Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Utumno 05-05-04, 05:18 PM	I am a DM and I have a potential TPK problem on my hands. I have a thread posted on the "What's a DM to do?" forum and I have heard all the advice I can process from my fellow DMs now I would like to hear some player points of view wo if you could take a few minutes to read over some of my posts and weigh in I would really appreciate it. Here is the thread. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=232965 Thanks, Utumno
Eomaugh 05-05-04, 07:45 PM	I'm very new at this game. If I were one of those players, I would have no idea what a dragon could or could not do, or what a "lair" entails beyond the basic meaning of the word. Also, if the DM substituted one of those creative but yet "bad" outcomes some of the other DMs suggested (hostages, scarred, capture another dragon, etc), I would be oblivious to the fact that my character should have died and never assume the DM had bailed me out. I'd still assume we had failed at that mission, so the consequences of being unprepared would still be met. I'd prefer a TPK to just my own character's death. Either way, I'd be try to be cheerful and roll up a new character that could do all the things I wish my current one could do but can't.
wdarkk 05-05-04, 08:18 PM	The guy who said to not worry about healing potions is the prime fool responsible for this mess.
RobTzu 05-05-04, 08:48 PM	Just play the Dragon. Do what it would do and if the players all die... Well thats just how the world works. They will thank you for it in a couple of years.
mythandra 05-06-04, 11:35 AM	Originally posted by Utumno I am a DM and I have a potential TPK problem on my hands. I have a thread posted on the "What's a DM to do?" forum and I have heard all the advice I can process from my fellow DMs now I would like to hear some player points of view wo if you could take a few minutes to read over some of my posts and weigh in I would really appreciate it. Here is the thread. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=232965 Thanks, Utumno as a player? kill em all. kill... them... all... That's all there is to it. Dragons should be feared above all else. They are legendary. Their power should be looked upon with awe. Think about it: What other creature forces a will save versus oh-my-god-scream-like-a-school-girl-and-run-away just by looking at it? Dragons should be terrifying and your players set off after it like they were chasing a tribe of kobolds. How insulting is that to dragon kind? If I were one of them, I would want you to teach me to fear dragons above all else. Teach them to fear dragons with the lives of their characters. When the fight is over, have the dragon scoop their corpses up in his mouth, fly over the nearest village (scaring the crud out of the villagers) and drop their lifeless bodies (sans equipment, of course) into the middle of town.
Shr3dZ 05-06-04, 07:14 PM	As Agent Smith would say... "Find them and destroy them!" But seriously, as a player I say they should die. I know 100% my DM would have all our heads if we did something like that. In a similar situation with maybe a different monster you could say that they are able to camp the night in its lair, but a dragon? Hell no a dragon could be that stupid... PS: In my DMs game all his dragons are ###holes, arrogant and stubborn... thinking most other creatures as inferior, letting them live more than 5 minutes in its lair would be an insult! Kill them I say! :D
GithzeraiMonk 05-06-04, 08:03 PM	My DM has a good strategy for dealing with death. He gives lives to his players. These apply if his other party members do not manage to get him revived or resurected. the first time a player dies they are brought back to life in the nearest town with no penalties and a warnign not to die again the second they are brought back with no items the third time they dead for good hope this helps
Utumno 05-07-04, 05:14 PM	My DM has a good strategy for dealing with death. He gives lives to his players. These apply if his other party members do not manage to get him revived or resurected. Wow! That might work for your camapign but I would definitley not hand out free ressurections in my campaign. The closest I have ever come to that is handing out "cheese tokens" and I would only do this with very inexperienced players. A cheese token is a one time only salvation like perhaps a ressurection, but again only to veeery unexperineced players.
CrimsonRyoko 05-07-04, 06:17 PM	Id say the only way out is A)running, or B)striking a deal with the dragon. If you really dont want to kill them all, then outside of game give em a talking to, let em know you will never pull punches again, but this one time they have a chance to run, if it ever happens again its overwith. Personally id do the one chance thing, but it would be metagame, and their chars would have to roleplay a reason to leave. _____________ EDIT _____________ And in the case of "dragons never just pop up" ive actually fought 2 dragons in the last 2 weeks in our 8th lvl game in random encounters. . . . one knocked my Evoker out and killed our Magician(everquest char cration for him), and the second was a Red Dragon that i struck a deal with by giving it a Silver Raven and a Necklace of Fireballs IV along with the promise of a lifetime of servitude and the Temple of All Consumption as his lair when i manage to kill everything inside of it. Actually my char is a Fire Savant who is developing cold spells to use against the dragon, but heh, what he doesnt know wont hurt him.
Mirror, Mirror 05-07-04, 06:45 PM	Hey, the dragon has no idea of their power level, right? He was severly wounded in a previous fight. How about he tries to strike a deal with them first. He scowls, threatens, then offers to leave the nearby villagers alone if they complete some task for him. Have him appeal to the paladin:D Then, he gives them bad info about what they are to complete. should they walk in unprepared, they will learn not only to prepare for encounters, but to never trust CE dragons;) As a player, I have no problem with killing them, but I feel it's more fun to teach them a lesson first.
trapspringer 05-11-04, 07:51 PM	On my first day of playing DnD, my group was going to be fighting a dragon. They were all very experienced, but gave me no advice on what to buy. It didn't matter. i bought plenty of healing potions, and, while fliping through the book, noticed a potion of tru-sight. That proved to be most useful. Equiping to fight a dragon isn't so complicated, and (2 years later) I don't think that fighting a dragon in it's layer is any easier than other-wise. That breath weapon has some range. If anything, it's layer may be the best place to fight it.
Elrana 05-13-04, 08:00 PM	Have a new creature arrive and start a battle with the dragon thus diverting his attention. This battle will be a marvellous spectacle, one not to miss. If they are sensible they will realise that this diversion gives them the chance to run and regroup but will mean missing the once in a lifetime opportunity to watch a territory struggle between two powerful dragons. If they choose to stay to watch the battle and thus not take advantage of the respite, then I say fry the morons! :D This is a little unfair as the chances are they will think 'ooh, he'll be weakened after the battle so we can have him'. This is the perfect time to slap some sense into them as far as I am concerned! You have given them the chance, they didn't take it, tough luck! :)
SmallPumpkinMan 05-14-04, 01:05 AM	Question: have they played enough DnD to know that Dragons are supposed to be some of the Uber-grubbliest creatures in the game? or, to put this another way, have they played enough 3.5 so that they should know that any leader type moster will have a hireling with some sort of healing? A: If yes, roll the dice and let what happen happen. The encounter is not overpowered, sometimes bad things happen to good people. B: If no, give them some hints (arcana? int check?) and if they ignore them, see A
thalious 05-14-04, 03:29 AM	If the TPK is the result from honest RP and gameplay, I would let happen. Sometimes TPKs just happen.
black_swan 05-14-04, 09:22 AM	The dragon uses a ring/scroll/wand of polymorph from it's hoard... (I think that's the right type of item..I'm new to D&D) Changes itself into a lizard man... "Stumbles" upon the party and surrenders.. The pc's will of course ask him questions about the Dragon. As the dragon talks he can gage the strength of the party. Atleast at this point you have the ability to talk to the members through the dragon and maybe hint that it's not such a good idea to go on. You could even try to get the dragon to convince them to do something for him to divert attention away from the lair. "The Dragon has left and gone here....to it's true lair" Anyway as for the pc's resting in a dragons lair. This is not NwN..once you clear an area you can't just friggin rest outside the Monsters room. I've had my characters die for doing dumber things than that... don't back down or you'll lose the fealing that the game has consequences to party actions. You can rip them up but hopefully some of them will run away...
Amygdala 05-16-04, 01:52 AM	"I've had my characters die for doing dumber things than that... " Hehe, you mean *smarter* things than that, dont you? Anyway, after playing and DMing D&D for years, I have slowly come to learn that character death is one of the best parts of the game, for the players and for the DM. It adds meaning to all the party's accomplishments. Without characters dying, every adventurer would get to level 20 before he retired! Give them a glorious death, I say. Whatever you do don't give intelligence checks. I wouldn't patronise my characters like that. Provided they are mature, they probably expect to have to work for their treasure.