D&D 5E [SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation

[Azzy]

Yes, the rainwater collectors and water-purification tablets provide a mundane way of easy-access to clean water on most days, but clearly Purify Food and Drink (1st Level Spell available to Clerics, Druids, and Paladins) is the winner. It can be cast as a ritual, so it only takes 10 minutes preparation -- so no slot has to be dedicated to preparing it or casting it. One of the guides is a Druid, and there are a few Side Quests that provide an Acolyte or even Priest if the party does not have these resources prepared and planned for.

Actually, clerics and druids must have a ritual spell prepared in order to cast it as a ritual.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Chult essentially based on African jungle mythology? And aren't native Chultans black skinned? In which case, is the picture of Ras Nsi... whitewashing?

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/adventures/toa/fane-of-the-night-serpent#YuantiRituals

Heh, I'm thinking the ritual to turn you into a yuan-ti should also make you evil given that it requires you feast on slaves and bathe in their blood.

 

[extralead]

Actually, clerics and druids must have a ritual spell prepared in order to cast it as a ritual.

Ok, yes, I was thinking Barbarian, Bard, Warlock, Wizard, and the Ritual Caster feat which do give the capability to cast rituals without preparation. Clerics and Druids do need to prepare, but usually that's among 5 other/additional spells at Level 1 (and scales from there).

Either way, there are two NPC acolytes, a priest, and a druid to bring along. The party can have more than one guide, in addition to side questers. When the party gets to Camp Righteous, if they are able to pass the traps they can also acquire the alchemy jug. Plenty of drinkable water to go around. This ain't Vegas.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Chult essentially based on African jungle mythology? And aren't native Chultans black skinned? In which case, is the picture of Ras Nsi... whitewashing?

Um...no. He's not white. He's pretty much covered in bandages and grey. Cuz he's been transformed and leprous wounds cover his body. That picture he could totally be black or white; you really can't come to one conclusion or the other.

There are plenty of legitimate diversity concerns in gaming (and especially movies), but there's no need to go looking for offense where there isn't any there. Pretty much every illustration of every Chultan is black. And there are two gay couples (that I know of) in the game. WoTC isn't whitewashing anything, or otherwise any other anti-diversity stance.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

This evening I was talking with the player who DMs in my place when I can't make our AL style (but not official AL) weekly game at the library. We are both interested in using TOA/Chult for the weekly sessions once we finish up the Tier 1 modules from SKT, but we were both feeling like the Death Curse was too punishing. We are o.k. with the no resurrection option (permadeath), but both of us thought the HP max losses for previously resurrected characters were too harsh, especially starting with -20 starting penalty. So we are tentatively planning to replace that mechanic with these rules for characters who have been previously resurrected:
-They have disadvantage on death saving throws if they get to 0 HP
-After a long rest, they regain all but 1d4 HP (or maybe the die increases over time?)
-If using a Hit Die on a short rest, they subtract one from the roll
-Those "lost" HP CAN be healed, unlike the HP Max penalty (but it does use up resources)

Before we settled on the rules above, we talked about other options, including
-losing 1 Max HP a week rather than a day
-making a (daily or per session) Con saving throw, only losing a point of Max HP on a fail
-taking (potentially healable) necrotic damage instead of reducing the Max HP

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

I think as previously discussed that the Max Hit Point loss is really only there to affect higher level characters running through ToA. Without it, there's no sense of urgency or any real threat to them since they'll cake-walk through the campaign at pretty much any stage of it.

They'll also be able to bypass a lot of things that lower level groups could not, meaning that it'll get to the finale much sooner, thus limiting the impact of the penalty.

Personally, I think you should try it as is and put some level of fear back into running those characters. Everything after level 8 starts to become very easy in 5e without some sort of artifice, especially if you have magical items in play. The only way I've been able to challenge my PC's at 11th and 13th levels (two separate groups) has been throwing a ton of monsters into the fray which makes running combats a headache. So having them start at lower hit points would mean I could run more standard sized encounters and still make them sweat.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

Well, my crew isn't running higher level characters (they will probably start TOA at level 5), and my problem so far has been encounters that prove to be deadly for them when they aren't designed to be. I'm working with players new to DnD, who are still learning the mechanics and how to use their characters effectively. There isn't an optimiser or a dedicated strategist in the bunch. Starting out 20 HP down would be a huge penalty for previously resurrected characters at my table. That said, the players of the two characters who have been resurrected may not be at many (any?) sessions, as one has left for college and the other now has after school commitments, so it may be a moot point.

I realize that there are plenty of tables for whom the published curse mechanics would be appropriate and fun. But my table isn't one of them. Since I doubt my table is the only one in that boat, I thought I'd share my (our) ideas.

 

[Kurtomatic]

Deep Thoughts By Ras Nsi

You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?

What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin? A lie. A lie and we have to be merciful.

I've seen horrors... horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that... but you have no right to judge me.

It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror... Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies!

You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment! Because it's judgment that defeats us.

The horror... the horror...

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Has anyone else been able to figure this out?

Ceiling Cracks

Thin shafts of daylight and moonlight spill through tiny rock fissures, forming pools of natural light as shown on map 5.1. A Tiny creature can use these narrow fissures to enter and leave the tomb.

It's a description for the first level of the Tomb of the Nine Gods. There is no indication of cracks or pools of light on the map that I can see.