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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 4986642" data-attributes="member: 30022">... or 3) They were playing Return to the TOH as part of a long-running campaign, explored the tomb very slowly and carefully, and did thorough research on the protagonist (including spells such as contact other place and legend lore) before taking on the demi-lich.That's what happened with my players. They didn't need to read the module beforehand to know that the ToH has a "reputation". After having a rough time with the necromancer settlement outside the ToH, they knew that they had to approach the actual tomb in the most cautious way possible - which involved literally weeks of prep and spell-casting.They went in against the demi-lich with the right tools and the right spells. At least one PC was soul-drained, but they expected this and had the knowledge/tools to recover him almost instantly. Of course, all this prep didn't avail them much once they reached the city of Moil. Cut off from the Prime Material Plane, they had to rely on instinct and trial-and-error a lot more (...much like the original module). And the casualty count went through the roof.I would agree that if you're playing the ToH as a one-shot, purely as written and without the PCs spending days or weeks engaging in high-level magical divination and research, it's brutally unfair. I've never considered it to be a good module. Contrary to some claims, it doesn't reward the thinking player. It rewards the lucky player, or the player that happens to be playing with a lot of divination spells. A better module would embed difficult-to-find (or interpret) clues as to the nature of the traps, which would require real brain power by the players. Instead, ToH is full of this sort of thing... <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"Oops, you touched item A to item B, instead of item C. Bad luck that there was no information to suggest the correct combination. You die."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"You stepped through Door C without casting detect magic on it. Shame that you're one of the 90% of PC classes that doesn't have access to detect magic. You die."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"That otherwise-mundane item that you just touched is a monster. It is immune to all of your weapons. It attacks. It doesn't require a hit roll, and you don't get a saving throw. You die."</li> </ul>The only "thinking" parts of the module are repetitive dungeon-crawling tricks which any normal party should be doing anyway. Always search for secret doors. Always avoid the scantily dressed girl. Never pick up the glowing loot surrounded by broken skeletons.</blockquote>

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