Since we're all college kids, our last week is closing upon us. So I, as the DM, was wanting to just party wipe them to start a new next semester, I was thinking of having them face a Tarrasque but I'm not 100% certain if I should buff them up a bit so they could slightly fight on more even terms, or just have them be brutalized by the monster.
If you want a PC dead, just tell the player the PC is dead - giving the pretense that they have a fighting chance, but going out of your way as the DM to take that chance away is the road to having players feel like their ideas and effort put into playing the game don't matter.
If you want to have a battle with a "big bad" as a way to put a pin in a campaign, share the idea with your players thus giving them the opportunity to actually buy into the idea, including that they'd be able to tell you if they want to take on a by-the-book tarrasque or would rather you tweak it a bit. But if you aren't going to set the odds before the battle and let the dice determine the outcome, it's better to just skip rolling them.
It's always much nicer if you give the PCs a reason to sacrifice themselves. The Tarrasque is on a rampage towards the town where they hole up usually, the only way to buy enough time to allow the townsfolk to flee to safety is for a band of brave (foolish) adventurers to try to engage and distract it so the village can survive. The characters will meet their doom, knowing they have made the ultimate sacrifice to help save the many.
New characters can be other people from town, perhaps children who only survived because of the brave adventurers who gave their lives for them - great for building character backstories, etc.
Run them through White Plume Mountain, it's been rehashed for a third time in the Yawning Portal book. I've run it three times (1E, 2E, and 3.xE) and it's led to three TPKs. Railroad them to the tiered room, that should do the trick. If they survive, who ever picks up Blackrazor goes "Elric" and attacks the rest of the PCs. Should be memoriable. Save the tarrasque for something truly epic, unless you bought the miniature and really just want to use it.
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
..seeing their former characters as NPCs can be kinda cool.
I can say that this matches my experience.
So long as the DM has a firm grasp of what the character's personality is like, and hasn't "screwed over" the character in some way (i.e. someone finding their former character as a prisoner barely clinging to life when the last time they played the character they were one of the best adventurers around is likely not to be pleased), and isn't having the now-NPC character steal the spotlight from the current characters, players get a kick out of seeing their "old friend".
Even once when it was just a faint glimpse of the character in the distance, heading away down the road from the inn that the current party were just arriving at, with the innkeeper stepping out onto the porch to shout "Miss, you forgot your change!" and the character's otter familiar rushing back to grab it and immediately head off again. The players that had played the campaign with that character in it all commented on it being cool to see her, and wondering what she was up to (which, of course, I answered with "You'll have to wait until I run the adventure she's currently caught up in to find out.")
Yeah, it really needs to be done well. I had a character that I designed to be a pacifist-like character (used a whip for disarming/tripping/non-lethal damage - and took feats to improve those) but retired her because the DM changed the entire campaign from orcs and dark elves to start using nothing but undead (in 3e they were immune to non-lethal damage). I really liked the character, had a full back story. She was the twin sister of the rogue PC of another player in the group who also retired his character (undead were also immune to sneak attacks via their immunity to critical hits).
After they left to go back home we ended up having to fight them because they were turned into vampires by the BBEG. Like, why the BBEG went out of his way to capture, turn, and then sick them on the party literally made no sense.
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
Since we're all college kids, our last week is closing upon us. So I, as the DM, was wanting to just party wipe them to start a new next semester, I was thinking of having them face a Tarrasque but I'm not 100% certain if I should buff them up a bit so they could slightly fight on more even terms, or just have them be brutalized by the monster.
If you want a PC dead, just tell the player the PC is dead - giving the pretense that they have a fighting chance, but going out of your way as the DM to take that chance away is the road to having players feel like their ideas and effort put into playing the game don't matter.
If you want to have a battle with a "big bad" as a way to put a pin in a campaign, share the idea with your players thus giving them the opportunity to actually buy into the idea, including that they'd be able to tell you if they want to take on a by-the-book tarrasque or would rather you tweak it a bit. But if you aren't going to set the odds before the battle and let the dice determine the outcome, it's better to just skip rolling them.
It's always much nicer if you give the PCs a reason to sacrifice themselves. The Tarrasque is on a rampage towards the town where they hole up usually, the only way to buy enough time to allow the townsfolk to flee to safety is for a band of brave (foolish) adventurers to try to engage and distract it so the village can survive. The characters will meet their doom, knowing they have made the ultimate sacrifice to help save the many.
New characters can be other people from town, perhaps children who only survived because of the brave adventurers who gave their lives for them - great for building character backstories, etc.
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Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
And somehow the Party wins... Or escapes.
If the monster is significantly more powerful than the PCs, they are either going to escspe or think you are a jerk of a Dm for killing them.
Most importantly what level are they?
Run them through White Plume Mountain, it's been rehashed for a third time in the Yawning Portal book. I've run it three times (1E, 2E, and 3.xE) and it's led to three TPKs. Railroad them to the tiered room, that should do the trick. If they survive, who ever picks up Blackrazor goes "Elric" and attacks the rest of the PCs. Should be memoriable. Save the tarrasque for something truly epic, unless you bought the miniature and really just want to use it.
We all leave footprints in the sands of time.
Honestly, I wouldn't kill them at all. Let them retire those characters (and you can always use them as NPCs in another campaign.
Idk if the same people will be playing, but seeing their former characters as NPCs can be kinda cool.
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
Yeah, it really needs to be done well. I had a character that I designed to be a pacifist-like character (used a whip for disarming/tripping/non-lethal damage - and took feats to improve those) but retired her because the DM changed the entire campaign from orcs and dark elves to start using nothing but undead (in 3e they were immune to non-lethal damage). I really liked the character, had a full back story. She was the twin sister of the rogue PC of another player in the group who also retired his character (undead were also immune to sneak attacks via their immunity to critical hits).
After they left to go back home we ended up having to fight them because they were turned into vampires by the BBEG. Like, why the BBEG went out of his way to capture, turn, and then sick them on the party literally made no sense.
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.