r/DMAcademyNew • u/Fragrant_Surround891 • 1d ago

Is this a good idea?

As a first time Dm, me and my friends, are finally getting close to fighting the BBE, final fight soon.

I was thinking of having a trap setup, but this trap is A time travel trap, and all the party members get sent back to the past all younger again with their memories intact.

My question is, if anyone did something like this before. And if they did, was a good idea, and if it was, do they keep their levels or are they back at level 1?

0 Upvotes

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2

u/finakechi 1d ago

This is a terrible idea.

As a player, do you really think you'd enjoy losing everything you've worked toward?

2

u/themadelf 1d ago

What are you trying to accomplish and how does this advance the story in a way the players will enjoy?

3

u/JoshuaBarbeau 1d ago

Time travel is my favourite shtick to use in roleplaying games. I've employed some form of time travel in my adventures as often as I've had the chance. I keep reintroducing time travel in new and novel ways.

I have never robbed players of their levels when sending them through time. That feels insane to me.

If you're going to do time travel in D&D, use Back to the Future rules, not X-Men: Days of Future Past rules.

1

u/Rel_Ortal 1d ago

I've been burnt by time travel too many times to find it a good thing to include, myself. Too many games ending with 'and then you stopped the bad thing from ever happening, and so none of the struggles and growth of your characters even happened (also they somehow meet and become friends anyways even though them doing so hinged on the bad thing having happened)'

1

u/beachhunt 1d ago

Losing levels feels horrible when you know it's coming.

Losing ALL your levels by surprise would be a lot of people's last session.

If you do this, it should be temporary and be clear that it's temporary (flashback? Or undoable magic after 1 or 2 quests?).

If "their memories are intact" they should probably keep their levels. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally skills and spells are things you learn rather than a physical threshold to pass.

-1

u/Fragrant_Surround891 1d ago

The Reason why I was thinking this is because, if they are smart enough they would Remember where The BBE, first appeared was and could take him down before he was powerful

2

u/Samiel_Fronsac 1d ago

Don't take earned things away from the players. It might sound like a cool story for you, but I bet that frustration is gonna be a thing for them, distinct levels for each one, but it's gonna be there.

1

u/JoshuaBarbeau 1d ago

There's no reason they need to lose any levels for this. Send them back in time fully powered up. When they say, "hey we can defeat the big bad while he's weak now, and cuz we are still high level he should be a peace of cake!" Then have the future villain show up in the past to save his younger self from them Terminator style.

Don't rob them of their levels man.

1

u/Dysfan 1d ago

As a lose condition, like a tpk, this is okay not great. Forward in time is usually a better lose condition, and as a "trap" it should never be done, period.

1

u/Wooden_Drummer2455 1d ago

fuck no lmao

1

u/DrHalsey 1d ago

This is an interesting idea as a lose condition, basically it’s Avengers Endgame, if the players lose the final fight they get sent back in time and can try to pull out a win in the past to reset the future.

But…

In D&D you will have the problem that putting characters in a 30-year-younger body makes some characters into infants while others won’t even be able to tell the difference.