D&D 5E Let's Talk About Yawning Portal

[jimmytheccomic]

The entire ToH was built on that. Going astral or ethereal meant immediate demon attacks, etcetera.

That's true in the new tomb as well, but it's put as a side box and easily missed. If a player transports or goes ethereal, you roll a d20.
17 a Vrock, 18 a Hezrou, 19 a Glabrezu, or 20 a Nalfeshnee.

I'm a bit tempted to have a demon attack during a teleport/ethereal be automatic, and make that roll during short rest attempts.

 

[CapnZapp]

It has resistance to magical weapons and total immunity to non-magical weapons.

It has effectively 160 hp in most cases. Either because of resistances or through its "avoidance" ability. Even so, that's not very much for a creature encountered solo at level 13-15.

Note that it is powerless against damaging spells that does not afford a save.

There is an excellent chance that many of the player characters will have had their equipment stripped off them via various teleportation traps. So there is a fair chance many of them will be packing non-magical weapons by the time they encounter it.

If I'm not blind nothing truly dangerous happens unless they touch Acerak.

What prevents the heroes from gearing up from the vault's treasures itself? That even includes all the gear stolen by the teleport traps!

Anyhoo - even if I am blind, there is an excellent chance my players would set the Tomb on hold while they adventure elsewhere to find new magical weapons before returning to the Tomb.

Also note you can cast an anti-magic field on itself every other round on initiative count 20. This makes immune to all weapons and all spell and magical attacks.

If you rule its Howl and Drain aren't magical, sure.

Just by reading the MM entry, however, I get the feeling the designer intended this to be cast on an enemy. Of course, your idea is much better. Perhaps place a couple of mirrors large and small throughout the vault (it can then see the creature that is itself... )

 

[Flamestrike]

It has effectively 160 hp in most cases. Either because of resistances or through its "avoidance" ability. Even so, that's not very much for a creature encountered solo at level 13-15.

Note that it is powerless against damaging spells that does not afford a save.


If I'm not blind nothing truly dangerous happens unless they touch Acerak.

What prevents the heroes from gearing up from the vault's treasures itself? That even includes all the gear stolen by the teleport traps!

Anyhoo - even if I am blind, there is an excellent chance my players would set the Tomb on hold while they adventure elsewhere to find new magical weapons before returning to the Tomb.


If you rule its Howl and Drain aren't magical, sure.

Just by reading the MM entry, however, I get the feeling the designer intended this to be cast on an enemy. Of course, your idea is much better. Perhaps place a couple of mirrors large and small throughout the vault (it can then see the creature that is itself... )

From memory Howl isn't magical but life drain is. As is it's vortex ability and trap the soul.

It can only encase itself in an AMF every second round in any event.

Gives it plenty of time to AMF itself on initiative count 20 (making it immune to all weapon attacks and spells) and then howl and fly to the ceiling using it's legendary actions to fly even further out of reach.

My redux of the adventure was much harder but designed for 20th level Pcs.

 

[JonnyP71]

What prevents the heroes from gearing up from the vault's treasures itself? That even includes all the gear stolen by the teleport traps!

It's a shame an equivalent Ghost from the 1E version is not there in the crypt beforehand - they were very nasty, far scarier than the wimpy 5E version. That 5E Ghost will bother nobody.

 

[Reynard]

It's a shame the Ghost from the 1E version is not there in the crypt beforehand - they were very nasty, far scarier than the wimpy 5E version.

I think underscores one of the issues with Yawning Portal overall: by converting through simple substitution with more than a little cut and paste, they are doing a disservice to both the old modules and 5e. I think converting to recreate the themes and intent of an old module rather than the most basic contents creates a better final result.

 

[jimmytheccomic]

It's a shame an equivalent Ghost from the 1E version is not there in the crypt beforehand - they were very nasty, far scarier than the wimpy 5E version. That 5E Ghost will bother nobody.

I'm a bit tempted to have the ghost touch the skull to wake up Acererek, but that feels like a cheap shot.

 

[JonnyP71]

I think underscores one of the issues with Yawning Portal overall: by converting through simple substitution with more than a little cut and paste, they are doing a disservice to both the old modules and 5e. I think converting to recreate the themes and intent of an old module rather than the most basic contents creates a better final result.

I've given both Tamoachan and White Plume Mountain cursory glances and they look to have faired somewhat better. It'll be interesting to see how they both play out though. Neither has had much discussion online thus far though, most have focussed on the notorious Tomb.... as we have here.

It's great that they have kept Tamoachan's anti-resting mechanic, it's weaker than the tournament original, but very similar to the modified version I'm using at present, running a 1E group through the original module as part of a campaign.

 

[jimmytheccomic]

I've given both Tamoachan and White Plume Mountain cursory glances and they look to have faired somewhat better. It'll be interesting to see how they both play out though. Neither has had much discussion online thus far though, most have focussed on the notorious Tomb.... as we have here.

I'm running White Plume after Tomb, for a palette cleanser. I glanced it over once, but haven't done the deep dive yet. It seems like a ton of fun, though!

 

[LexStarwalker]

This doesn't surprise me.

The only thing that can kill high-level 5e characters are encounters way deadlier than the official guidelines suggest, and insta-death traps.

I've found 5e quite deadly, more so than 2nd & 3rd, which are the other editions I have the most experience with. Getting a PC to 0 hp might be an issue at higher levels, but once there, death is difficult to avoid.

1.) Any damage at 0 hp = a failed death save. This includes damage from AoE spells (e.g. fireball), environmental damage, etc. Any decent high level encounter will have enemies using AoE abilities or environmental damage, if not both, so that's at least one automatic death save failure per round for downed PCs, if not more, in most encounters.

2.) A smart NPC will finish off downed PCs if they know the party has healing ability. Any attack vs. an unconscious PC has advantage. Any damage taken results in a death save failure. Any attack within 5' of the downed PC is an automatic critical if it hits. Critical hits = 2 death save failures.

3.) If a PC at 0 hp takes damage equal to his hit point total, he dies instantly. This is less likely at higher levels, but could happen with a critical hit, which any hit from a target within 5' will be.

For these reasons, even at high levels, an encounter with intelligent NPCs/monsters that the DM isn't softballing will be very deadly to any PCs that get to 0 hp. More often than not, PCs at 0 hp would be killed before they even got a chance to roll their first death saving throw, unless the next PC in the initiative order is able to heal them.

 

[Jester David]

I wonder how many people here are planning on actually running Tomb of Horrors now, and if these concerns are real ones (about how their players will actually survive and not be outright killed) and how many are just theoretical.

Plus, being able to defeat the demilich seems like a moot point. You weren't expected to fight him in the original: that was a lose condition. In theory, players should just take the treasure and ignore the skull, never triggering the encounter they'd unknowingly have an easier than expected time winning...