i find it much worse when the reverse happens to a PC
for no fault really, just 2 fluke high rolls a 5hp orc has done 40hp damage to a PC and done for them
more I play PF, the more i dislike the crit system.....and in general, the damage output is way more than defences can handles...makes for quick combats i guess
....and to the OP it is annoying when your big bad is battered in the first round, but i hate it more when im the GM, the BBEG has survived till his turn...and then rolls a 1 on his attack!
The campaign had drug itself in to the last room of the BBEG's stronghold where a tired, exhausted GM (me) really lets down his guard and the party offs what should have been a climactic foe with one lucky round of combat. As I'm rustling through the loot list, one of the players (acting on fatigue, misunderstanding what I said and missing loads of background due to finals) suddenly 'realizes' that I (as GM) have totally PLAYED the party! The REAL BBEG was that woosey little underling that escaped a few adventures back! Yes, I know he was wearing plate armor, but remember that he couldn't hit squat with his sword and ran after taking...What? ONE measly hit! Just like you would if you were a Wiz in a can!
Before I could say a word to this poppycock ridden speech, others began chiming in, fleshing out and filling in. Soon, they had the whole of the 'truth' figured out! A totally un-true reality where BBEG had sacrificed part of his organization to keep the heroes busy! It was SO good, I let them run with it...
One of the best sets of games I ever ran, and every player thought I had scripted the whole thing from the start.
The last time something like this happened to me it was due to a combination of time stop, some type of illusion spell, a natural 1 on the save roll, and a sphere of annihilation. The CR 27 Dragon I had spent a couple of weeks perfecting to create an epic fight ended up chomping on the sphere instead of the fighter that had been right in front of it :)
Not much you can do in such situations except laugh alongside your players and say "Well, I guess that was the end of the session" :)
I know which AP that is. I took that item out of the game. It does not even allow a save IIRC.
You also can not attack during the timestop. It may be too late now, but it might help next time. :)
Oh, I know. The failed save was vs the illusion spell placed to cover the sphere, which was then placed next to the Dragon in place of the fighter during the time stop :)
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how do you handle that?
Damned if you do...
> "What??? You would fudge? <rage rage rage rage rage!!!!>"
Damned if you don't.
> "What? You'd let the dice tell your story? <rage rage rage rage rage!!!!>"
There's no universally right answer. Just go with what you think your group would appreciate most.
If your group is the type that would appreciate the cool final battle and it means more to them than a cool move that cuts a fight short, then fudge. You should never take the impact away from the player, though. The player's crit should maybe put the BBEG on a path toward preservation over victory (so the players won the fight even if the battle carries on). But, if you fudge, NEVER, EVER TELL THEM. EVER. PERIOD. In fact, if you can't guarantee you'll never tell anyone you fudged, never fudge.
If your group is far more likely talk forever about "that time when", then don't fudge! Weeks (or months... or even years... DECADES in a few personal cases) it will be extremely cool to herar them talk about how they once got lucky while facing a BBEG that had these seriously grand plans but saw them all melt away with one well-placed blow. Incidentally, if you're the type of GM that would let the dice fall where they may when a PC gets hit by an instadeath crit, then you're obliged to go with this method.
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This happened to me as a DM last year with 2ed.
I had made a powerful dwarf psionicist allied with the main campaign foe. During combat stories lines would be revealed and so on and so forth.
The two players began the combat scenario, one with her magical item called Skull of Death or something like this. It sent out a magic Finger of Death on command once per day, save for no damage. In 2ed, saving throws always fail on a 1.
They PCs won initiative, she used her finger of death on the dwarf, who promptly rolled a one. Magic resistance failed as well!
Dead. Plain dead without even getting to have a turn. 3 hours of creating the guy, too. It was awesome and terrible at the same time. We had just began using psionic classes and I was looking forward to using them in combat for the first time. However, dead.
Nobody could believe it, but that's the way it went down. The dice always tell the story in combat.
I did, however, make this dwarf reappear via resurrection by the bad guy, though, just so the players could fight him. However, since they defeated him once, I secretly decided that they would not lose the second confrontation no matter what, nor lose any of their stuff. If something was to happen, an ally would come to their aid. They were fine with it. In fact they were disappointed that they didn't really get a good matchup the first time.
...congratulate the player and move on with the game?
Add my favorite to the 14 others, and an addendum.
Speech is a free action. Generally about one or two sentences, GMs call. A dying monolog is 100% allowable by the rules. :P
Players: But he has a hole in his esophagus and no blood left! How is he speaking?
GM: uh... villain goes "Bleh".
My 1-shotted bbeg story from the old days (2nd ed) was as follows. The party had been harrassed by a cleric of Bane (Forgotten Realms campaign) and he set up an ambush for them on their journey. Back then, I think there was a summon elemental spell that was random as to what you got? In any case, he got the 16 HD elemental and I prepped for a big battle with the PC's. The group's cleric went first and promptly cast Banishment and rolled a 20 on his attempt to banish it. Poof goes the elemental, "oh noes!" goes the evil cleric, and the rest is history.
The PC's polymorphed the bbeg into a turtle and put him in a sack and took him along with them. They began calling themselves the Company of the Tortoise after that episode, and we still bring it up once in a while. Love those stories.
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I one-shotted an entire campaign arc once... sorta.
It was a heavily house-ruled 2ed game. There were just two PC's (my bard and my friend's wizard) and the GM. The campaign started at 2nd or 3rd level. Somewhere about 5th or 6th, we had gotten a couple of single-use items that were intended to be used to teleport a large group, including us, to some place then back. Hilarity ensued and the second one never got used. I popped it in my backpack for a 'rainy day'. It never really came, though.
About two years of real time later, this campaign is still going on. We managed to apprehend a criminal that must stand trial because the kingdom he was wanted in was seriously Lawful that way. The wizard didn't have the oomph to teleport us all (us, NPC party members, the bbeg we captured) to where we need to get him. The GM wrings his hands.
Then I say, "We can use that old teleport rod thing."
The other player's eyes light up and I see the GM's chin hit the table as his mouth falls agape. II asked him if I just killed something he had prepared. He said he'd maped out a campaign arc that he figured would take us a couple of MONTHS to deal with... so I said I'd have no problem if he used GM fiat to say the item had expired, failed, or whatever he wanted. He was a notorious railroader (why the campaign eventually died but it was a good enough story to keep us interested at least that long) so I figured, for sure, he'd just take the invitation. To his credit, he said he wouldn't... so we got the BBEG to the destination, he was tried (yeah... "You're GUILTY!" end of trial), drawn and quartered... and they erected statues of us.
Stuff
You underestimated your PCs (and your PC with the two hander I'm guessing) and overestimated your BBG. No BBG should go down in 1 hit, because it would take 1 character only 2 rounds normally to kill him!
I'd have him mortally wounded, allow him to live one more round, to at least do something cool. You're fudging, but it's to make the fight cinematic.
Having a long campaign come to an end with the BBG one shoted isn't satisfying for the GM or the players.
Having said that, since it was a scythe, I would probably allow it to happen, with a nice description. Oh well, maybe the BBG should have used some of his illusion abilities next time instead of going head-to-head?