D&D 5E [SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation
Even the 1st Edition modules provided NPCs (I'm thinking Temple of Elemental Evil), but usually staged them in. The Gold-box games always provided 2 NPCs for a party of 6 as well.
I like the rules given in ToA that conform to the Dungeon Master's Guide on Loyalty. If you have someone in the party with a Charisma of 20 (should be impossible until at least Level 4), then NPCs should join the party into the dungeon, ruins, shrine, monastery, mine, or other mapped encounter. Some NPCs like Hew are compelled to enter Wyrmheart Mine, Musharib to Hrakhamar, Eku to Mbala, Faroul/Gondolo to Needle's Bones, and Azaka to Firefinger. If, during the course of any dungeon delve, a party member saves the life or gives the key magic item to the NPC -- then the NPC's Loyalty will rise to an acceptable rating where the NPC may join for another dungeon delve -- but only then.
If the party struggles with a mapped encounter, say that they lose a key party member or a key item is visibly lost, then when they return to camp the NPCs should drop their Loyalty ratings. Death of an NPC may cause a significant drop in Loyalty of all other NPCs. Statuses such as frightened, poisoned, diseased, or high spell/magic damage will also impact Loyalty. NPCs given magic items once to raise above a Loyalty of 10 might expect a new magic item during each and every dungeon delve, resulting in further Loyalty rating losses (and increasing over time due to increasing expectations -- often becoming unreasonable).
Curse of Strahd can definitely benefit from these rules as well, but Curse of Strahd gives a few more-easy outs for the NPCs. Some of the key NPCs will extra-dimension travel, or they will stay stuck in their ways (refusing to leave their current highly-protected area, such as their hometown). I think Tomb of Annihilation will need similar outs. Sometimes, an NPC will take their ball and go home, so to speak. They will cut their wins and they will cut their losses -- often at exactly the wrong time for the party. The party will have to learn to make do.
I am much-less worried about the early-on sidequesters such as Undril Silvertusk (half-orc priest), Inete the acolyte, and Eshek (another acolyte) -- especially if they are only with Eku (again, she had a strength/dexterity of 10 and a quarterstaff as far as the party knows) and Qawasha/Kupalue. These are the perfect campers and scouts. They can get themselves into a small amount of trouble here and there with the party to rescue them with minimal reciprocation other than casting rituals or full-party heals.
Random encounters with other explorers, the Emerald Enclave, and perhaps even the Flaming Fist can create scenarios for an NPC (or a few) to take their leave from the party. The well-meaning humanoids just happen to be heading back to Port Nyanzaru or Fort Beluarian -- and the NPC is ready for a change, especially after a big battle.
Later-game NPCs such as Artus and Dragonbait should be easier to balance while still keeping them around. They'll know when to long rest twice on their own -- they make their own decisions. They are their own party, but it just-so happens that their goals align with the party more-often than not.
I posted this originally in CapnZapp's bazaars thread but it makes more sense here...
The Capn wrote up some cool stuff about what you might purchase in the shops on the Ziggurats and my concern was why the PCs would even venture up the ziggurats (especially when there's stuff for sale all over the port...) So I put my thinking cap on (OK I took a shower) and came up with this:
There's an NPC at the top of the Ziggurats called the "Prince of Beggars". He lives at the top of one of the ziggurats which has an improvised wall around that level so that people can't approach by climbing up that ziggurat. The only way over is across the bridge from the other ziggurat. At the top of the other ziggurat is an encampment of his thugs and a selection of the finest things available from the beggar bazaar. The beggars make a weekly offering to the "prince" of the best things they've acquired over the week. The "prince" modestly compensates them for their items which is preferred over having them confiscated by the thugs (basically he makes them an offer they can't refuse). The "prince" then sells them at a handsome profit to those with the money to pay. These are potentially stolen, salvaged or smuggled items of great value. Mostly the fancy weapons you list above I'd imagine.
Now who is the "prince"? I think he's the son of the former chieftain who had ruled over Port Nyanzaru (in collusion with the colonial power) before the rise of the merchant princes. His father was considered a collaborator and put to death and his family disgraced. This petty fiefdom is a shadow of the former style to which he'd become accustomed.
Name: "Prince" Teron
Age: 57
Race: Chultan
Sworn enemy of Ifan Talro'a who engineered his father's fall from power.
Teron is actually related to Princess Mwaxanaré; they are second cousins. Teron knows he is descended from the old royal family of Omu and puts on airs to that effect. He has in his possession a complete (if some what inaccurate) map of the royal lands of Chult including the location of Omu. He also has an heirloom treasure chest that is unopenable except by using the key that had been left behind in the scramble to evacuate Omu. He believes the key still remains hidden in their former family residence within the palace grounds of Omu. If the PCs return the key he will let them each choose an item from the treasure chest once opened (and then probably try and steal them back before they leave port!)
The Capn wrote up some cool stuff about what you might purchase in the shops on the Ziggurats and my concern was why the PCs would even venture up the ziggurats (especially when there's stuff for sale all over the port...) So I put my thinking cap on (OK I took a shower) and came up with this:
There's an NPC at the top of the Ziggurats called the "Prince of Beggars". He lives at the top of one of the ziggurats which has an improvised wall around that level so that people can't approach by climbing up that ziggurat. The only way over is across the bridge from the other ziggurat. At the top of the other ziggurat is an encampment of his thugs and a selection of the finest things available from the beggar bazaar. The beggars make a weekly offering to the "prince" of the best things they've acquired over the week. The "prince" modestly compensates them for their items which is preferred over having them confiscated by the thugs (basically he makes them an offer they can't refuse). The "prince" then sells them at a handsome profit to those with the money to pay. These are potentially stolen, salvaged or smuggled items of great value. Mostly the fancy weapons you list above I'd imagine.
Now who is the "prince"? I think he's the son of the former chieftain who had ruled over Port Nyanzaru (in collusion with the colonial power) before the rise of the merchant princes. His father was considered a collaborator and put to death and his family disgraced. This petty fiefdom is a shadow of the former style to which he'd become accustomed.
Name: "Prince" Teron
Age: 57
Race: Chultan
Sworn enemy of Ifan Talro'a who engineered his father's fall from power.
Teron is actually related to Princess Mwaxanaré; they are second cousins. Teron knows he is descended from the old royal family of Omu and puts on airs to that effect. He has in his possession a complete (if some what inaccurate) map of the royal lands of Chult including the location of Omu. He also has an heirloom treasure chest that is unopenable except by using the key that had been left behind in the scramble to evacuate Omu. He believes the key still remains hidden in their former family residence within the palace grounds of Omu. If the PCs return the key he will let them each choose an item from the treasure chest once opened (and then probably try and steal them back before they leave port!)
Also, who his Eerag?[/QUOTE]
For sure I'm adding workload by adapting to my favorite setting, instead of using it in Faerun or just dropping it in Eberron as is (which are two other valid approaches!), but I think this will make the experience more enjoyable for me (as the scenarios fit better my view of the setting) and my players (who also happen to love the setting), so I don't think it's unnecessary work.
Anyway, even when you take the work of adapting out of the equation, there's still the work of preparing the daily travel part (if you're not OK with rolling for random encounters during the game, which I think most of us aren't). Making compelling travel days, that aren't just a bunch of random fights, is actually plenty of work. Especially if you want to tie in certain appearances with nearby locations (so use Aaracockra a few days before Kir Sabal, but don't right before Omu). That was actually my point!
Eerag is an additional guide I'm including in place of one of original guides that doesn't fit the setting
Demetrios1453
Hero
While the PCs were in Port Nyanzaru, I rolled on the random encounter table and got the tabaxi minstrel who asks for a coin for gambling. In a flash of brilliance, I named her Smoke on the Water. Don't hate me.
Haha, I'll have to remember that!
Had our first death in the campaign the other night. The party are now in Omu, exploring the ruins in search of the puzzle keys. They survived the encounter with the froghemoth in area 3 but a nonchalant party of 7-9th level characters went from this is pretty easy to holy crap we are in serious trouble in a matter of moments as two of their number were swallowed and two others pinned underwater and started drowning! Suddenly they went into full on survival mode. In the end they overcame it and the traps in the shrine to gain their first puzzle piece. To keep this encounter challenging as possible I had the froghemoth stay almost completely hidden in the murky water, making it much harder for those outside the pond to attack him, while using his tentacles to grab characters and then eat them. The only real change I made was to deepen the pond to 12' deep- didn't make sense that a creature the size of a froghemoth was hiding in the equivalent of a puddle.
The death came in the Shrine of Shagambi. The barbarian decided to lower himself down into the pit but stuffed up his roll (rolled a 1) and fell flat on his back. As he got up the party watched on as 4 clay warriors emerged out of the side tunnels and swamped the barbarian. He went down before any of them could come to his aid! Shocked at seeing the barbarian slaughtered before their eyes the party retreated to heal up (they were already damaged fr the previous tomb).
The next day they decided to do the same tactics, this time sending down their paladin (9th level, longest surviving character in the group- 18 mnths so fr, right from the start of our Greyhawk campaign). Once again I was surprised they didn't try to explore more of the tomb before the paladin dropped down into the pit and again the 4 clay warriors were summoned to the location. The party above were ready this time and threw down spell support to aid the paladin but again the battle quickly turned for the worse (4 onto 1, what were they thinking!) and the paladin was in serious trouble so the wizard cast a banishment spell on her allowing her to disappear and, for the time being, out of danger- which is where we left it.
As a side note. We are on a bit of a tight schedule. I'm heading overseas for a year soon so want to get as much as I can done before I leave. In Area 2, as well as finding the survivor of the battle they recovered a map that the Scarlet Brotherhood (I'm using Greyhawk so changed the Red Wizards) had made of the area, it was another version of the players map with several building circled (these were most of the shrines, giving them a prod in the right direction to head).
My players are enjoying the mix of combat challenges and puzzles but as one player said last night, I hate this adventure already!" It really is deadly and they have the feeling that one false move and it could all horribly wrong at any time, which I kind of like. It definitely has an old school vibe for us and I am really enjoying running it. Most of the adventures so far I've just mined for ideas/locations and not really been inspired by the bigger stories involved and this is the only adventure for 5E I've wanted to, and intend to, run in its entirety. Starting at higher level has worked out well, the hook of the three, now two, characters that had previously been raised losing 1 hp per day is spurring them on. We used about 5 of the jungle encounter areas on the journey to the city but didn't muck round with holding pattern adventures/quests to get them high enough level to enter jungle so I'd recommend playing it at higher than first level. It is definitely working for us.
Stormdale
The death came in the Shrine of Shagambi. The barbarian decided to lower himself down into the pit but stuffed up his roll (rolled a 1) and fell flat on his back. As he got up the party watched on as 4 clay warriors emerged out of the side tunnels and swamped the barbarian. He went down before any of them could come to his aid! Shocked at seeing the barbarian slaughtered before their eyes the party retreated to heal up (they were already damaged fr the previous tomb).
The next day they decided to do the same tactics, this time sending down their paladin (9th level, longest surviving character in the group- 18 mnths so fr, right from the start of our Greyhawk campaign). Once again I was surprised they didn't try to explore more of the tomb before the paladin dropped down into the pit and again the 4 clay warriors were summoned to the location. The party above were ready this time and threw down spell support to aid the paladin but again the battle quickly turned for the worse (4 onto 1, what were they thinking!) and the paladin was in serious trouble so the wizard cast a banishment spell on her allowing her to disappear and, for the time being, out of danger- which is where we left it.
As a side note. We are on a bit of a tight schedule. I'm heading overseas for a year soon so want to get as much as I can done before I leave. In Area 2, as well as finding the survivor of the battle they recovered a map that the Scarlet Brotherhood (I'm using Greyhawk so changed the Red Wizards) had made of the area, it was another version of the players map with several building circled (these were most of the shrines, giving them a prod in the right direction to head).
My players are enjoying the mix of combat challenges and puzzles but as one player said last night, I hate this adventure already!" It really is deadly and they have the feeling that one false move and it could all horribly wrong at any time, which I kind of like. It definitely has an old school vibe for us and I am really enjoying running it. Most of the adventures so far I've just mined for ideas/locations and not really been inspired by the bigger stories involved and this is the only adventure for 5E I've wanted to, and intend to, run in its entirety. Starting at higher level has worked out well, the hook of the three, now two, characters that had previously been raised losing 1 hp per day is spurring them on. We used about 5 of the jungle encounter areas on the journey to the city but didn't muck round with holding pattern adventures/quests to get them high enough level to enter jungle so I'd recommend playing it at higher than first level. It is definitely working for us.
Stormdale
pukunui
Legend
How has everyone else handled the trip between Port Nyanzaru and Fort Beluarian? I basically made it so they were able to book passage on a fast ship that could move one hex per hour (like the Brazen Pegasus can), so it only took seven hours to sail between the city and Beluarian Landing, plus another 4+ hours to hike up the trail to the fort. So basically a day there, then a day back.
Did anyone else make it take longer? Just curious.
Also, has anyone given any thought as to how far a ship like the Brazen Pegasus can travel in a day? It's not one of the standard ship types listed in the PHB/DMG, so it's hard to tell how many of the ship's crew of 8 need to be on duty at any one time. If we assume they only need half the crew on at any time, they could potentially sail for 16 hours each day, which (if they're going 10 mph for most of the day) would mean 16 hexes.
Did anyone else make it take longer? Just curious.
Also, has anyone given any thought as to how far a ship like the Brazen Pegasus can travel in a day? It's not one of the standard ship types listed in the PHB/DMG, so it's hard to tell how many of the ship's crew of 8 need to be on duty at any one time. If we assume they only need half the crew on at any time, they could potentially sail for 16 hours each day, which (if they're going 10 mph for most of the day) would mean 16 hexes.
One way to address the "holding pattern" issue is to let the PCs explore Chult for a few levels just for fun before introducing the death curse. I didn't do that with my group, as we have inserted ToA into an ongoing campaign, but if I run it again from scratch, I think I will let them just go exploring for the first few levels and then introduce the death curse once they get to 5th level or higher.
I let the Brazen Pegasus travel 24-7, especially with party aid. I love the idea of traveling to and from Port and Fort by boat. There are details on that in the ToA book.
My new method handling the time factor is to give an Inheritor Tree-Ghost Barbarian a greataxe that has the Aspect of the Beast Elk feature found in SCAG. If the PCs don't create a Barbarian (at the DM's prompting, of course), then just make it an NPC, or introduce it as a surrogate. The surrogate Barbarian for AL already sort of has the Bear Totem (which Tree Ghost is), and my introduction for the greataxe is to make it that the Elk tribe gave it as a gift to Tree Ghost. Check out the surrogates here -- http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/tomb-annihilation
The Aspect of the Beast feature is on page 122 of SCAG and it reads, "Whether mounted or on foot, your travel pace is doubled, as is the travel pace of up to ten companions while they're within 60 feet of you and you're not incapacitated (see chapter 8 in the Player's Handbook for more information about travel pace). The elk spirit helps you roam far and fast".
The greataxe would obviously be in the shape of, and have features of, an Elk.
pukunui
Legend
Yes, the description of Beluarian Landing is nicely evocative. The book doesn't say how long the trip between port and fort normally takes, though. A standard PHB sailing ship (2 mph) would take about 35 hours each way. A galley (4 mph) could do it in about 18 hours one-way.
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