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Too Many NPCs! Tomb of Annihilation Spoilers
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<blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 8843298" data-attributes="member: 54629"><p>Hi all!</p><p></p><p>I am running my middle daughter, my wife, and a married couple who are mutual friends of ours through <em>Tomb of Annihilation </em>(mixed with a bit of <em>Acq Inc</em>). Their PCs are all level 9, and we are now a good chunk of the way through the Tomb of the Nine Gods.</p><p></p><p>While exploring Omu initially, the PCs managed to secure eight of the puzzle cubes. The surviving Red Wizards had one left. I thought it would be fun (and thought it made sense) for Valindra to show up at that point and propose a truce. My reasoning was that the book states that she's there to study the Soulmonger on behalf of Szass Tam, but it doesn't give her anything to <em>do</em>. I thought it could be fun to have her help the PCs survive the tomb only to betray them at the last moment because she wants to keep the Soulmonger for study whereas the PCs want to destroy it. That way, they can fight two liches potentially right at the end.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, the players all agreed, and so the party that entered the tomb consisted of 4 PCs and 5 NPCs. The NPCs were Orvex the scholar (<strong>scout</strong>), the PCs' intern Dengo (a <strong>thug</strong>-turned-<strong>warrior sidekick</strong>), Valindra (<strong>lich</strong>), and Dyrax and Zagmira (two Red Wizard <strong>mages</strong>).</p><p></p><p>Valindra also acquired the <strong>gray slaad </strong>during their exploration of the tomb. Luckily for me, the bodaks on level 4 managed to kill the slaad. I also managed to have the magical boar trophy on level 3 kill Dyrax.</p><p></p><p>Things were looking pretty good for winnowing down the NPCs ... until the group encountered the <em>mirror of life trapping</em>. Now Lukanu the Chultan <strong>champion</strong>, her pal Zaal the <strong>minotaur</strong>, an insane Chultan <strong>commoner </strong>named A'tan, Tlad the <strong>drow mage</strong>, and Pox the <strong>doppelganger</strong> have all joined the party!</p><p></p><p>The book states that Lukanu will help her liberators. Zaal obeys Lukanu, so he will also help. The doppelganger "tries to join the party and stay out of harm's way". The drow "aids or betrays" his liberators depending on which way the wind is blowing. And A'tan "follows his liberators around, talking nonsense". (The PCs also have the talking golden skull of Yakka.)</p><p></p><p>The first thing that comes to mind is: Does the party have enough food and fresh water for that many people to survive? I'll have to get them to look into that. One of the PCs is a cleric who should be able to cast <em>create food and water </em>every day, but I'm not sure that will cover the party's needs.</p><p></p><p>Aside from the disintegration trap that killed one of the PCs early on, the group has managed to do most things "right" in the tomb and thus haven't found it all that dangerous. With so many NPCs, some of whom are quite powerful (the <strong>lich</strong>, the <strong>mages</strong>, and the <strong>champion </strong>in particular), it will become even easier.</p><p></p><p>Does anyone have any suggestions on how best to handle this?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pukunui, post: 8843298, member: 54629"] Hi all! I am running my middle daughter, my wife, and a married couple who are mutual friends of ours through [I]Tomb of Annihilation [/I](mixed with a bit of [I]Acq Inc[/I]). Their PCs are all level 9, and we are now a good chunk of the way through the Tomb of the Nine Gods. While exploring Omu initially, the PCs managed to secure eight of the puzzle cubes. The surviving Red Wizards had one left. I thought it would be fun (and thought it made sense) for Valindra to show up at that point and propose a truce. My reasoning was that the book states that she's there to study the Soulmonger on behalf of Szass Tam, but it doesn't give her anything to [I]do[/I]. I thought it could be fun to have her help the PCs survive the tomb only to betray them at the last moment because she wants to keep the Soulmonger for study whereas the PCs want to destroy it. That way, they can fight two liches potentially right at the end. Anyway, the players all agreed, and so the party that entered the tomb consisted of 4 PCs and 5 NPCs. The NPCs were Orvex the scholar ([B]scout[/B]), the PCs' intern Dengo (a [B]thug[/B]-turned-[B]warrior sidekick[/B]), Valindra ([B]lich[/B]), and Dyrax and Zagmira (two Red Wizard [B]mages[/B]). Valindra also acquired the [B]gray slaad [/B]during their exploration of the tomb. Luckily for me, the bodaks on level 4 managed to kill the slaad. I also managed to have the magical boar trophy on level 3 kill Dyrax. Things were looking pretty good for winnowing down the NPCs ... until the group encountered the [I]mirror of life trapping[/I]. Now Lukanu the Chultan [B]champion[/B], her pal Zaal the [B]minotaur[/B], an insane Chultan [B]commoner [/B]named A'tan, Tlad the [B]drow mage[/B], and Pox the [B]doppelganger[/B] have all joined the party! The book states that Lukanu will help her liberators. Zaal obeys Lukanu, so he will also help. The doppelganger "tries to join the party and stay out of harm's way". The drow "aids or betrays" his liberators depending on which way the wind is blowing. And A'tan "follows his liberators around, talking nonsense". (The PCs also have the talking golden skull of Yakka.) The first thing that comes to mind is: Does the party have enough food and fresh water for that many people to survive? I'll have to get them to look into that. One of the PCs is a cleric who should be able to cast [I]create food and water [/I]every day, but I'm not sure that will cover the party's needs. Aside from the disintegration trap that killed one of the PCs early on, the group has managed to do most things "right" in the tomb and thus haven't found it all that dangerous. With so many NPCs, some of whom are quite powerful (the [B]lich[/B], the [B]mages[/B], and the [B]champion [/B]in particular), it will become even easier. Does anyone have any suggestions on how best to handle this? [/QUOTE]
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