My first PC death. (As a DM) (Now a RHoD log)

[LanSlyde]

So, running Red Hand of Doom. Party Consists of Half-dragon Spellscale Beguiler, Human Crusader, Dwarven Warblade, and a Half-Celestial Elven Ranger. Plus my occasional DMPC, an Elven Revenant Blade. I only bother bringing her out when someone can't make it to a meeting.
All of them are fairly new to the game so optimization isn't really a thing with them.


Asking those of you who have ran this before, how often do you lose PCs during the campaign? Because I lost the beguiler to the 1st Goblin Raid at night.

The fight was going fairly well for them, until the sorceror showed up. It was the 2nd time they came across a caster and they had a couple red flags in the last instance (against Koth) to indicate they should immediately focus their efforts on bringing him down. Instead they continued to strike out against the closest target, while the goblins and hobgoblins fought a bit more tactically. Long story short, the sorcerer got off a couple well aimed lightning bolts and magic missiles. Dealing heavy damage to most of the party as well as dropping the beguiler into the negatives. He eventually bled out, as the others could not reach him in time and he failed to self-stabilize.

[ZeroSpace9000]

The big red flag I see is that the beguiler is also a half-dragon, which has a level adjust of 3. Unless you've done something to mitigate this he would have had 3 less levels than everyone else, and thus roughly half the health. If the player is forced to roll up a new character, advise something without LA. With that said, there is a staff of life back in Vraath keep, so the beguiler may have a second chance.

[Flame of Anor]

Good, good...you have tasted blood! Feel the power run through you. Become the terror of PCs that you were meant to be.

But seriously, it's just fine for PCs to die, as long as they "die with their boots on," so to speak. It could be caused by player error, by failing a few critical skill checks, by a string of terrible rolls, or by facing a foe that simply overmatches or outmaneuvers the party. As long as it's never a "rocks fall, everyone dies" or "you are murdered in your sleep, no save" kind of thing, it should be alright.

[LanSlyde]

The big red flag I see is that the beguiler is also a half-dragon, which has a level adjust of 3. Unless you've done something to mitigate this he would have had 3 less levels than everyone else, and thus roughly half the health. If the player is forced to roll up a new character, advise something without LA. With that said, there is a staff of life back in Vraath keep, so the beguiler may have a second chance.

Yeah, they went back to the Keep and found the staff. He's alive again, but seriously considering (finally) taking my advise not to be a half-dragon.

[LanSlyde]

Good, good...you have tasted blood! Feel the power run through you. Become the terror of PCs that you were meant to be.

But seriously, it's just fine for PCs to die, as long as they "die with their boots on," so to speak. It could be caused by player error, by failing a few critical skill checks, by a string of terrible rolls, or by facing a foe that simply overmatches or outmaneuvers the party. As long as it's never a "rocks fall, everyone dies" or "you are murdered in your sleep, no save" kind of thing, it should be alright.

Eh, he kept spamming Glitterdust to blind the hobgobs. After the 1st lightning bolt he turned on his Darklight Lantern and was going to try and hide on his next turn. A magic missile from the sorcerer dropped him to -9. Afterward the crusader tried saving him with a revitalizing Strike, but because of the concealment chance provided by the lantern, he missed his target. Afterward the beguiler failed to self-stabilize. Rip.

[BWR]

We had a total of six PC deaths and one animal companion death in RHoD. I accounted for 3 of those because the big red dragon targeted my squishy little oracle, then the human-hating ranger crit'ed my oracle (new personal record for the shortest amount of time between deaths for a character), then Tiamat wiped the floor with us since we had no spells and only single digit hp left at that time.

[LanSlyde]

We had a total of six PC deaths and one animal companion death in RHoD. I accounted for 3 of those because the big red dragon targeted my squishy little oracle, then the human-hating ranger crit'ed my oracle (new personal record for the shortest amount of time between deaths for a character), then Tiamat wiped the floor with us since we had no spells and only single digit hp left at that time.

Heh. Yeah, Suddenly facing down the aspect of a god AFTER you just fought through the stronghold and killed the BBEG is a little much. Still, I don't think I'm going to relent. The crusader and the warblade are a bit too stab happy to live much longer. Next week they should reach the bridge, assuming nothing terrible happens. We will see how they fair there.

[BWR]

Heh. Yeah, Suddenly facing down the aspect of a god AFTER you just fought through the stronghold and killed the BBEG is a little much. Still, I don't think I'm going to relent. The crusader and the warblade are a bit too stab happy to live much longer. Next week they should reach the bridge, assuming nothing terrible happens. We will see how they fair there.

Our biggest issue was that we felt there was a time limit and pressed on while seriously low on hp and spells, and we managed to clean out the entire rest of the complex before going to the final showdown (mostly we didn't want any un-killed minions to interrupt us mid-battle). That and some poor tactics by some of the players (after 20+ years of D&D, some people still forget that taking out weaker enemies before focusing on the strong ones is a good idea). We barely managed to take out Azar-kul with a barrage of Enervations (11 negative levels hurt) but had lost our main melee damage dealer to him and those damn Unholy Blights. We had one useless spell left when T showed up.
Since this game was run by one of my players and set set in the same setting as the game I run, I took over again, pumped up T's stats to be an appropriate challenge for 16th level characters and let them take care of it. That encounter still had two or three deaths and drained them of just about all their resources.

[LanSlyde]

Day4: After resurrecting their half-dragon beguiler, they headed north ignoring the forest giant territorial marker and heading straight to Skull Gorge. The party sent the half-celestial elven ranger (Amora) ahead to scout the bridge and succeeded in doing so without alerting the guards. Returning to the group they decided to try and eliminate the sentries 1 by 1 by timing their bow-shots to strike the target at the same time. It was a good idea, but they failed to actually kill the guard in the south east tower. Raising the alarm, the garrison began storming across the bridge. The dragon soared across the gorge and hit the tree line where they were hiding with a breath attack. some rounds later, the hellhounds arrived and did the same thing. Flushing the party out of cover, they entered the melee. The hobgobs made made it to the group around the same time the party dispatched the hell hounds. At this point the dragons doing flyby attacks.

After some rounds of fighting the dragon is wounded and most of the hobgoblins are dead. Ozzy retreats to his potion stash on top of the north west tower and downs them. After which he returns to the sky and circles the bridge, waiting to see what the party does. At this point he's the only thing left alive, so he's not going to risk getting into melee range again. The half-dragon beguiler of all people decides to cross the bridge. Cue an invisible bull rush from the dragon. Beguiler fails the check, gets knocked off the bridge and dies on impact, as he was already pretty badly hurt. This is the 2nd time he as perished in a consecutive session no less. Cue cries of revenge from the rest of the party who take cover in the southern towers and take potshots with arrows until Ozzy is hurt enough to warrant a retreat. The bridge is theirs.

Tune in next week to find out what happens!

[Cruiser1]

It was the 2nd time they came across a caster and they had a couple red flags in the last instance (against Koth) to indicate they should immediately focus their efforts on bringing him down. Instead they continued to strike out against the closest target,

(after 20+ years of D&D, some people still forget that taking out weaker enemies before focusing on the strong ones is a good idea).
Hmm, so do you take out a special target first, and then the surrounding henchmen? Or do you take out the henchmen first, and then the BBEG? It may be clear to the DM what the players should do, but it's not always clear to the players in what order to target things.

[LanSlyde]

Hmm, so do you take out a special target first, and then the surrounding henchmen? Or do you take out the henchmen first, and then the BBEG? It may be clear to the DM what the players should do, but it's not always clear to the players in what order to target things.

My thoughts on such matters are irrelevant. I do not change tactics to punish the party, but if I have a caster that can line up a good lightning bolt he will take the shot. But I see your point.