[Fred Brackin]

The only time it's happened in the modern age (ad I still hear about it) it was a mixture of luck and bad module design.

I was running 3.5 from a boxed set mega-dungeon. The PCs were 2nd level and the encounter was with the module's special "variant" Orcs.

3.5 Orcs were already designed as glass cannons with poor AC and 2-handed weapons. Really not the way things should be done. The variant Orcs traded Dex for Str giving them more damage but lower AC. They also had only 6 hp.

Fianlly the module either cheated or screwed up dependign on how charitable you're feeling. When they transcribed weapon stats for the capsule description a x2 polearm turned into a x3.

So there we were and the "special" Orcs are dying early and often and not challenging the PCs at all until one of them rolls that natural 20 and does 42 hp to a 2nd level Illusionist (or maybe a Beguiler if you remember your 3.5).

I try and watch out for that sort of bad design these days and I never plan to kill PCs. That just slows up the game and diverts time and energy from playing. Although the next time someone tries to run "My parents were killed by Orcs and I have sworn eternal vegneance agsint all their kind!" a cow may fall out of a clear blue sky on them during character creation.