D&D 5E (2024) Thoughts on Infinite Staircase?

[Zardnaar]

Yep. No, the issue is that it seems like the pharaoh’s ghost would just keep on walking non-stop, but the text says he arrives at the pyramid “the next evening”. That to me suggests a whole day of walking (or close to it).

Con DC starts at 11. If you walk for 24 hours after you’ve already walked for 8 hours, then by the time you finish, the DC will be 34. I think that would probably auto-kill most PCs (as many won’t be able to succeed on Con saves with DCs higher than 22 or so).

I think with that in mind, I’ll have to have Amun Sa stop and wait for the PCs while they sleep.

Or make it so the pyramid is closer and they come across his ghost during the day and then find the pyramid that same night (before they need to sleep). That would result in fewer forced march rolls.

I almost killed a party with 6 saves vs exhaustion.

It spirals flunked first save or two theyre the critical ones.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

New question about Pharaoh. The text seems to indicate that the PCs wander around aimlessly for two days before Amun Sa appears. He tells them his story then turns and starts walking toward his pyramid. It says he reaches the pyramid the following evening. Since he is a ghost and is more or less on autopilot, I presume he doesn’t stop (and wouldn’t stop if the PCs do).

So the PCs will have already spent a day traveling (unless they just sat around all day) and will then have to spend another ~ 24 hours walking through the desert to reach the pyramid. This means ~ 24 Con saves to avoid exhaustion from walking for more than 8 hours (plus a Con save to avoid exhaustion from not sleeping) in addition to any potential Con saves from the extreme heat.

Does that sound reasonable for 8th level PCs or is that too much? I mean, they only need to fail 6 times (or fewer if they already have exhaustion levels) to die of exhaustion.

Should I have the ghost stop and wait while they sleep overnight?

I think this is changed from the original. I haven’t looked at it for a long time, but it had a wilderness hex map with a bunch of encounters. The ghost would appear when the party approached within a few miles of the pyramid and point the party in the right direction. They didn’t need to follow it.

If I was running this adventure I would restore the wilderness section, or if using the Infinite Staircase, deposit the PCs within sight of the pyramid.

If the PCs are following the ghost, and lose sight of it, I would just have it reappear the next day.