Ok, let’s get into it.
It’s happening. Your players have run headlong into a battle that you thought a.) would be a pushover, and b.) would be fun. However, the rogue is making death saves because he attempted to jump on venom troll’s back (only to be hit with a large dose of steaming goo), and the cleric got fried when the wizard up-cast a fireball a few turns ago to take care of what everyone thought were the only trolls in this obviously acid-scarred grotto. They all failed perception checks and now they’re angry. And truthfully, so are you.
You don’t want to kill your players… well, sometimes you do. But you don’t want to kill their characters in dumb and obnoxious ways. Sidenote: there are various schools of thought that go into this, but I’m just going to run with the idea that character death is something that is always on the table, it just has to be worth something.
This encounter is early on, you didn’t plan on this being the end of your characters, you didn’t even consider this deadly; CR is a cruel mistress. But, here we are.
It’s time to cheat.
Now, when I say cheat, I don’t mean the enemies all of sudden start rolling 1’s. I also don’t mean that you suddenly change personality so quickly your party wonders if you’re possessed. When we cheat, we cheat with style and poise. We also cheat with confidence, because it is our right as DMs: to cheat and do so freely.
See.
Anyway, we cheat by taking average instead of rolling. If you’re rolling hot for damage, this can help a lot. We change some of the math behind the screen or in our heads so that damage or to hits aren’t as strong. We can even change the monster. A monster whose stats change when it gets lower in health is cool. It’s a mechanic we don’t normally see in 5e. It also helps to sell to the players that they are doing damage, and perhaps by changing tactics they will accomplish their goals.
We can also change what the monster wants. Does the monster not want to die (obviously) or does the monster not care about downed creatures as long as there are other threats?
Perhaps the party needs to be reminded that retreat is always an option. Just don’t expect them to run away by themselves.
If none of these are going to work, make their deaths awesome. The cleric was being dragged out by his companions. The rogue, after downing a potion from the apologetic wizard’s familiar, tells them to leave: she’ll cover their retreat. The last things the party see as they hastily retreat are twirling blades and neon spray. That’s cool.
So, what if we need to juice up our guys instead? First things first, take everything I said before and reverse it. Now we roll all the dice we can. We buff up saves (huge), we add a spellcasting henchman (huger), and our monsters start going for the throat. A goblin is weak (except for its armor class, sheesh), but a goblin who hides in the shadows, picking off players and then retreating, focusing fire on downed characters specifically… that is terrifying.
I’m not advocating this type of play all the time, not even this mindset. However, players need to have a challenge at times, especially if it makes sense with the narrative. Your big boss should take a few hours to fight. If your vampire lord is killed in an hour, she’s not really dead (same for liches, demons, and basically anything cthulhu-esque). There can always be more, and it feels good to conquer something in battle. Scale your monsters to your players.
Now, one more thing. Sometimes your players need to win/lose hard. I remember when I first opened up Fallout:New Vegas (great game, sweet armor and gun mechanics) and I decided to head over the nearby hill at the other end of Goodsprings. After traveling for a couple of minutes, I came to a sign: deathclaws ahead. I laughed at this sign and headed out onto a flat plain. Mere moments later, I was assaulted and promptly murdered by a terrifying creature that was made up mostly of claws and death. Later, I returned to this area and mowed down deathclaws with my laser weaponry. Now, this doesn’t translate perfectly to D&D. Death is harder to walk away from. But it is cool as a player to see that higher levels mean you actually are better. If you’re always fighting things that are at your power level, you don’t get to see the progression. You don’t get to feel cool. So throw in some call backs and let your players be the big fish every once in a while.
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Thanks so much for joining us, and until next time, keep on rolling!
-Dalton
REFERENCE:
Dungeon Master’s Guide, pg. 4
