thgouh the portal to the surface and that he'd come out ready to kill the other PC in 8 hours. He did this to set up a situation for the other PC to have the opportunity to be courageous. After the rest of the Party left, he ran off deeper into the underdark. The god put an invisible portal in the half-orcs path there by bringing him to the surface and, after a short conversation, killed him. He let the halforc's soul go to Kelemvor, but due to the intervention one of the ghosts in the parties bard he became a wandering spirit. 10 sessions later the character was ressurected. In between he played another character. Good times. But the reason he came back was because I, the DM, liked this long standing character and didn't want him lost to Kelemvor. If I was DMing this game of yours it would all be to go no holds barred on the PCs to push them to the absolute limit. The players are all going to die, but the interesting part is seeing how long it takes to happen. I would expect the PCs to last much longer then I or the PCs themselves would otherwise think their characters would. Once dead your characters spirits would be placed for the next leg of the campaign. In the short term don't trust the DM. In the long term trust the DM. But I'm not your DM so he might really be out to TPK you. If you have any immovable rods or bags of holding you could last a few more rounds easily enough. Say you're up against those dragons again. Teleport in front of the dragon and set an immovable rod. When my wizard did this he tried to land on the snout, but wound up getting chomped on in the dragons mouth. He had enough hit points, if barely. The dragon was moving at about 170 ft per round. At best a immovable rod can be moved ten feet in a given round. The rod shot out the back of the dragons head at 160 ft per round. Effectively I busted a cap in the dragons head with a stationary object. Instant kill. Bags of holding are another trick. The DMG states what happens with putting one in a portable hole and vis versa. In those cases everything within five foot radius is sucked into either the astral otr etherial planes. But the DMG doesn't say what happens when you put a bag of holding in a bag of holding. In previous editions everything simply ceased to exist or was lost for all time. (Or in my game, get sent to Ravenloft.) If your DM agrees to the "everything within the five foot radius being wiped from existance" option then you could possibly "kill" some big baddies easily enough. Jury rig two lances to funtion like a trombone. Have on the outer lance have the bag of holding jury rigged open so when you hit the BBEG, the inner lance shoves the other bag of holding into the first bag. I haven't tried that one yet and am itching to try. The other option I've though of is to make a land mine out of 'em. It won't get you out of the situation, but you'll possibly make a few more rounds and impress or frustrate your DM. :D
kelcimer 06-19-07, 04:00 AM	However, if you have a big enough bag of holding and a portable hole, you might want to try putting everyone but one person in the bag and the last person hop in holding the portable hole. It causes a rift that sucks the contents of the bag to the astral plane. Wow. I knew that, I put that same info in my last post, but didn't think of that as a way out. That's genius! :cool: Of course the gods could overrule that easily enough, but still!