Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7525390" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>I think the only part of <em>Tomb of Annihilation</em> 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. <em>gaseous form</em> 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 <em>Leomund's tiny hut</em>, have all traps be reset, and have Withers send a tomb guardian after them (maybe use a medium-sized Iron Golem or monster from <em>Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes</em> 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.</p><p></p><p>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 <em>triggers</em>, not <em>traps</em>. Describe what they <em>sense</em>."</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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 <em>delayed blast fireball</em> during <em>time stop</em>, 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 <em>mage hand</em> at longer than normal range to seal the Skeleton Gate behind the PCs. And remember that he can cast <em>animate dead</em> 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 (<em>wall of force</em>) may be easily handled by a 16th-level party with access to <em>disintegrate</em>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7525390, member: 20323"] I think the only part of [I]Tomb of Annihilation[/I] 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. [I]gaseous form[/I] 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 [I]Leomund's tiny hut[/I], have all traps be reset, and have Withers send a tomb guardian after them (maybe use a medium-sized Iron Golem or monster from [I]Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes[/I] 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 [I]triggers[/I], not [I]traps[/I]. Describe what they [I]sense[/I]." 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 [I]delayed blast fireball[/I] during [I]time stop[/I], 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 [I]mage hand[/I] at longer than normal range to seal the Skeleton Gate behind the PCs. And remember that he can cast [I]animate dead[/I] 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 ([I]wall of force[/I]) may be easily handled by a 16th-level party with access to [I]disintegrate[/I]. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation
Top