Three Ways to Avoid a TPK –[Total Party Kill] – or, Redefining T.P.K!

Sometimes the dice are against you. Sometimes the GM has piled on a truly dire encounter [possibly even including dire creatures]; or you party may have been caught at a low ebb – down hit points, without spells, or with limited healing available, or more than one of these. When this happens, the possibility of a TPK [Total Party Kill] goes up significantly. A TPK can derail a game faster than a train running off the tracks. Even if you avoid getting EVERYONE killed, racking up a bunch of dead PCs can be disheartening, disruptive, and expensive in-game.

            Now I have read numerous articles of late talking about how the GM can work to avoid a TPK.  Some advocating ‘fudging’ of rolls, or taking it easy on the player characters. I am not here to discuss that.

I am here to tell you, the player, a simple unpleasant truth – TPKs are your fault!

OK, maybe that is a tad hyperbolic. After all, there might be a GM out there that would throw an ancient red wyrm AND a tarrasque at a low to mid level party. But for the most part, GMs design game sessions better than that. But you could be hit by an unwinnable situation. Point #1 addresses that specifically.

#1 - Talking

If a situation looks entirely unwinnable – TALK to it! This may not always be possible, but if the ancient red wyrm lands and, instead of frying everyone on the spot, looks the party over like a breakfast buffet, you have the chance to talk. This could be exactly what the GM has in mind. After all, he could have had the dragon show up like the helicopters in Apocalypse Now, complete with soundtrack. The fact that he didn’t suggests that this may not necessarily have been intended as a knock-down, drag-out, which means that there might be ways to ‘win’ the encounter that don’t involve a fight. So TALK to the dragon, in character - attempting to avoid the TPK is probably worth a little of your characters’ time, even some minor groveling, but that’s up to you. If you are amusing enough, the dragon, AND the GM, may let you live to fight another day.

            If the encounter is not with a single overwhelming foe, but with an army of lesser ones, you can still chat, and can still be TPKed if you don’t. So see if the Orc warlord will accept a ransom instead of expending underlings and resources to kill you. If it really pisses off the barbarian in the group to pay ransom to an orc, you can always decide to take it back at a time of your choosing. Heck, even paladins can be made to see the sense in a ‘pay now, kill the bad guys later’ plan.

            If you are a player, you might be seeing a trend here. The TPK may not have been designed as such – it might have gotten away on the GM. I want to let you in on a secret – GMs can kill PCs any time we want. There is ALWAYS something we can find, or create, in game, that can kill you – easily. Mostly though, we don’t want to. It is no fun to wipe out a group, especially with an encounter ‘on the road’ if you know what I mean. So, if a GM throws something like the above at you, it may be because she wants something else to happen besides hack/slash. Ergo, if hack/slash occurs, and you all die – it’s your fault.

The second part of the above is borrowing from #2 below - planning. While the talker[s] is/are talking, each of the other characters should be planning for what happens next, whether the talk succeeds at averting disaster or ends up bringing it on. The GM may not allow you to confer around the table or cast spells in the background with impunity, but if whispered tactical conferencing is allowed, do it. If not, this is definitely the time to reacquaint yourself with all the abilities of your character [spells, class abilities, weapon special abilities, etc.] and the magic items and potions you have at your disposal. Then work out how you will use them to best advantage [see #2 for more on this one]: Turn one, I drink the Stone Skin potion as I take cover behind that boulder. Turn two, I draw my great sword and charge, going berserk  . . .

You might also have special abilities that work well with those of others in the group. The rogue’s sneak attack and the barbarian’s pair nicely, for a very obvious example. Think back over your group’s history for other synergies that made individuals fight above their weight class, as it were. If a TPK is a possibility, you are going to need that.

#2 - Planning

Work tactically.

OK, we started on this one in #1; but not really - because the best tactical planning is done BEFORE the encounter.

- Work out those synergies.

- Make sure everybody has a healing potion to take or pour down someone else’s throat when they are a negative HP. 

- Make sure everybody, PC or NPC has a job: backing up PCs, healing, flanking, etc. And NPCs should each have a healing potion if possible [see previous point].

- BUFF UP – Little bonuses add up, and little bonuses that stack add up even better. If you have spellcasters, each of them should keep at least one general buffing spell, ideally one that affects multiple people. An extra fireball may look impressive and do some damage, but having Haste or Stoneskin or Mass Bull Strength can do a lot to help out indirectly. If you have a paladin or other character than confers immunity to fear or similar in an area and are facing a fear-causing foe, make sure that people are close enough to benefit if possible. If you aren’t close enough, get there. Or, if a devastating breath weapon is in the foreseeable future, spread out. Make the dragon spend it to hurt one character, or hesitate for a round or two, not wanting to ‘waste’ its ability for so little return.

            In the above examples, I referred to d20, 3.5 buffs. But most systems have them. Even if yours doesn’t have spells that do it, arranging a flank attack, or ganging up, both buff at least one of those involved. And if you say your character doesn’t think that way, well, then the TPK is, at least in part, going to be your fault. 

#3 Kick it [OK, this heading is a bit of a stretch to redefine the letters T, P, and K; suck it up – it’s a good mnemonic].

Run Away – seriously – RUN!

If everything you have done, and are doing, still leads you to a fight that you cannot walk away from – then run. I cannot count the number of stories I have heard from people who have been TPKed, in which they fought to the last HP, blaming the GM for killing their party when they might have run and lived to fight another day.

            In most combats, whether in real life, or in game, there is a tipping point after which the rest of the fight increasingly becomes a cakewalk for one side. In a game, if you are thinking tactically, you will notice that point quickly, but even if you don’t think that way [and everyone should to some degree] you will eventually pick up on the fact that your side appears to be winning or losing. You may be more familiar with this phenomenon from the winning side because a lot of games are skewed that way. But it is just as recognizable from the losing side. And after that point, you have to take greater risks, expend more resources [which can include people] to turn things around, if they are turnaroundable at all.

A Note on Running: I am not advocating everyone turning tail and scattering willy-nilly, hoping that the GM will take pity [any GM that is likely to take pity is more likely to do so if the party withdraws carefully, read – tactically]. That might be what ends up happening, but to run effectively, you need to have done number 2 above – plan to run. Assuming you can't teleport away, or similar, that means retreating in order, as a group, moving in, or to, cover, with some characters shooting or fighting while others get some distance.

                 For example, the fighter with a third of her hit points, is still better off in melee than the sorcerer with all his HP. So fighter slugs it out for a round or two in a fighting retreat, while sorcerer finds a place to lay down some hurt on pursuers, letting the fighter catch up to the others. Rinse; repeat as necessary. If the GM is inclined to let you live, or even if he wants you dead but plays his NPCs with lives and hope for a future, he is going to be more inclined to reward a good retreat than a rout. 

I hope this helps you understand some of what can go into a potential TPK, and how you can avert one.

It’s worth giving it a try. After all – consider the alternative.