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What's done is done, and I will talk to my group about this. What I would like to hear in thus thread is:Have you ever downplayed npc's to keep chars alive?
Have you ever stopped an encounter to ensure PC win?
Have you ever ended a campaign with a TPK, without ooc conflicts?
Yes, Yes, and Yes (but not quite). But rarely.
If the players (or even just some of them) are relatively new to RpG's in general or PF in particular, I will try fairly hard to not wipe them out. If you don't know the rules that great, it is very easy to not realize how big of a risk you are taking.
If I as GM misjudged how deadly something was and accidentally set up a fight that they can't win (has happened a couple of times), I adjust things on the fly. Ok, X has already been in a combat today and doesn't have any more 4th or 5th level spells. Y thinks he can use the party as a distraction to grab the widget and flee while X is busy. Etc...
But if it is experienced players just being stupid, I will usually let them reap the benefits of their style (or lack thereof).
The couple of times it happened, we didn't end the campaign. Usually the lodge/church/general/whoever will send a follow up squad to finish the business. hopefully the party will be a bit better prepared and but some more thought into their assault on the now alert BBEG X.
Sometimes I will give a reminder to the players, if they are just having an off day and not paying attention.
"Ok, give me an intelligence or wisdom check." With even one decent result. "Remember this is the guy that has been assaulted in this very tower 3 times so far in this rebellion. No survivors. He also has a reputation for overwhelming ambush of enemies." If they are still going to be dumb after the warning... Kaboom!
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Have I regretted not TPK'ing the party? No, I generally pull tons of punches and go for maximum fun instead of challenging. That's not to say I never kill PCs... (2 in Mummy's Mask so far I think).
Have I ever downplayed NPCs? Yes. The most prominent example was the Splatterman in Haunting of Harrowstone, who, being APL+3, was a floating touch attack of save or die for the level 3 party. His Statblock was hard coded with stupid into it, and i shook my head every minute of running that fight. Five ghost melee attacks and the party is dead, that simple.
Stopped an encounter for the PC's to win? Not any that I can think of really. I probably have, though.
Ended with a TPK? Yes, and it was the party's decision to do so. Setup: the party was a bit OP, but the druid had 3 trained wolverines and 1 wolverine animal companion, so it was a bit of an overkill party. They were tracking an assassin, who had set up an ambush zone circled with concealed bear traps coated in drow poison. Each 30' movement a player made had a 20% chance to hit a bear trap. They had to make 90' of movement to get to the (also trapped) tent that the assassin was (not) sleeping in. By the time the last character (the only one not to hit a bear trap) got to the center of the death circle and hit the fireball trap, the only PC's still standing were the attack wolverines. Who killed all the bad guys by themselves. PC's threw their hands up and said they wanted to retcon that to everybody died.
Ended with a TPK? Yes, and it was the party's decision to do so. Setup: the party was a bit OP, but the druid had 3 trained wolverines and 1 wolverine animal companion, so it was a bit of an overkill party. They were tracking an assassin, who had set up an ambush zone circled with concealed bear traps coated in drow poison. Each 30' movement a player made had a 20% chance to hit a bear trap. They had to make 90' of movement to get to the (also trapped) tent that the assassin was (not) sleeping in. By the time the last character (the only one not to hit a bear trap) got to the center of the death circle and hit the fireball trap, the only PC's still standing were the attack wolverines. Who killed all the bad guys by themselves. PC's threw their hands up and said they wanted to retcon that to everybody died.
That's the best TPK story I've read in a long, LONG time.
I called a halt to an encounter that I deemed too tough, but that was, I think, on WotC for lowballing the CR of a monster. The Spellgaunt was a CR12, so I put it in the way of a 12th level party. They couldn't get a hit through the DR (I think it was 40/+4) or a spell through the SR (which I think was 35, but maybe more). After 3 rounds of nothing going through, I had it run away, annoyed that these adventurers couldn't kill it.
Other than that, I've pulled a couple punches from instant-kill to render-unconscious, but I can't recall any major nerfs.
You should never regret not TPKing.
You should always regret TPKing.
You should never regret not TPKing.
You should always regret TPKing.
Something about dealing in absolutes....
Please, if you only knew the power of the Dark Side...