So, my players' PCs were fighting 11 fifth-level orcs. They are five 5th-level characters in D&D 4e. It ended in an unexpected TPK.
Thing is, their bard was new (he was put in place of their cleric), with not enough magic items to be as strong as the others and, as everybody knows, a bard is not as powerful as a cleric.
It was a damn hard combat, though my players were used to it and they used to play very well together, making some combats easy even when they were meant to be overwhelming. This one was supposed to be quite hard, but not overwhelming.
What happened was: the wizard miscalculated his Color Spray, hitting the fighter, who lost his Rain of Steel stance. They didn't deal with most of the orcs during the crucial time they had with many dazed enemies, because of the Wizard's mistake. It was brutal. They didn't get a break after that for the whole combat and finally, were obliterated by the orcs.
Now I feel like I killed 5 characters, but only one had it coming. The other players were disappointed because they all feel like it was the wizard's mistake that killed them all (and I also believe it, BTW). And the one who plays the wizard was the only one who was "Yay! Finally I get to play my hybrid wizard/warlord!" which pissed me off a little bit more, I've gotta say.
They are all making new characters but they feel like the campaign ended prematurely. They also don't wanna go back to level 1, but for that matter, I don't feel like GMing for brand new characters that already start as strong ones.
So, how to deal with this situation?
Best Answer
As already discussed its far easier and subtler to reduce things before you reach the point of a TPK. For example some of the orks could have been weaker than others, let them die after just one or two hits. If the players have any friends or allies in the area then they could ride to the rescue (or indeed new friends could turn up, everyone hates orcs).
However it's too late now, so you have three main choices.
Rewind time. Personally I don't like this option and I know my gaming group would hate it. If you do that then actions have no consequences, failing can never happen. If you can't fail then it takes all the risk and agency out of playing. It might work for some groups but it will not work for many others.
Roll new characters, maybe let them carry over some xp or levels.
A more minor retcon:
Give each of them a chance to roll to stabalize. (For example make two out of three fort saves). Each of them that makes the roll survived and woke up in the dirt surrounded by the bodies of those who failed and with all their magic items stolen. They can now go hunt down the orcs to avenge their fallen friends and reclaim their missing items.
As the previous bullet point, but instead of being left for dead the orcs took them prisoner and they need to make an epic escape.
Another option would be to do something like tell all the players that if they want to generate a new character they can sacrifice their old one (i.e. take an automatic failure) to give all the others a +1 on their rolls. This lets the wizard player who wants to generate another character anyway make it up to the others if he chooses by having the wizard die and give the others a better chance.
Maybe discuss that option with him ahead of time to see if he's interested before offering it to the group though. If the offer is there and he refuses that might make things worse not better.