Have you ever had a scene where the players were pitted against a foe that was clearly too powerful for them to defeat, and they had to run/hide/distract or otherwise deal with it. (I'm not including scenes where they parley with a being above their level, that's common. I mean a monster above their level that is trying to kill them and can't be bargained with.)
What I'm really looking for is ideas on how to go about running such a scene. I have a few ideas, but I'm interested to see if anyone has different ones.
Asking for use on my blog, https://dragonencounters.com/ (in the blog, I'm going to be doing it with a T. rex against a party of level 3-5 PCs.
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DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
As Pantagruel said, I don't think the T-rex would lead to a TPK in your case anyway, but I get the feeling that's not really your concern.
For me, I wouldn't really treat this as a combat situation at all - I might not even roll for initiative. Instead, I would employ the cinematic approach and treat it as a huge movie set-piece. I mean, there is something intrinsically cool about running from a T-rex and this sort of approach can emphasize this, especially if your party like role-playing and love to describe the effects of the actions - acrobatics checks to jump on the T-rex's back, strength checks to burst through simple barriers as they flee but then the player gets to describe this action in the coolest way possible.
There's an article here you might find useful, but there are lots more to read on various sites and even a few short books written on the subject you could probably find on the DMs Guild.
I agree with what everyone has said. Personally, I'd let them have a go.
The fighty guys wanna fight. Let them get squished, use up some healing and potions. And then the support/casters have to deal with the tactical withdrawal/frantic running away and save their sorry hides. Especially in a filmy way as Holton suggests. Makes for great RP and lets the often less gregarious and more thinky guys and girls win the day. Then leave them somewhere dark and down on their luck. Peril!
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RPGs from '83 - 03. A fair bit of LRP. A big gap. And now DMing again. Froth.
Foreshadow. Foreshadow HARD. Be exceptionally clear to the players by saying that the character thinks they are outmatched. Players have little or no ability to tell when an encounter is too difficult usually until it is too late. At which point, some are dead and the rest are faced with the difficult decision of fleeing to survive while splitting the party and leaving their friends behind .. or joining them in the TPK.
Part of the reason for this is because many players consciously or subconsciously assume that the DM only puts in encounters that the party is capable of dealing with. The players go into the encounter having the assumption that the DM won't give them something that is a clear TPK, they should always have a chance. This puts the onus on the DM to make sure that the players know whether they have zero chance of winning a combat, a slight chance or just the usual where there is risk of loss but the party will usually succeed in the end.
I ran an encounter like this where the party encountered two sets of overwhelming forces and I was extremely clear in describing these that engaging them in combat would not go well. The characters had sufficient knowledge to judge the opposition and say "If we engage, I think we will lose or die" ... I made sure that the players had this knowledge before they made their decisions on what to do and I made sure they knew I was not joking - I was just giving them information that the characters they were playing would KNOW.
I agree with David make sure both the players and the characters know the enemy is far to powerful for them.
If done well it can be a great experience, I still remember when at level 3 we encountered a beholder, we were running through the tunnels of the dungeon while the beholder while moving slower often took a short cut using its disintegration ray.
I was also planning the t Rex fight. I wish that this could have happened, but it always turns out to be everyone making their strongest attacks. I would have the t Rex enter while they are in a high place(tree, abandoned tower) and let them jump down on it to deal extra damage, or let them lure the t Rex over a creaky bridge.
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Have you ever had a scene where the players were pitted against a foe that was clearly too powerful for them to defeat, and they had to run/hide/distract or otherwise deal with it. (I'm not including scenes where they parley with a being above their level, that's common. I mean a monster above their level that is trying to kill them and can't be bargained with.)
What I'm really looking for is ideas on how to go about running such a scene. I have a few ideas, but I'm interested to see if anyone has different ones.
Asking for use on my blog, https://dragonencounters.com/ (in the blog, I'm going to be doing it with a T. rex against a party of level 3-5 PCs.
DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
A T-rex would definitely lose to a party of level 5s. It might lose to a party of level 3s.
As Pantagruel said, I don't think the T-rex would lead to a TPK in your case anyway, but I get the feeling that's not really your concern.
For me, I wouldn't really treat this as a combat situation at all - I might not even roll for initiative. Instead, I would employ the cinematic approach and treat it as a huge movie set-piece. I mean, there is something intrinsically cool about running from a T-rex and this sort of approach can emphasize this, especially if your party like role-playing and love to describe the effects of the actions - acrobatics checks to jump on the T-rex's back, strength checks to burst through simple barriers as they flee but then the player gets to describe this action in the coolest way possible.
There's an article here you might find useful, but there are lots more to read on various sites and even a few short books written on the subject you could probably find on the DMs Guild.
I agree with what everyone has said. Personally, I'd let them have a go.
The fighty guys wanna fight. Let them get squished, use up some healing and potions. And then the support/casters have to deal with the tactical withdrawal/frantic running away and save their sorry hides. Especially in a filmy way as Holton suggests. Makes for great RP and lets the often less gregarious and more thinky guys and girls win the day. Then leave them somewhere dark and down on their luck. Peril!
RPGs from '83 - 03. A fair bit of LRP. A big gap. And now DMing again. Froth.
Also, be prepared for someone casting animal friendship and demolishing the entire plot.
Foreshadow. Foreshadow HARD. Be exceptionally clear to the players by saying that the character thinks they are outmatched. Players have little or no ability to tell when an encounter is too difficult usually until it is too late. At which point, some are dead and the rest are faced with the difficult decision of fleeing to survive while splitting the party and leaving their friends behind .. or joining them in the TPK.
Part of the reason for this is because many players consciously or subconsciously assume that the DM only puts in encounters that the party is capable of dealing with. The players go into the encounter having the assumption that the DM won't give them something that is a clear TPK, they should always have a chance. This puts the onus on the DM to make sure that the players know whether they have zero chance of winning a combat, a slight chance or just the usual where there is risk of loss but the party will usually succeed in the end.
I ran an encounter like this where the party encountered two sets of overwhelming forces and I was extremely clear in describing these that engaging them in combat would not go well. The characters had sufficient knowledge to judge the opposition and say "If we engage, I think we will lose or die" ... I made sure that the players had this knowledge before they made their decisions on what to do and I made sure they knew I was not joking - I was just giving them information that the characters they were playing would KNOW.
I agree with David make sure both the players and the characters know the enemy is far to powerful for them.
If done well it can be a great experience, I still remember when at level 3 we encountered a beholder, we were running through the tunnels of the dungeon while the beholder while moving slower often took a short cut using its disintegration ray.
I was also planning the t Rex fight. I wish that this could have happened, but it always turns out to be everyone making their strongest attacks. I would have the t Rex enter while they are in a high place(tree, abandoned tower) and let them jump down on it to deal extra damage, or let them lure the t Rex over a creaky bridge.