Return to the Tomb of Horrors....what say you?

[EricNoah]

I have little choice -- for I'm in a party that's about to face Acerak shortly! My 21st-level dwarf fighter/rogue got killed twice in one combat, and this was just with some guardians. Can't wait for the real deal.

 

[Malic]

Well, I voted 'hell no'! But that is as part of an established campaign. If it was a one-shot and I got to do up a couple of new characters for it, I would be all for it!

Maybe then we could have a campaign with anyone who survived... that might be a fun start to a high level game actually.

 

[Alhazred]

Just curious, did you play 3 or 3.5? If so, how did

Spoiler

the conversion of the Vestige go (without too many spoilers for the folks who haven't played/read the module)? I remember reading it for the first time and thinking it was one of the toughest, most ingenious monsters ever. It scares the hell out of me, and I haven't even played it (in fact, I'd probably be DM if my group ever ran it.

Nice job, Bruce Cordell! The man writes an excellent (extremely tough) adventure.

Warrior Poet

I ran a mixed 3.0/3.5 game. I used conversions found on Enworld, most of which were 3.0 and which I converted to 3.5 (I say mixed, because I forgot to convert a couple of things). As for the Vestige, Libris Mortis has both it (called the Dream Vestige) and the Moil Zombies (called Bleakborns). The Dream Vestige is CR 16; I advanced it to 25HD worth of hp but didn't advance any other aspect of it. Even so, it's a devastatingly powerful monster. What killed the party was its Form Consumption ability: every hit with its tendrils caused 1d4 Int damage, no save. When Int reaches 0, instead of the PC going comatose, his body is completely subsumed into the Vestige. I won't say anything else about the Vestige, except that its other abilities are just as terrible (or, from a DM's point of view, wonderful ).

 

[jonesy]

It's a horrible deathtrap that has killed my twice and [Jon Lovitz] I love it [/Jon Lovitz]!

 

[Warrior Poet]

The Dream Vestige is CR 16; I advanced it to 25HD worth of hp but didn't advance any other aspect of it. Even so, it's a devastatingly powerful monster.

Yeah, I would have pegged it as higher than a 16 for sure, and I don't even have the conversion! It's an awesome foe.

Thanks for the info! Clearly, I need to look into Libris Mortis!

Warrior Poet

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'd be the first in line. A character, to me, is a set of numbers on paper, no matter how long I've played him. If he dies, he dies. I still have the memories!

 

[KB9JMQ]

I would play it as a campaign or one-shot just because I would like to play it.

 

[Alhazred]

Yeah, I would have pegged it as higher than a 16 for sure, and I don't even have the conversion! It's an awesome foe.

Thanks for the info! Clearly, I need to look into Libris Mortis!

Warrior Poet

Wizards' errata make the Vestige even tougher, but with no increase in CR!

 

[Crothian]

With a good group I think it would be fun to play through

 

[Hammerhead]

I wouldn't run to play through it, since I've already ran it once before. My players didn't have much problem with the Tomb of Horrors. To be fair, I did replace some of the "no save" traps with super-high DC traps. I greatly increased the strength of the four-armed gargoyles, and sprinkled more of them in the Tomb (one of my players can get bored if he's not hitting something). Clever player tactics combined with the great breadth of options available to 3e characters are more than a match for a stupid meatgrinder.