I need some creative help with how to plan for my next session. Bit of background, my players know that not every encounter they come up against will be winnable, hints may be dropped at an enemies power, or they will always have an "out" if they choose to use it. Player death and harsh scenarios also can happen in my campaign, and the players are good with that, they don't want to feel invincible and enjoy the tension it can cause.
My players were travelling across open plains and come across Fort Morninglord just east of Baulders Gate. They are travelling along the river to reach much further east, but decided to check out the fort. Backstory to this fort is that an evil presence has taken over it, magically blocking up all of the entrances and windows, blacking out all of the stonework (hints there that this place is evil). 2 of the 4 players choose to start walking round the castle to look for an entrance, whilst the other 2 decide to wait at the front but then proceed to throw up a grappling hook and scale the wall. Yes they've split the party, and that's on them. This fort is intended to be a later storyline, there is an encampment of Paladins not too far away who are sworn to protect the area and stop budding adventurers going in, although they wern't around when the party turned up to the fort. Now 2 of the players have scaled the battlements, it took some time and the other 2 are walking round the back, probably 20minutes away, a Death Tyrant has come in and combat was initiated, they are only level 7 and don't stand a chance. They chose to stand and fight, not turn back and run.
Third turn of combat. the death tyrant has put one guy to sleep on the floor (the druid healer), and the other has is down and bleeding out. We ended the session there as a cliffhanger, and to give me chance to think of what to do without outright killing them! With the other party members a minimum of 30mins away (they will continue to move round the fort), the potential for some paladins to come in and maybe help them, does anyone have any ideas how I can keep them alive without the death tyrant just outright killing them? We also have a 5th player joining in the next session also, so this heroic move could be their intro into the campaign, I'm thinking as being a close ally to the paladins (they are a barbarian, and with their backstory it doesn't really make sense to have them be the scout leader type of thing).
I want the players to feel like THEY can get themselves out of this one, so I still want that element of danger to be there, but I think I've created a hole I can't get out of without an uber convenient "and a barbarian and some paladins rock up and save your ass, then drag you out of the fort".
With how I got into the situation aside, I could have handled it better, I wasn't expecting them to go in, and especially not to keep fighting when they saw the magic saves were above a 16 required, any ideas to give them some agency is surviving the situation?
One of the nice things about Death Tyrants and other Beholder-type enemies is that they are just straight up Crazy. A death Tyrant wants minions. Maybe it even just wants to have somebody it keeps in a big jar that they can rant to about whatever nonsense they're obsessed with in the moment. I'd say the Death Tyrant could either try to convince the player to be its servant, or it could just knock them both unconscious with the intent of converting them into powerful Undead minions. This way the players are defeated and facing serious consequences for their rash actions, but they're not just dead. Maybe they can feed into its ego and play along until an opportunity to escape presents itself... maybe they just get strapped down and have to make CON saving throws every hour and get serious debuffs, until they eventually get converted into Undead.
Either way, the important part is that they get caught in something that takes a while to happen which gives time for their friends to complete investigating the castle, and you also have the benefit of this making it feel more natural for the Paladins to approach... since they don't just kick in the door at the most dramatic moment and instead they just see a couple dudes hanging out around this cursed castle and approach to warn them not to go inside. Also a good chance to introduce the 5th player... it wouldn't make sense for him to be the only one rushing ahead, but if he's on good terms with the Paladins he might be accompanying them for one reason or another.
I also think this has some potential for interesting long-term effects for any of the players who were captured. Maybe they don't get fully transformed into Wights, but maybe if things go wrong someone could become a Reborn or maybe just have some kind of curse on them.
Who does the new person belong with.. And 'overt' action might be the wrong thing.
think covert; What if this is happening while someone else is magically casing the joint.
I once had my 'Fae' character warlock hold an enemy camp under siege. with illusions of their own dead.. and a sprite familiar.
Assume the sprite makes a successful med check on the bleeding out. And the sleeper is wakened by a single hp unpoisoned arrow. And possibly sent the new person with a message or something else.. ie a way to get there faster.. and knowledge as to what is happening.
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Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
Honestly, thank you! some really good ideas there, I might have the paladins approach the guys searching the castle and that should make them rush back (one of them actually gave the others the grappling hook but wasn't expecting them to use it yet), reducing the 30mins of searching and walking down to 5/10min run. In the meantime, the Death Tyrant talks to the druid and tries to convince them to stay and "become one for the masters protection" as a dead body is not useful, but a willing servant is!
That gives the players a bit of a choice, fight back which will lead to certain death, but that's on them and they know what the result will be, or try to talk their way out of it and buy some time knowing their friends are around and will see the rope. Knowing my players, they will go with option C and let themselves get converted! At least with option 2 the death tyrant can focus on the paladins, knowing they are stopping the masters plans and warning people away.
I've gone with the Death Tyrant allowing the druid to wake, he tells him to stop the bleeding out so that they can be turned and join his cause, or be incinerated. Meanwhile, the paladins with the half-orc barbarian (new player, I've had to think WHY that character would join forces with a group of do-gooder paladins and change from his mercenary ways!) approach the 2 guys round the back of the fort and warn them off, hearing 2 others may have entered the fort, they charge with sword drawn round the front. This should buy time for the crazed death tyrant chatting, who then focusses on the paladins when they are in sight. If the players choose to fight, he will attack them so they aren't guaranteed to be out of the woods. Their only option for surviving is getting back down that rope, or miraculous dice rolls to prevent further damage. But the players know they don't stand a chance in defeating it
Snicker.. Who says that one of the Paladins isn't a half-orc cousin.. He may have stopped by to see if his cousin knew of someone who needed a strong back and blade.
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Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
The Death Tyrant could be very paranoid, very insane, and come to the illogical conclusion that this is all a distraction to lure it away. Have it start talking to itself asking why the players are here then answering its own question. Have it freak out and leave thinking they are a distraction to steal or infiltrate something it has hidden in his lair far below, just give it a quick insane monologue talking to itself then freaks itself out and runs off yelling how it outsmarted them and they will not get 'it' and will be right back when it is safe. No idea what 'it' could be either an item or something the Tyrant thinks is important or ven a pet. This should give the players a moment to regroup and retreat if they are smart. If they hang around thinking they can take it when it comes back, kill them violently and without mercy.
"Why have these insects bothered US, why? why? No, No, No, this is too easy for US, this is all wrong! This is is a trick, a trap to lure US away! It will not work, the fleshlings will not get it. I will destroy the intruders, We will secure it and return to destroy them when it is safe! We will not be outsmarted!" then it rushes off giving the players a few rounds to GTFO.
If I knew more about this Half-Orc Barbarian Mercenary I would probably give a more in-depth suggestion, but here's a few that come to mind...
Like Toddy_Shelfungus mentioned, the Barbarian could just be a relative or otherwise friendly acquaintance of one of the Paladins and joins with them on this quest for that reason.
He's a mercenary... maybe he was just hired to be part of their group. Maybe there's just one proper Paladin and a few other mercenaries who are doing patrols or something.
He could have been arrested by the Paladins, and maybe helping to fight back the Death Tyrant and free some people will convince them that he's not a threat and he ends up leaving with the party, since he has no reason to remain with the Paladins.
Depending on the type of skills he took, he might be an expert tracker or survivalist who is helping them look for someone or something.
I want the players to feel like THEY can get themselves out of this one, so I still want that element of danger to be there, but I think I've created a hole I can't get out of without an uber convenient "and a barbarian and some paladins rock up and save your ass, then drag you out of the fort".
Honestly, the problem is that the players had the opportunity to get themselves out of trouble and didn't take it; while it's possible to get them out of there in a number of ways, there aren't really that won't feel cheap. If your goal is in fact "Player death and harsh scenarios also can happen in my campaign, and the players are good with that, they don't want to feel invincible and enjoy the tension it can cause", consider killing the characters?
I want the players to feel like THEY can get themselves out of this one, so I still want that element of danger to be there, but I think I've created a hole I can't get out of without an uber convenient "and a barbarian and some paladins rock up and save your ass, then drag you out of the fort".
Honestly, the problem is that the players had the opportunity to get themselves out of trouble and didn't take it; while it's possible to get them out of there in a number of ways, there aren't really that won't feel cheap. If your goal is in fact "Player death and harsh scenarios also can happen in my campaign, and the players are good with that, they don't want to feel invincible and enjoy the tension it can cause", consider killing the characters?
This, either you play in the world you've intended or you nerf your for folly like this. All the proposed saves sound like deus ex machina of the not good sort. If there was established relations with any of the potential saviors prior to this disaster, them showing up sort of makes sense. Otherwise, it's "oh look! these dudes who are totally capable of dealing with this foe, and should have done a better job guarding it from trespassers have save the day, so you all get X amount of XP for getting rescued..." and now the players are playing in tourist mode for your world.
"Only level 7" is a troubling disclaimer. Had they played up to level 7 prior? Or did they start the game some point after levels 1-4? If they'd been playing through your deadly world up to level 7, I just think they should have known better.
My take, given the tone you wanted to establish, these characters live with, or rather die with it. I mean the other character has death saves to make, and maybe there's liberation possible. Most "deadly games" outside of D&D explicitly recommend creating back up characters for just this sort of situation, so some of these paladins run into the two sneak also reconnoitoring the tower and the groups decide to join forces. Let the downed players play two NPCs. If the rescue can't happen, these are the basis of the new characters. If you want to be particularly nasty, either kill off the death saver or have the eye tyrant make them into minions or materials for its schemes, the Druid would be great for some Kyuss type creeping death corruption, a nexus of "the wild" the Death Tyrant needed through which it can channel some Far Realm horror. Additional drama the Palladin's order or liege could have some sort of inquest on who hashed up the security they were supposed to be providing allowing these "innocents" to become the unwitting "instruments" of the Death Tyrant.
Mercy or no mercy is a DMs prerogative with wide latitude. However, if you describe your game as you do, but bail them out as outlined, you're not actually playing that game.
Lastly, on your title, this is not an upwards f. These are simply the consequences of characters being played through a game with stated risk. I sense this might be your first player kill. In a game where violence comes with risk, death can and will happen even to players who try their best. I don't see this as a mess requiring clean up, I see it as an opportunity for the game to recognize the stakes you're trying to play at and "using" the casualties in the way I've described can add some role playing gravitas to it. Whatever the higher purpose, you also have a revenge/avenge plot, and those vendettas can bring pretty fun charged atmospheres.
I want the players to feel like THEY can get themselves out of this one, so I still want that element of danger to be there, but I think I've created a hole I can't get out of without an uber convenient "and a barbarian and some paladins rock up and save your ass, then drag you out of the fort".
Honestly, the problem is that the players had the opportunity to get themselves out of trouble and didn't take it; while it's possible to get them out of there in a number of ways, there aren't really that won't feel cheap. If your goal is in fact "Player death and harsh scenarios also can happen in my campaign, and the players are good with that, they don't want to feel invincible and enjoy the tension it can cause", consider killing the characters?
I want the players to feel like THEY can get themselves out of this one, so I still want that element of danger to be there, but I think I've created a hole I can't get out of without an uber convenient "and a barbarian and some paladins rock up and save your ass, then drag you out of the fort".
Honestly, the problem is that the players had the opportunity to get themselves out of trouble and didn't take it; while it's possible to get them out of there in a number of ways, there aren't really that won't feel cheap. If your goal is in fact "Player death and harsh scenarios also can happen in my campaign, and the players are good with that, they don't want to feel invincible and enjoy the tension it can cause", consider killing the characters?
This, either you play in the world you've intended or you nerf your for folly like this. All the proposed saves sound like deus ex machina of the not good sort. If there was established relations with any of the potential saviors prior to this disaster, them showing up sort of makes sense. Otherwise, it's "oh look! these dudes who are totally capable of dealing with this foe, and should have done a better job guarding it from trespassers have save the day, so you all get X amount of XP for getting rescued..." and now the players are playing in tourist mode for your world.
"Only level 7" is a troubling disclaimer. Had they played up to level 7 prior? Or did they start the game some point after levels 1-4? If they'd been playing through your deadly world up to level 7, I just think they should have known better.
My take, given the tone you wanted to establish, these characters live with, or rather die with it. I mean the other character has death saves to make, and maybe there's liberation possible. Most "deadly games" outside of D&D explicitly recommend creating back up characters for just this sort of situation, so some of these paladins run into the two sneak also reconnoitoring the tower and the groups decide to join forces. Let the downed players play two NPCs. If the rescue can't happen, these are the basis of the new characters. If you want to be particularly nasty, either kill off the death saver or have the eye tyrant make them into minions or materials for its schemes, the Druid would be great for some Kyuss type creeping death corruption, a nexus of "the wild" the Death Tyrant needed through which it can channel some Far Realm horror. Additional drama the Palladin's order or liege could have some sort of inquest on who hashed up the security they were supposed to be providing allowing these "innocents" to become the unwitting "instruments" of the Death Tyrant.
Mercy or no mercy is a DMs prerogative with wide latitude. However, if you describe your game as you do, but bail them out as outlined, you're not actually playing that game.
Lastly, on your title, this is not an upwards f. These are simply the consequences of characters being played through a game with stated risk. I sense this might be your first player kill. In a game where violence comes with risk, death can and will happen even to players who try their best. I don't see this as a mess requiring clean up, I see it as an opportunity for the game to recognize the stakes you're trying to play at and "using" the casualties in the way I've described can add some role playing gravitas to it. Whatever the higher purpose, you also have a revenge/avenge plot, and those vendettas can bring pretty fun charged atmospheres.
Yeah I agree, let them die because if you constantly bail players out of things like this you lose any element of tactics and risk. Players will never learn to do things like research important sites before hand, scout or flee if they can always walk in and get rescued. There is a chance they didn't run because they expect combat to be designed for them to win and if that is what has happened then you are not running a hardcore game and arguably you are losing some of the more tactical elements of tabletop.
I think if some one dies leave them dead its a great opportunity to establish stakes and good for story because you can bring them back as a zombie later or if the party gets better resources later and is smart they can resurrect them and get a former pc as an npc ally. However, if you really don't want a TPK then I'd say knock them all out with debilitating effects and capture them. They can find a way to escape the castle, any players that died can replace their characters with a new one who was captured at some other point and the new player can jump in easily there too. Alternatively you can ask your players if they want to continue the campaign with a new party, there have been campaigns in the past designed to have TPKs that just pick up with a new party that follows on from them, you can do the same. Player character death is not really something to be afraid of, it doesn't stop anything. Back stories can still play out just with the tragedy of a missing character, other hero's can take on the big evils and the game can go on. The only thing that stops that is if the game stops being fun so give the players options but feel free to let pcs die if its the result of player decisions.
The last few comments have given me something to think about, and although the Paladins are there to warn the others, they might not make it in time. This isn't the first player death we've had in the campaign, we started at level 1 and worked up to 7, but they had a tough fight against a young dragon, 2 players died and the druid only had spell slots left to cast revive on one of the others.
I'm going to give them the opportunity to escape, but the death tyrant will see them leaving and attempt his attacks. Due to the randomness of it's attacks (1d10 roll to see which laser is fired) they may make it out, might not. And then like the last couple of comments have stated, this will make them think about researching a place before blindly charging in. The threat inside the castle, the paladins patrolling etc were all part of the story, but the guys were meant to take the hint of the castle description so far to be "lets not touch this yet, lets find out more first".
We opened with the paladins and the new player (barbarian half orc) meeting the guys round the back of the fort and telling them to move along, swords are drawn to back up their threat. In the meantime, the crazed death tyrant allows the druid to wake up and says he wants them to join the master, he wisely says he can stabilise the other guy and keeps the tyrant talking. This allows the paladins to run round to the front after hearing of more people being there, the tyrant sees them and as his arch nemesis where they drive people off, he focuses attacks on them.
The druid and ranger jump off the wall to escape, not caring about damage they make take from falling, and the whole encounter was the entire party trying to escape. With the tyrant having rays that immobilise people as well as massively damage, it turned out to be a really fun encounter that lasted 3hrs! They got out without losing a player, mostly due to unlucky rolls from my side, but they could see i was aiming for damage and wasn't going easy, there was an audible panic near the end and a huge relief when they got out of ray range (which they guessed was 120ft). I did have to nerf some of his abilities slightly, so petrify and the disintigration ray didn't instagib, but they won't be going back to the fort any time soon!
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I need some creative help with how to plan for my next session. Bit of background, my players know that not every encounter they come up against will be winnable, hints may be dropped at an enemies power, or they will always have an "out" if they choose to use it. Player death and harsh scenarios also can happen in my campaign, and the players are good with that, they don't want to feel invincible and enjoy the tension it can cause.
My players were travelling across open plains and come across Fort Morninglord just east of Baulders Gate. They are travelling along the river to reach much further east, but decided to check out the fort. Backstory to this fort is that an evil presence has taken over it, magically blocking up all of the entrances and windows, blacking out all of the stonework (hints there that this place is evil). 2 of the 4 players choose to start walking round the castle to look for an entrance, whilst the other 2 decide to wait at the front but then proceed to throw up a grappling hook and scale the wall. Yes they've split the party, and that's on them. This fort is intended to be a later storyline, there is an encampment of Paladins not too far away who are sworn to protect the area and stop budding adventurers going in, although they wern't around when the party turned up to the fort. Now 2 of the players have scaled the battlements, it took some time and the other 2 are walking round the back, probably 20minutes away, a Death Tyrant has come in and combat was initiated, they are only level 7 and don't stand a chance. They chose to stand and fight, not turn back and run.
Third turn of combat. the death tyrant has put one guy to sleep on the floor (the druid healer), and the other has is down and bleeding out. We ended the session there as a cliffhanger, and to give me chance to think of what to do without outright killing them! With the other party members a minimum of 30mins away (they will continue to move round the fort), the potential for some paladins to come in and maybe help them, does anyone have any ideas how I can keep them alive without the death tyrant just outright killing them? We also have a 5th player joining in the next session also, so this heroic move could be their intro into the campaign, I'm thinking as being a close ally to the paladins (they are a barbarian, and with their backstory it doesn't really make sense to have them be the scout leader type of thing).
I want the players to feel like THEY can get themselves out of this one, so I still want that element of danger to be there, but I think I've created a hole I can't get out of without an uber convenient "and a barbarian and some paladins rock up and save your ass, then drag you out of the fort".
With how I got into the situation aside, I could have handled it better, I wasn't expecting them to go in, and especially not to keep fighting when they saw the magic saves were above a 16 required, any ideas to give them some agency is surviving the situation?
One of the nice things about Death Tyrants and other Beholder-type enemies is that they are just straight up Crazy. A death Tyrant wants minions. Maybe it even just wants to have somebody it keeps in a big jar that they can rant to about whatever nonsense they're obsessed with in the moment. I'd say the Death Tyrant could either try to convince the player to be its servant, or it could just knock them both unconscious with the intent of converting them into powerful Undead minions. This way the players are defeated and facing serious consequences for their rash actions, but they're not just dead. Maybe they can feed into its ego and play along until an opportunity to escape presents itself... maybe they just get strapped down and have to make CON saving throws every hour and get serious debuffs, until they eventually get converted into Undead.
Either way, the important part is that they get caught in something that takes a while to happen which gives time for their friends to complete investigating the castle, and you also have the benefit of this making it feel more natural for the Paladins to approach... since they don't just kick in the door at the most dramatic moment and instead they just see a couple dudes hanging out around this cursed castle and approach to warn them not to go inside. Also a good chance to introduce the 5th player... it wouldn't make sense for him to be the only one rushing ahead, but if he's on good terms with the Paladins he might be accompanying them for one reason or another.
I also think this has some potential for interesting long-term effects for any of the players who were captured. Maybe they don't get fully transformed into Wights, but maybe if things go wrong someone could become a Reborn or maybe just have some kind of curse on them.
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Who does the new person belong with..
And 'overt' action might be the wrong thing.
think covert; What if this is happening while someone else is magically casing the joint.
I once had my 'Fae' character warlock hold an enemy camp under siege. with illusions of their own dead.. and a sprite familiar.
Assume the sprite makes a successful med check on the bleeding out. And the sleeper is wakened by a single hp unpoisoned arrow.
And possibly sent the new person with a message or something else.. ie a way to get there faster.. and knowledge as to what is happening.
Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
Honestly, thank you! some really good ideas there, I might have the paladins approach the guys searching the castle and that should make them rush back (one of them actually gave the others the grappling hook but wasn't expecting them to use it yet), reducing the 30mins of searching and walking down to 5/10min run. In the meantime, the Death Tyrant talks to the druid and tries to convince them to stay and "become one for the masters protection" as a dead body is not useful, but a willing servant is!
That gives the players a bit of a choice, fight back which will lead to certain death, but that's on them and they know what the result will be, or try to talk their way out of it and buy some time knowing their friends are around and will see the rope. Knowing my players, they will go with option C and let themselves get converted! At least with option 2 the death tyrant can focus on the paladins, knowing they are stopping the masters plans and warning people away.
I've gone with the Death Tyrant allowing the druid to wake, he tells him to stop the bleeding out so that they can be turned and join his cause, or be incinerated. Meanwhile, the paladins with the half-orc barbarian (new player, I've had to think WHY that character would join forces with a group of do-gooder paladins and change from his mercenary ways!) approach the 2 guys round the back of the fort and warn them off, hearing 2 others may have entered the fort, they charge with sword drawn round the front. This should buy time for the crazed death tyrant chatting, who then focusses on the paladins when they are in sight. If the players choose to fight, he will attack them so they aren't guaranteed to be out of the woods. Their only option for surviving is getting back down that rope, or miraculous dice rolls to prevent further damage. But the players know they don't stand a chance in defeating it
Snicker.. Who says that one of the Paladins isn't a half-orc cousin.. He may have stopped by to see if his cousin knew of someone who needed a strong back and blade.
Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
The Death Tyrant could be very paranoid, very insane, and come to the illogical conclusion that this is all a distraction to lure it away. Have it start talking to itself asking why the players are here then answering its own question. Have it freak out and leave thinking they are a distraction to steal or infiltrate something it has hidden in his lair far below, just give it a quick insane monologue talking to itself then freaks itself out and runs off yelling how it outsmarted them and they will not get 'it' and will be right back when it is safe. No idea what 'it' could be either an item or something the Tyrant thinks is important or ven a pet. This should give the players a moment to regroup and retreat if they are smart. If they hang around thinking they can take it when it comes back, kill them violently and without mercy.
"Why have these insects bothered US, why? why? No, No, No, this is too easy for US, this is all wrong! This is is a trick, a trap to lure US away! It will not work, the fleshlings will not get it. I will destroy the intruders, We will secure it and return to destroy them when it is safe! We will not be outsmarted!" then it rushes off giving the players a few rounds to GTFO.
And heck..the cousin paladin could even tell his cousin barbarian that the party can't beat the enemy until they are better trained and experienced.
that in case the new character is also a new player.
Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
If I knew more about this Half-Orc Barbarian Mercenary I would probably give a more in-depth suggestion, but here's a few that come to mind...
Like Toddy_Shelfungus mentioned, the Barbarian could just be a relative or otherwise friendly acquaintance of one of the Paladins and joins with them on this quest for that reason.
He's a mercenary... maybe he was just hired to be part of their group. Maybe there's just one proper Paladin and a few other mercenaries who are doing patrols or something.
He could have been arrested by the Paladins, and maybe helping to fight back the Death Tyrant and free some people will convince them that he's not a threat and he ends up leaving with the party, since he has no reason to remain with the Paladins.
Depending on the type of skills he took, he might be an expert tracker or survivalist who is helping them look for someone or something.
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Friends from the tree line rain arrows upon the death tyrant and swoop in to drag them to safety.
DM - And In The Darkness, Rot: The Sunless Citadel
DM - Our Little Lives Kept In Equipoise: Curse of Strahd
DM - Misprize Thou Not These Shadows That Belong: The Lost Mines of Phandelver
PC - Azzure - Tyranny of Dragons
Honestly, the problem is that the players had the opportunity to get themselves out of trouble and didn't take it; while it's possible to get them out of there in a number of ways, there aren't really that won't feel cheap. If your goal is in fact "Player death and harsh scenarios also can happen in my campaign, and the players are good with that, they don't want to feel invincible and enjoy the tension it can cause", consider killing the characters?
This, either you play in the world you've intended or you nerf your for folly like this. All the proposed saves sound like deus ex machina of the not good sort. If there was established relations with any of the potential saviors prior to this disaster, them showing up sort of makes sense. Otherwise, it's "oh look! these dudes who are totally capable of dealing with this foe, and should have done a better job guarding it from trespassers have save the day, so you all get X amount of XP for getting rescued..." and now the players are playing in tourist mode for your world.
"Only level 7" is a troubling disclaimer. Had they played up to level 7 prior? Or did they start the game some point after levels 1-4? If they'd been playing through your deadly world up to level 7, I just think they should have known better.
My take, given the tone you wanted to establish, these characters live with, or rather die with it. I mean the other character has death saves to make, and maybe there's liberation possible. Most "deadly games" outside of D&D explicitly recommend creating back up characters for just this sort of situation, so some of these paladins run into the two sneak also reconnoitoring the tower and the groups decide to join forces. Let the downed players play two NPCs. If the rescue can't happen, these are the basis of the new characters. If you want to be particularly nasty, either kill off the death saver or have the eye tyrant make them into minions or materials for its schemes, the Druid would be great for some Kyuss type creeping death corruption, a nexus of "the wild" the Death Tyrant needed through which it can channel some Far Realm horror. Additional drama the Palladin's order or liege could have some sort of inquest on who hashed up the security they were supposed to be providing allowing these "innocents" to become the unwitting "instruments" of the Death Tyrant.
Mercy or no mercy is a DMs prerogative with wide latitude. However, if you describe your game as you do, but bail them out as outlined, you're not actually playing that game.
Lastly, on your title, this is not an upwards f. These are simply the consequences of characters being played through a game with stated risk. I sense this might be your first player kill. In a game where violence comes with risk, death can and will happen even to players who try their best. I don't see this as a mess requiring clean up, I see it as an opportunity for the game to recognize the stakes you're trying to play at and "using" the casualties in the way I've described can add some role playing gravitas to it. Whatever the higher purpose, you also have a revenge/avenge plot, and those vendettas can bring pretty fun charged atmospheres.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah I agree, let them die because if you constantly bail players out of things like this you lose any element of tactics and risk. Players will never learn to do things like research important sites before hand, scout or flee if they can always walk in and get rescued. There is a chance they didn't run because they expect combat to be designed for them to win and if that is what has happened then you are not running a hardcore game and arguably you are losing some of the more tactical elements of tabletop.
I think if some one dies leave them dead its a great opportunity to establish stakes and good for story because you can bring them back as a zombie later or if the party gets better resources later and is smart they can resurrect them and get a former pc as an npc ally. However, if you really don't want a TPK then I'd say knock them all out with debilitating effects and capture them. They can find a way to escape the castle, any players that died can replace their characters with a new one who was captured at some other point and the new player can jump in easily there too. Alternatively you can ask your players if they want to continue the campaign with a new party, there have been campaigns in the past designed to have TPKs that just pick up with a new party that follows on from them, you can do the same. Player character death is not really something to be afraid of, it doesn't stop anything. Back stories can still play out just with the tragedy of a missing character, other hero's can take on the big evils and the game can go on. The only thing that stops that is if the game stops being fun so give the players options but feel free to let pcs die if its the result of player decisions.
The last few comments have given me something to think about, and although the Paladins are there to warn the others, they might not make it in time. This isn't the first player death we've had in the campaign, we started at level 1 and worked up to 7, but they had a tough fight against a young dragon, 2 players died and the druid only had spell slots left to cast revive on one of the others.
I'm going to give them the opportunity to escape, but the death tyrant will see them leaving and attempt his attacks. Due to the randomness of it's attacks (1d10 roll to see which laser is fired) they may make it out, might not. And then like the last couple of comments have stated, this will make them think about researching a place before blindly charging in. The threat inside the castle, the paladins patrolling etc were all part of the story, but the guys were meant to take the hint of the castle description so far to be "lets not touch this yet, lets find out more first".
Update on how this went:
We opened with the paladins and the new player (barbarian half orc) meeting the guys round the back of the fort and telling them to move along, swords are drawn to back up their threat. In the meantime, the crazed death tyrant allows the druid to wake up and says he wants them to join the master, he wisely says he can stabilise the other guy and keeps the tyrant talking. This allows the paladins to run round to the front after hearing of more people being there, the tyrant sees them and as his arch nemesis where they drive people off, he focuses attacks on them.
The druid and ranger jump off the wall to escape, not caring about damage they make take from falling, and the whole encounter was the entire party trying to escape. With the tyrant having rays that immobilise people as well as massively damage, it turned out to be a really fun encounter that lasted 3hrs! They got out without losing a player, mostly due to unlucky rolls from my side, but they could see i was aiming for damage and wasn't going easy, there was an audible panic near the end and a huge relief when they got out of ray range (which they guessed was 120ft). I did have to nerf some of his abilities slightly, so petrify and the disintigration ray didn't instagib, but they won't be going back to the fort any time soon!