So I am running Dragon Heist, and my players today tried to take The Staff of Aghairon from Aurinax. Eventually, a fight broke out and the Dragon one hit a level 4 with 80+ points of damage one hit killing him. (Rolled a 20 on the bite attack) In my many years of playing I have never had a campaign manage to go this long and I honestly feel wretched having killed a character.
Has anyone else ever felt like this. Its actually hysterical, I am laughing at myself.
Campaign going on for long time, dragon kills a PC in a pretty epic attack/lucky roll, and all because of party "error"?
Sounds like a blast! No need to "feel wretched" at all. Every new group/campaign I ever start I remind them early, the game is called Dungeons and Dragons, so expect no punches pulled when (and most the time they catch the fact that I do not say IF) you face one, and even the young ones are severe threats.
It's natural to feel bad your first few times, but hey, it's an adventure! Most players will have more fun when they know you're willing to kill characters...it means the stakes are real. You'll get used to it. :-)
Yeah, when the stakes are real, their successes are more fun and rewarding. TPK's aren't good, if you can avoid them (The party has to be very very stupid to get into a TPK in my games).
I like challenging my players, and at first I was terrified of killing characters, and my first time doing so was a disaster, but you eventually get better at it (I know, it's weird to be good at killing fake people) and it is a real skill to have. For example, in Critical Role Season One, the last episode was a great way to have a character die. There are good ways and bad ways to kill characters, and if it was brought on by them, that was likely their fault.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
It was definitely in this case and we almost had a TPK. It was cut short by one of them being in the wrong hallway during the breath attack, speaking draconian and talking the dragon down as he is said to be merciful.
They all.agreed that the game is more fun when they are challenged instead of them crusing through everything.
To be fair, I gave him more than enough warnings that the "dwarf" was more than capable of defending the gold and that he loved his staff.
Only problem was the player thought it was the source of his power and tried to remove it.
Don’t feel bad. Remember, you didn’t kill that character, the NPC/Monster did. If anyone has any doubt that adventures can lead to character death, tell them to watch Game of Thrones.
So I am running Dragon Heist, and my players today tried to take The Staff of Aghairon from Aurinax. Eventually, a fight broke out and the Dragon one hit a level 4 with 80+ points of damage one hit killing him. (Rolled a 20 on the bite attack) In my many years of playing I have never had a campaign manage to go this long and I honestly feel wretched having killed a character.
Has anyone else ever felt like this. Its actually hysterical, I am laughing at myself.
"Shadow Hide You..."
Campaign going on for long time, dragon kills a PC in a pretty epic attack/lucky roll, and all because of party "error"?
Sounds like a blast! No need to "feel wretched" at all. Every new group/campaign I ever start I remind them early, the game is called Dungeons and Dragons, so expect no punches pulled when (and most the time they catch the fact that I do not say IF) you face one, and even the young ones are severe threats.
It's natural to feel bad your first few times, but hey, it's an adventure! Most players will have more fun when they know you're willing to kill characters...it means the stakes are real. You'll get used to it. :-)
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Yeah, when the stakes are real, their successes are more fun and rewarding. TPK's aren't good, if you can avoid them (The party has to be very very stupid to get into a TPK in my games).
I like challenging my players, and at first I was terrified of killing characters, and my first time doing so was a disaster, but you eventually get better at it (I know, it's weird to be good at killing fake people) and it is a real skill to have. For example, in Critical Role Season One, the last episode was a great way to have a character die. There are good ways and bad ways to kill characters, and if it was brought on by them, that was likely their fault.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
It was definitely in this case and we almost had a TPK. It was cut short by one of them being in the wrong hallway during the breath attack, speaking draconian and talking the dragon down as he is said to be merciful.
They all.agreed that the game is more fun when they are challenged instead of them crusing through everything.
To be fair, I gave him more than enough warnings that the "dwarf" was more than capable of defending the gold and that he loved his staff.
Only problem was the player thought it was the source of his power and tried to remove it.
Bad idea.
"Shadow Hide You..."
As it is a Gold Dragon, it might be better to have it knock them unconscious, but death is also an acceptable punishment for this.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Don’t feel bad. Remember, you didn’t kill that character, the NPC/Monster did. If anyone has any doubt that adventures can lead to character death, tell them to watch Game of Thrones.
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