If your players act like jerks towards you a TPK is extremely unlikely to fix that, and even money says it'll make it worse. Want them to act like grownups, treat them like grownups.
Treating them like grownups means that just like grownups they have to face the consequences of their actions. In game consequences for in game actions/choices. My players are warned at session zero - in game actions/choices (good and bad) will produce in game reactions (good and bad).
If your players act like jerks towards you a TPK is extremely unlikely to fix that, and even money says it'll make it worse. Want them to act like grownups, treat them like grownups.
Treating them like grownups means that just like grownups they have to face the consequences of their actions. In game consequences for in game actions/choices. My players are warned at session zero - in game actions/choices (good and bad) will produce in game reactions (good and bad).
A deliberate TPK isn't an in-game consequence of in-game actions, it's a consequence of someone out of game being annoyed and making something happen in the game that otherwise wouldn't have. And it's passive-aggressive pettiness, to be honest. Characters making bad decisions and suffering the consequences is different, that's simply playing the game. Nothing wrong with that.
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If it is a certain in game behavior is bothering you, create a trap and punishment for that behavior. For example, if they are murder hobos have the next npc they murder turn out to be a polymorphed ancient dragon.
Agreed. If you dislike what they are doing, make precautions so if they do it again there will be consequences. Naturally don’t do this every time or it will become expected and break immersion (if every random NPC is an ancient dragon where are they all coming from?).
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This isn't actually a signature, just something I copy and paste onto the bottom of all my posts. Or is it? Yep, it is. Or is it..? I’m a hobbit, and the master cranial imploder of the "Oops, I Accidently Destroyed Someone's Brain" cult. Extended sig. I'm actually in Limbo, it says I'm in Mechanus because that's where I get my WiFi from. Please don't tell the modrons, they're still angry from the 'Spawning Stone' fiasco. No connection to Dragonslayer8 other than knowing them in real life.
If your players act like jerks towards you a TPK is extremely unlikely to fix that, and even money says it'll make it worse. Want them to act like grownups, treat them like grownups.
Treating them like grownups means that just like grownups they have to face the consequences of their actions. In game consequences for in game actions/choices. My players are warned at session zero - in game actions/choices (good and bad) will produce in game reactions (good and bad).
A deliberate TPK isn't an in-game consequence of in-game actions, it's a consequence of someone out of game being annoyed and making something happen in the game that otherwise wouldn't have. And it's passive-aggressive pettiness, to be honest. Characters making bad decisions and suffering the consequences is different, that's simply playing the game. Nothing wrong with that.
TPKs happen as a result of stupid/bad choices all the time. (See my original post). Deliberate TPKs? those take more work than is really needed. Give the players enough rope and they will hang themselves.
I am guessing from the way that this was written that the OP is making a joke post and wanted funny suggestions about how to TPK his own party, rather than to be told how to resolve conflicts.
10d6 falling damage, and 4 times through a prismatic wall. I'd like to see the party still standing after that.
If yes, follow it up with a forcecage and a sickening radiance.
Ways to possibly survive this: wizard goes into demiplane, casts clone. The clone matures, you die, and inhabit that body. Contingency: When I would die/petrify/be banished to another plane/(add fineprint here), I cast banishment on myself. (because you are now native to that demiplane, you are sent there, and not a harmless demiplane. You could prepare your own demiplane with all kinds of buffs, using Glyphs of Warding, and of course tons of potions.)
While the party flies through hell, you sit in your demiplane. When hell is somewhat over, end concentration.
Once my party had a special weekend long TTRPG session planned, they also had told me several weeks before they would like a break from DnD and do a short game of another system.
So
Session starts the Friday evening with 4 hours planned, The party gather and advance into the first room of the dungeon, and, over the course of 4 hours I just tPK'd the party making up stuff on the fly to kill them all one by one. As they died I gave each one an envelope and sent them out of the room, they where pissed, but also had a sense something else was going on.
By the time the last had died I joined them in the other room, where all but the one who had died last had started filling out there mandatory loyalty questionnaires and review forms for the Simulation they had just experienced. 4 more friends had joined us and from there we kicked straight into a game of paranoia over the weekend me running for 9 players.
At the end of the weekend the Paranoia campaign ended with the players going back into Stasis, back into the Simulation and we reset the DnD game back to before they entered the dungeon.
I concur with the warning that you shouldn't TPK your party because they pissed you off. But I think it's helpful to know how to TPK so you can avoid it. When you know what a TPK takes, you can push your party right to the edge without killing them, and make for an edge of your seat combat.
I think a big factor is outnumbering the party or out-actioning them with Multiattack. Running their hpdown is just the start. It doesn't matter if you hit them for 28 hp if they're just back up with 4 hp from Healing Word round after round. Multiattack lets you knock out one or two targets, drawing the bonus actions or actions for heals, and maybe whittle down the hp of a target who hasn't gone unconscious yet. Or you can score autocrits with killing blows on unconscious PCs before they have a chance to heal. It's still pretty hard to TPK if they have multiple healers.
Of course you can always just throw an Ancient Blue Dragon at a level 1 party. But I assume you were looking for sporting ways.
For 99,99% of all campaign, the answer is easy: Not at all, if you do, you fail as a DM.
For a very few characters, it could be an end of a campaign, as a common heroic sacrifice, but you should be careful, if your group likes that.
You could do it in a horror style oneshot, but systems like Cthulhu work better for this than D&D.
Otherwise there are very few good reasons. Of course you could kill a party of murderhobos or otherwise problemtatic players, but if the players are the problem, you need to kick the players, not kill their characters.
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+ Instaboot to murderhobos + I don't watch Critical Role, and no, I really shouldn't either +
A lot of people seem to act like TPK is the end of the story and can only be followed by rolling up a new party and starting a new campaign. This is not necessarily so. There are many possibilities for continuing on after a TPK.
-The DM could have their party 'wake-up' in the astral plane with a small severed golden string eminating from them and feeling of a currents pulling in some direction. This could lead to a Ghostwalk campaign where the party continues play as Eidolons - a class for ghosts.
-The DM could have the party end up in a gods hall on an outerplane being offered a quest, the reward from which being a resurection - being returned to material plane to pick up the former campaign.
-The DM could have the party be raised as a form of intelligent undead, i.e vampire spawn perhaps?, and have to put up with obeying their new master until they can figure out a way to somehow free themselves from its will and regain true independence, then continue on their adventures from that point, or try to persue a shift back to some other status as part of their new goals.
A TPK could be an opportunity to expand the available range for roleplaying rather than an end unto itself.
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Thank you for your time and please have a very pleasant day.
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Treating them like grownups means that just like grownups they have to face the consequences of their actions.
In game consequences for in game actions/choices.
My players are warned at session zero - in game actions/choices (good and bad) will produce in game reactions (good and bad).
A deliberate TPK isn't an in-game consequence of in-game actions, it's a consequence of someone out of game being annoyed and making something happen in the game that otherwise wouldn't have. And it's passive-aggressive pettiness, to be honest. Characters making bad decisions and suffering the consequences is different, that's simply playing the game. Nothing wrong with that.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Agreed. If you dislike what they are doing, make precautions so if they do it again there will be consequences. Naturally don’t do this every time or it will become expected and break immersion (if every random NPC is an ancient dragon where are they all coming from?).
This isn't actually a signature, just something I copy and paste onto the bottom of all my posts. Or is it? Yep, it is. Or is it..? I’m a hobbit, and the master cranial imploder of the "Oops, I Accidently Destroyed Someone's Brain" cult. Extended sig. I'm actually in Limbo, it says I'm in Mechanus because that's where I get my WiFi from. Please don't tell the modrons, they're still angry from the 'Spawning Stone' fiasco.
No connection to Dragonslayer8 other than knowing them in real life.
TPKs happen as a result of stupid/bad choices all the time. (See my original post).
Deliberate TPKs? those take more work than is really needed. Give the players enough rope and they will hang themselves.
Your probably right.
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1: Wall of Force around the party
2: Prismatic globe above them.
3: Reverse gravity
10d6 falling damage, and 4 times through a prismatic wall. I'd like to see the party still standing after that.
If yes, follow it up with a forcecage and a sickening radiance.
Ways to possibly survive this: wizard goes into demiplane, casts clone. The clone matures, you die, and inhabit that body. Contingency: When I would die/petrify/be banished to another plane/(add fineprint here), I cast banishment on myself. (because you are now native to that demiplane, you are sent there, and not a harmless demiplane. You could prepare your own demiplane with all kinds of buffs, using Glyphs of Warding, and of course tons of potions.)
While the party flies through hell, you sit in your demiplane. When hell is somewhat over, end concentration.
In front of a temple which will resurrect everyone.
I bet most of the people who found this probably just looked up "best way to tpk" just for fun. Like me.
there should be a ctg wiki
Sudden onset Heart Attack!
But don’t actually kill your players for no reason.
SAUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Put a big red button somewhere along with a sign that says do not push.
Once my party had a special weekend long TTRPG session planned, they also had told me several weeks before they would like a break from DnD and do a short game of another system.
So
Session starts the Friday evening with 4 hours planned, The party gather and advance into the first room of the dungeon, and, over the course of 4 hours I just tPK'd the party making up stuff on the fly to kill them all one by one. As they died I gave each one an envelope and sent them out of the room, they where pissed, but also had a sense something else was going on.
By the time the last had died I joined them in the other room, where all but the one who had died last had started filling out there mandatory loyalty questionnaires and review forms for the Simulation they had just experienced. 4 more friends had joined us and from there we kicked straight into a game of paranoia over the weekend me running for 9 players.
At the end of the weekend the Paranoia campaign ended with the players going back into Stasis, back into the Simulation and we reset the DnD game back to before they entered the dungeon.
The Head of Vecna.
Throw the entire Monster Manual at them.
And I mean a Homebrew monster called the Monster Manual.
there should be a ctg wiki
All a DM needs for a TPK is a great poker face.
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The best TPK is the one the players are convinced is their own fault.
I concur with the warning that you shouldn't TPK your party because they pissed you off. But I think it's helpful to know how to TPK so you can avoid it. When you know what a TPK takes, you can push your party right to the edge without killing them, and make for an edge of your seat combat.
I think a big factor is outnumbering the party or out-actioning them with Multiattack. Running their hpdown is just the start. It doesn't matter if you hit them for 28 hp if they're just back up with 4 hp from Healing Word round after round. Multiattack lets you knock out one or two targets, drawing the bonus actions or actions for heals, and maybe whittle down the hp of a target who hasn't gone unconscious yet. Or you can score autocrits with killing blows on unconscious PCs before they have a chance to heal. It's still pretty hard to TPK if they have multiple healers.
Of course you can always just throw an Ancient Blue Dragon at a level 1 party. But I assume you were looking for sporting ways.
For 99,99% of all campaign, the answer is easy: Not at all, if you do, you fail as a DM.
For a very few characters, it could be an end of a campaign, as a common heroic sacrifice, but you should be careful, if your group likes that.
You could do it in a horror style oneshot, but systems like Cthulhu work better for this than D&D.
Otherwise there are very few good reasons. Of course you could kill a party of murderhobos or otherwise problemtatic players, but if the players are the problem, you need to kick the players, not kill their characters.
+ Instaboot to murderhobos + I don't watch Critical Role, and no, I really shouldn't either +
A lot of people seem to act like TPK is the end of the story and can only be followed by rolling up a new party and starting a new campaign. This is not necessarily so. There are many possibilities for continuing on after a TPK.
-The DM could have their party 'wake-up' in the astral plane with a small severed golden string eminating from them and feeling of a currents pulling in some direction. This could lead to a Ghostwalk campaign where the party continues play as Eidolons - a class for ghosts.
-The DM could have the party end up in a gods hall on an outerplane being offered a quest, the reward from which being a resurection - being returned to material plane to pick up the former campaign.
-The DM could have the party be raised as a form of intelligent undead, i.e vampire spawn perhaps?, and have to put up with obeying their new master until they can figure out a way to somehow free themselves from its will and regain true independence, then continue on their adventures from that point, or try to persue a shift back to some other status as part of their new goals.
A TPK could be an opportunity to expand the available range for roleplaying rather than an end unto itself.
Thank you for your time and please have a very pleasant day.