Alright... the other night we had a TPK, also known as a Total Party Kill, and I still feel a little bad. I've
never had one happen before and it got me to thinkin' about how I designed the dungeon. I used a series of short
encounters yoinked from
Dungeon Delve. They were designed for low-level Heroic characters. However, I felt the last encounter was too tough for 4 players.
So I modified it. I replaced one monster (a gnoll) completely with a lower-level one from MM2. Then I lowered
the level of the Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG) by 2 levels using the rules in the DMG:
"Decreasing a monster’s level works like increasing it, but in
reverse. For each level down, reduce the creature’s attack rolls, defenses, and AC by 1 and drop its hit points based on its
role. For every two levels, also reduce its damage by 1."
Okay, this creature (a Grell) normally does
3d8 + 4 damage with a Tentacle Rake -- an at-will power! That means it does 3d8+3 at two levels lower. Still seems
kinda powerful to me.
Also, the party had just completed two tough encounters, were
low on healing surges, and were about 50 xp from 4th level. They tried to Arcane Lock the door to the room, but
the party mage rolled kinda low and the gnolls were able to break down the door in the middle of the night. Of course, I
also didn't help the situation when I started rolling really high (I think I also rolled 3 criticals --
one of them with the Tentacle Rake above).
So there ya go... party slaughtered. And I'm a little bummed.
Especially since I had already designed the next dungeon for the party. Oh well, live and learn.
The players will have to come up with new characters. We'll
probaby start at 5th level. I'll have the group hold off until Mike (our 5th player) returns to Pullman. So until he
gets back, we're going to try some one or two-shot games. Liam has volunted to GM a Dark Heresy game and it looks pretty intriguing.
This month I'm also pretty excited that the new Pathfinder Core Rulebook will be out. I've already reserved my copy. Which is a good thing as Paizo indicates that it has already sold out! Additionally, the Adventurer's Vault 2 will be out this month. While not as exciting as the Pathfinder book, I'll probably end up getting it. However,
next month I'm stoked about the DMG 2. Its always nice to have products to assist me when I GM :-)
