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

[Eltab]

Do you think the adventures could be scaled up to challenge 16th level PCs?

You will have to pick and choose which of the NPCs you meet.
- There is a lich to be battled.
- Maybe you could have your PCs destroy the undead hordes wandering in the jungle. "You want us to carry a LURE for the T-Rex zombies ?!"
- The Tomb itself can grind through even a character with 16d12 HP (barbarian).
- There is a red dragon that may be older than rumors say.
- The dragon turtle messing with merchant shipping may be a valid opponent.

 

[Quickleaf]

I will most likely have PCs ready to head south to tackle the undead menace following rise of tiamat.
Do you think the adventures could be scaled up to challenge 16th level PCs?

Sometimes you cant just make monsters tougher - especially when it is about bypassing traps etc..

I think the only part of Tomb of Annihilation that would be challenging to 16th level PCs is the Tomb of the Nine Gods. You'd want to enforce the PCs getting sealed within the Tomb and eliminate any easy methods for leaving (e.g. gaseous form through cracks in ceiling to surface on Level One). You'll want to be very clear about & strictly enforce the magical conditions in the Tomb. I'd also personally make long resting a terrible idea: have the night hags dream haunt PCs attempting to long rest in a Leomund's tiny hut, have all traps be reset, and have Withers send a tomb guardian after them (maybe use a medium-sized Iron Golem or monster from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes like an eidolon or medium-sized Nightwalker). These combine to make the dungeon about attrition and managing their resources. Make it a one-day dungeon assault, essentially, rather than a drawn out multi-month adventure with hexcrawling.

And you may want to consider giving most traps the False Appearance trait shared by gargoyles, mimics, and other monsters. Players who've run their PCs to high level tend to be very genre savvy and develop a trap sixth sense, making it tricky for a DM to find that sweet spot of being sporting/fair with descriptions & maintaining the sense of mystery. My rule of thumb is "Perception checks detect triggers, not traps. Describe what they sense."

While you can enjoy role-playing Port Nyanzaru, some of the zanier situations in the jungle, Omu, and the Fane – but none of them will challenge a 16th-level party (at least as written). Get them to the Tomb ASAP. Maybe a session where they do research to learn about the magical conditions in the Tomb (ToA p.128), are plagued by a night hag haunting one of their dreams (remember that reduction in maximum HP can't be cured while the Death Curse persists!), and then teleporting right into Omu and quickly gathering puzzle cubes. I'd implement some reason why they only have 1 day to gather the puzzle cubes...maybe the cubes teleport back to their respective shrines in the light of dawn? That makes it a little more challenging and serves as a quick warm-up for the Tomb.

I'd also encourage reading up on Acererak and deciding if/how you want to modify his stats or strategies. While many advocate changing his spell selection, personally I like it a lot and the spells lend themselves to creative use. That said if you want him dropping delayed blast fireball during time stop, go for it. What I'd change up is his strategy. Instead of appearing only after the atropal is destroyed, have him appear when the atropal is reduced to half hit points or less. I'd also give the lich phylacteries a role to play – letting him drain them to use as "bennies" allowing him to tweak his spellcasting a bit, such as using mage hand at longer than normal range to seal the Skeleton Gate behind the PCs. And remember that he can cast animate dead as a legendary action (and upcast it at that!), so skeletons should be pouring from the north wall ossuary alcoves...you might make these minotaur skeletons for your 16th-level party. Also consider that one of Acererak's strongest defensive capabilities (wall of force) may be easily handled by a 16th-level party with access to disintegrate.

 

[Scott Nagel]

Warning: If your party is headed for Nangalore, be warned that the player map includes the locations of the Mantraps. You will have to edit the map, but luckily it's pretty easy to copy and past something else over top.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think the only part of Tomb of Annihilation that would be challenging to 16th level PCs is the Tomb of the Nine Gods.

My honest advice: find something else for a 16th level party to do. A different module entirely.

I'm currently running the module with characters that just reached level 13, half way through the Tomb of Nine Gods*.

I have to upgrade or replace everything. Nothing is threatening as written.

The module is written with a weak party that ends up at level 10. Maybe. And that's a weak party, with no multiclassing, feats and the very few magic items the adventure itself hands out.

I can't imagine this module being even remotely relevant at level 16. I would suggest saving loads of work by playing something else and saving Annihilation for a brand new group of characters that start in Port Nyanzaru at level 3 or lower, and then levels up slowly, never reaching level 10 before the final confrontation.

 

[Anthony Winter]

Thanks,
I am struggling to find any published, reasonable length high/epic level material.
TBH looking at the module as written I cant see how any level 9s would defeat Accererak. He looks fairly impervious if you play him to his level if intelligence.

 

[Quickleaf]

Thanks,
I am struggling to find any published, reasonable length high/epic level material.
TBH looking at the module as written I cant see how any level 9s would defeat Accererak. He looks fairly impervious if you play him to his level if intelligence.

Look at page 186 under Area 77 of the Tomb, specifically Wrath of the Trickster Gods. Your answer is there – PCs possessed by trickster gods get major buffs.

 

[pukunui]

Yep. My players were convinced there was no way they could beat Acererak until I told them about the Trickster God boons. Even then, it was a tough fight (from their side of the screen at least) but one that is absolutely winnable (and possibly too easy, from the DM's side of the screen).

 

[Scott Nagel]

I have decided to add a fun, (not very) random encounter the next time the party is crawling a jungle hex. They will happen upon a Giant Ape, who is agitated, roaring and thumping its chest. While the party is deciding how to handle this, a T-Rex will approach from the other side of the PCs. Classic monster fight! The PCs are only third level, so it will be dangerous, but the monsters will be focused on each other--and everyone has seen enough movies to know that you absolutely side with the giant gorilla in this situation! If anyone is stupid enough to attack the gorilla they are getting thrown at the T-Rex. The T-Rex will be forced to bite the ape (4d12+7!), so at most someone will catch a tail swipe (3d8+7)--enough to put them down in one shot, but not kill them outright.

I was tickled enough with this idea, that I picked up a Schleich gorilla that is the perfect size to match the Fiendish Tyrannosaurus mini. (I also have the Nolzur's mini, but it likely won't be painted in time.)

Oh, and the fight is definitely ending with somebody pulling off somebody else's jaw.

 

[Eltab]

Oh, and the fight is definitely ending with somebody pulling off somebody else's jaw.

If the Giant Ape wins, later on the PCs encounter a "random" Zombie T-Rex that has no lower jaw and vomits a Zombie every single turn.

 

[Scott Nagel]

Ha. Nice. I like that idea in principle, but it would completely eliminate the bite attack. Two tail attacks might work, though. We'll have to see how the first combat plays out first.