Death is actually not all that likely in 5e unless someone goes down in a damaging zone or the NPCs deliberately kill downed characters. A downed character has no chance of dying on his next turn, and only a 2.25% chance of dying after 2 rounds, and everyone else has a chance to stabilize the downed character. It's really only likely to occur if the other PCs run away from the fight.
Death is actually not all that likely in 5e unless someone goes down in a damaging zone or the NPCs deliberately kill downed characters. A downed character has no chance of dying on his next turn, and only a 2.25% chance of dying after 2 rounds, and everyone else has a chance to stabilize the downed character. It's really only likely to occur if the other PCs run away from the fight.
All level 1 PCs
Room was laid with Caltrops so movement halved. First player around the corner is a fighter carefully making her way through the caltrops expecting a floor trap, she got about half way and then was followed by the monk but at the same time 2 Goblins stood up from behind a crenelated barricade and both fired off crossbow bolts, one at each of the PCs. Both PCs reduced to around 5hp.
Then Initiative is rolled - Goblins go first.
Round 1 -
Second round of crossbow bolts hits the fighter misses the monk. Fighter goes down. Monk moves into melee range of the Goblins. Other 2 players come around the corner to see the mess. 1 Paladin 1 Wizard. The Wizard casts Magic Missiles and has no spell slots left. The Paladin can't reach the Fighter on this round.
Round 2 -
1 Goblin drops his crossbow and switches to scimitar to attack the Monk (misses) 2nd Goblin shoots at the Wizard. Fighter rolls first death save, fails. Monk begins beating up the Goblins. Paladin for some reason chooses to go help fight the goblins, gets up to near the fighter and shoots back with her crossbow. Takes out one of the goblins. Wizard retreats back around the corner.
Round 3 -
Surviving Goblin attacks the Monk Fighter rolls death save, critical failure. Monk finishes off the second Goblin. Paladin gets sad and angry for not trying to save the fighter first. Wizard comes back around the corner and sees the fighter dead on the floor.
Both the Fighter and the Monk are young players playing for the first time, I don't want to put them off playing D&D due to unfortunate dice rolls or bad timing.
Maybe I am a poor DM but I am relatively inexperienced in role myself.
As another note. I am running this on Roll20 (Waiting patiently for a D&D VTT) and am finding the rolls to be very odd, lots of crits one way or the other but could just be me.
That is pretty bad luck (I realize it's actually 4.25% to die in two rounds, not 2.25% -- 2% for fail/crit fail, 2% for crit fail/fail, 0.25% for crit fail/crit fail).
My experience with things like lingering injuries is that many players find the worse than death; in the case of death you have a new character, in the case of a lasting injury you have a crippled character. You might introduce a new 'mortally wounded' state where the character is not yet dead but cannot be brought back up through simple healing (that's useful for plot devices anyway).
I don't remember if I said what we are playing so I will mention it here. We are playing the Sunless Citadel from Tales from the Yawning Portal.
I think I will suggest the players head back to Oakhurst village where there is a shrine managed by a healer who can cast resurrection.
They will then also hopefully take a long rest. I had planned on leveling them up after rescuing Erky from the cage but could quite easily level them up whilst they rest in Oakhurst.
Death is actually not all that likely in 5e unless someone goes down in a damaging zone or the NPCs deliberately kill downed characters. A downed character has no chance of dying on his next turn, and only a 2.25% chance of dying after 2 rounds, and everyone else has a chance to stabilize the downed character. It's really only likely to occur if the other PCs run away from the fight.
All level 1 PCs
Room was laid with Caltrops so movement halved. First player around the corner is a fighter carefully making her way through the caltrops expecting a floor trap, she got about half way and then was followed by the monk but at the same time 2 Goblins stood up from behind a crenelated barricade and both fired off crossbow bolts, one at each of the PCs. Both PCs reduced to around 5hp.
Then Initiative is rolled - Goblins go first.
Round 1 -
Second round of crossbow bolts hits the fighter misses the monk. Fighter goes down. Monk moves into melee range of the Goblins. Other 2 players come around the corner to see the mess. 1 Paladin 1 Wizard. The Wizard casts Magic Missiles and has no spell slots left. The Paladin can't reach the Fighter on this round.
Round 2 -
1 Goblin drops his crossbow and switches to scimitar to attack the Monk (misses) 2nd Goblin shoots at the Wizard. Fighter rolls first death save, fails. Monk begins beating up the Goblins. Paladin for some reason chooses to go help fight the goblins, gets up to near the fighter and shoots back with her crossbow. Takes out one of the goblins. Wizard retreats back around the corner.
Round 3 -
Surviving Goblin attacks the Monk Fighter rolls death save, critical failure. Monk finishes off the second Goblin. Paladin gets sad and angry for not trying to save the fighter first. Wizard comes back around the corner and sees the fighter dead on the floor.
Both the Fighter and the Monk are young players playing for the first time, I don't want to put them off playing D&D due to unfortunate dice rolls or bad timing.
Maybe I am a poor DM but I am relatively inexperienced in role myself.
As another note. I am running this on Roll20 (Waiting patiently for a D&D VTT) and am finding the rolls to be very odd, lots of crits one way or the other but could just be me.
5e doesn't cover attacks outside of initiative. The goblins don't get free attacks unless that is how you play it in your game (I assume the players get free attacks as well if they sneak up on someone?). Usually, players and NPCs roll initiative before the first attack roll is made and then assign surprise if it is appropriate for the first round.
If the defender is not expecting any danger then they can be surprised. You have to check stealth vs passive perception. (Goblins make stealth rolls and see if anyone notices them before they attack).
"Any character or monster that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter."
Unfortunately, the surprise rules aren't as clear as they might be and may require DM interpretation. "Noticing a threat" could be a specific threat or potentially just a general threat. The fighter and the monk are probably very alert for danger moving across the room in a "dangerous"? area. I might give the goblins advantage on their first attack for being hidden but I probably wouldn't give them surprise (especially against a first level party). I usually think of surprise in the context of not expecting something to happen rather than not perceiving a specific threat. (but it is a DM call on how to play it).
However, since the goblins won the initiative roll anyway, the way it played out was the equivalent of the goblins getting a surprise round.
---
The rest of the combat plays out in a pretty much normal fashion especially for newer players. When the fighter had failed a death save, you should probably have pointed out to the players that if the fighter failed another death save by rolling a 1, the character was going to die. Usually, when the DM points this out before it happens, the other players tend to re-prioritize their actions. In this case the paladin could have shot their crossbow and the wizard could have moved up to try to stabilize the fighter with a medicine check or fed the fighter a healing potion (if one of the characters had one). Alternatively, if the paladin had a spell slot or lay on hands still available they could have healed the fighter while the wizard attacked the goblin with a firebolt or other cantrip from the corner.
The problem was really that everyone was new and didn't realize that having a failed death save means the character has a 1/20 chance of dying if they have to make another save.
---
My personal preference in such a situation with new players would be to retcon this one event so that the fighter just failed a single death save and not two (instead have the character be stabilized and if the party hasn't moved on too far - just have the fighter unconscious and wake up later). Explain to the players that at this point everyone is learning about D&D and how to play, that characters do die but it doesn't have to be this time. When a character is rolling death saves they COULD die even if they have failed only one. They could also die if attacked while making death saves since each time they take damage from an attack is considered two fails.
Also, this issue if far less common at higher levels (even 2 is safer) ... so I would change what happened in this event ... explain the rules surrounding death saves and the risks ... and move on to future adventures.
Death is actually not all that likely in 5e unless someone goes down in a damaging zone or the NPCs deliberately kill downed characters. A downed character has no chance of dying on his next turn, and only a 2.25% chance of dying after 2 rounds, and everyone else has a chance to stabilize the downed character. It's really only likely to occur if the other PCs run away from the fight.
All level 1 PCs
Room was laid with Caltrops so movement halved. First player around the corner is a fighter carefully making her way through the caltrops expecting a floor trap, she got about half way and then was followed by the monk but at the same time 2 Goblins stood up from behind a crenelated barricade and both fired off crossbow bolts, one at each of the PCs. Both PCs reduced to around 5hp.
Then Initiative is rolled - Goblins go first.
Round 1 -
Second round of crossbow bolts hits the fighter misses the monk. Fighter goes down. Monk moves into melee range of the Goblins. Other 2 players come around the corner to see the mess. 1 Paladin 1 Wizard. The Wizard casts Magic Missiles and has no spell slots left. The Paladin can't reach the Fighter on this round.
Round 2 -
1 Goblin drops his crossbow and switches to scimitar to attack the Monk (misses) 2nd Goblin shoots at the Wizard. Fighter rolls first death save, fails. Monk begins beating up the Goblins. Paladin for some reason chooses to go help fight the goblins, gets up to near the fighter and shoots back with her crossbow. Takes out one of the goblins. Wizard retreats back around the corner.
Round 3 -
Surviving Goblin attacks the Monk Fighter rolls death save, critical failure. Monk finishes off the second Goblin. Paladin gets sad and angry for not trying to save the fighter first. Wizard comes back around the corner and sees the fighter dead on the floor.
Both the Fighter and the Monk are young players playing for the first time, I don't want to put them off playing D&D due to unfortunate dice rolls or bad timing.
Maybe I am a poor DM but I am relatively inexperienced in role myself.
As another note. I am running this on Roll20 (Waiting patiently for a D&D VTT) and am finding the rolls to be very odd, lots of crits one way or the other but could just be me.
Yeah, there are a couple of points in the books that warn you to be gentle with level ones and precisely for this reason. Bad rolls can kill level 1's (and 2's) more than any point in the game. You might be inexperienced, but I wouldn't conflate that with poor. Now you know, right? So next time, you can avoid unintentionally ganking your players.
But there is a reason why Adventurer's League has free raise deads until you reach level 6. Honestly, you can use this moment to do something really cool. I wrote a bunch of suggestions above, but here's what I would do: turn it into a narrative event. Have the players sit in a sort of wake to honour their fallen comrade and well into the ceremony, the fighter gasps and sits up. He did die, but some being stopped him from crossing over to the afterlife. He can't remember it exactly-- it's only impressions of a memory-- but he knows that he was sent back to this world to accomplish something. Someone needs to be stopped or an artifact needs to be recovered or whatever long term goal you wish. If he does that he can return to life. But until he does, his soul (or maybe a piece of it) is in his mysterious benefactor's grasp. Give him something to roleplay off, while giving them a clear goal to work towards. If they are like "Nah, that doesn't work for us" and the fighter wants to roll a new character, that's cool: now that fighter is a reoccurring character, desperate to recover his metaphysical essence.
Good GMing is being able to roll with the punches. What makes these games really special is their impossible degree of reactivity. You take everything they give you and you weave it into the main fabric and then when they look back and say "wow, how did you plan all of this out", you know it was just you reacting in the moment to their choices and following them to the most interesting conclusion.
Death is actually not all that likely in 5e unless someone goes down in a damaging zone or the NPCs deliberately kill downed characters. A downed character has no chance of dying on his next turn, and only a 2.25% chance of dying after 2 rounds, and everyone else has a chance to stabilize the downed character. It's really only likely to occur if the other PCs run away from the fight.
All level 1 PCs
Room was laid with Caltrops so movement halved. First player around the corner is a fighter carefully making her way through the caltrops expecting a floor trap, she got about half way and then was followed by the monk but at the same time 2 Goblins stood up from behind a crenelated barricade and both fired off crossbow bolts, one at each of the PCs. Both PCs reduced to around 5hp.
Then Initiative is rolled - Goblins go first.
Round 1 -
Second round of crossbow bolts hits the fighter misses the monk.
Fighter goes down.
Monk moves into melee range of the Goblins.
Other 2 players come around the corner to see the mess. 1 Paladin 1 Wizard.
The Wizard casts Magic Missiles and has no spell slots left. The Paladin can't reach the Fighter on this round.
Round 2 -
1 Goblin drops his crossbow and switches to scimitar to attack the Monk (misses) 2nd Goblin shoots at the Wizard.
Fighter rolls first death save, fails.
Monk begins beating up the Goblins.
Paladin for some reason chooses to go help fight the goblins, gets up to near the fighter and shoots back with her crossbow. Takes out one of the goblins.
Wizard retreats back around the corner.
Round 3 -
Surviving Goblin attacks the Monk
Fighter rolls death save, critical failure.
Monk finishes off the second Goblin.
Paladin gets sad and angry for not trying to save the fighter first.
Wizard comes back around the corner and sees the fighter dead on the floor.
Both the Fighter and the Monk are young players playing for the first time, I don't want to put them off playing D&D due to unfortunate dice rolls or bad timing.
Maybe I am a poor DM but I am relatively inexperienced in role myself.
As another note. I am running this on Roll20 (Waiting patiently for a D&D VTT) and am finding the rolls to be very odd, lots of crits one way or the other but could just be me.
That is pretty bad luck (I realize it's actually 4.25% to die in two rounds, not 2.25% -- 2% for fail/crit fail, 2% for crit fail/fail, 0.25% for crit fail/crit fail).
My experience with things like lingering injuries is that many players find the worse than death; in the case of death you have a new character, in the case of a lasting injury you have a crippled character. You might introduce a new 'mortally wounded' state where the character is not yet dead but cannot be brought back up through simple healing (that's useful for plot devices anyway).
I don't remember if I said what we are playing so I will mention it here.
We are playing the Sunless Citadel from Tales from the Yawning Portal.
I think I will suggest the players head back to Oakhurst village where there is a shrine managed by a healer who can cast resurrection.
They will then also hopefully take a long rest. I had planned on leveling them up after rescuing Erky from the cage but could quite easily level them up whilst they rest in Oakhurst.
5e doesn't cover attacks outside of initiative. The goblins don't get free attacks unless that is how you play it in your game (I assume the players get free attacks as well if they sneak up on someone?). Usually, players and NPCs roll initiative before the first attack roll is made and then assign surprise if it is appropriate for the first round.
If the defender is not expecting any danger then they can be surprised. You have to check stealth vs passive perception. (Goblins make stealth rolls and see if anyone notices them before they attack).
"Any character or monster that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter."
Unfortunately, the surprise rules aren't as clear as they might be and may require DM interpretation. "Noticing a threat" could be a specific threat or potentially just a general threat. The fighter and the monk are probably very alert for danger moving across the room in a "dangerous"? area. I might give the goblins advantage on their first attack for being hidden but I probably wouldn't give them surprise (especially against a first level party). I usually think of surprise in the context of not expecting something to happen rather than not perceiving a specific threat. (but it is a DM call on how to play it).
However, since the goblins won the initiative roll anyway, the way it played out was the equivalent of the goblins getting a surprise round.
---
The rest of the combat plays out in a pretty much normal fashion especially for newer players. When the fighter had failed a death save, you should probably have pointed out to the players that if the fighter failed another death save by rolling a 1, the character was going to die. Usually, when the DM points this out before it happens, the other players tend to re-prioritize their actions. In this case the paladin could have shot their crossbow and the wizard could have moved up to try to stabilize the fighter with a medicine check or fed the fighter a healing potion (if one of the characters had one). Alternatively, if the paladin had a spell slot or lay on hands still available they could have healed the fighter while the wizard attacked the goblin with a firebolt or other cantrip from the corner.
The problem was really that everyone was new and didn't realize that having a failed death save means the character has a 1/20 chance of dying if they have to make another save.
---
My personal preference in such a situation with new players would be to retcon this one event so that the fighter just failed a single death save and not two (instead have the character be stabilized and if the party hasn't moved on too far - just have the fighter unconscious and wake up later). Explain to the players that at this point everyone is learning about D&D and how to play, that characters do die but it doesn't have to be this time. When a character is rolling death saves they COULD die even if they have failed only one. They could also die if attacked while making death saves since each time they take damage from an attack is considered two fails.
Also, this issue if far less common at higher levels (even 2 is safer) ... so I would change what happened in this event ... explain the rules surrounding death saves and the risks ... and move on to future adventures.
Yeah, there are a couple of points in the books that warn you to be gentle with level ones and precisely for this reason. Bad rolls can kill level 1's (and 2's) more than any point in the game. You might be inexperienced, but I wouldn't conflate that with poor. Now you know, right? So next time, you can avoid unintentionally ganking your players.
But there is a reason why Adventurer's League has free raise deads until you reach level 6. Honestly, you can use this moment to do something really cool. I wrote a bunch of suggestions above, but here's what I would do: turn it into a narrative event. Have the players sit in a sort of wake to honour their fallen comrade and well into the ceremony, the fighter gasps and sits up. He did die, but some being stopped him from crossing over to the afterlife. He can't remember it exactly-- it's only impressions of a memory-- but he knows that he was sent back to this world to accomplish something. Someone needs to be stopped or an artifact needs to be recovered or whatever long term goal you wish. If he does that he can return to life. But until he does, his soul (or maybe a piece of it) is in his mysterious benefactor's grasp. Give him something to roleplay off, while giving them a clear goal to work towards. If they are like "Nah, that doesn't work for us" and the fighter wants to roll a new character, that's cool: now that fighter is a reoccurring character, desperate to recover his metaphysical essence.
Good GMing is being able to roll with the punches. What makes these games really special is their impossible degree of reactivity. You take everything they give you and you weave it into the main fabric and then when they look back and say "wow, how did you plan all of this out", you know it was just you reacting in the moment to their choices and following them to the most interesting conclusion.
In my campaigns, level 1 characters just do straight to unconscious/stable at 0HPs (no death saving throws and no deaths).
Level 2? The gloves are off.
Also, I allow my players to alter their characters (class, race, attributes etc) during level 1. But, everything gets locked-in at level 2.