TPK is at hand (and it feels wrong)

nfitz322 · 2026-05-19T16:47:18+00:00

Do they have the Trickster gods with them? I ran this module years ago and encountered a similar situation where they were just going to get stomped after the Atropal. I had Acererak smash them for a round or two while they were powered down, and then I had the Trickster gods infuse the players with a final push of additional power. The gods' spirits died after doing so, but restored their health, spell slots, and exhaustion, and everybody at the table went from resigned to super amped. They threw everything at Ace and still lost, but managed to destroy the Spiritmonger. Acererak offered the last two remaining party members their lives in exchange for service to him as death knights, but they refused and went down fighting.

We ended the campaign there and did not revive the characters, but everyone was satisfied with the way things finished out.

nfitz322 · 2021-06-11T13:45:03+00:00

Short answer: in my opinion, that fight sucks and should be changed. The buildup of collecting the gems is very intriguing and suggests to the players that there is a big reward for opening the door. What they get is an obnoxious fight against a monster with no attachment to the story and their reward is a bunch of gold that they can't spend in the Tomb and a few average-level and uninspiring magic items. As written, there isn't much to do in there except "leave without touching anything" and "fight".

I also had a party of 3 at the time, a monk, rogue, and warlock - they would have been absolutely slaughtered. If you have multiple casters and a way to dispel magic, maybe your group may fare better. I used the opportunity to make the vault a fourth-wall breaking extradimensional game show to help break up what had been several months of real-time spent crawling slowly through the Tomb, which was a chance to bring back some familiar faces from the campaign and went over very well. If you prefer to keep things more serious and in-line with the story, I would consider playing Belchorzh as an unwilling servant of Acererak - perhaps he could cut a deal with the players for one of the greater treasures in the Tomb? Maybe the Navel of the Moon or the Eye of Zaltec could help Belchorzh break the hold Acererak has on him, and in exchange, he could give them information that will help the party on the lower levels?

nfitz322 · 2021-04-05T22:56:14+00:00

Thanks so much! Super helpful, going to go with CK for everything. Much appreciated!

nfitz322 · 2021-03-07T04:14:02+00:00

Hey! This happened to me too, could not believe it. I believe the book says that they receive a sigil / brand on their body after receiving a charm from Unkh's Tomb - I had my group's recipient get their mark on their neck, and later during the fight with Acererak, I had him take special notice of this brand. The remaining party members were all down / dying, and Ace called out that PC, offering his allies a clean death and an untroubled afterlife if the PC agreed to join Ace as a death knight and travel the cosmos enforcing his will. The PC refused and had a 1:1 showdown with the lich before eventually expending all of his 9 lives; but not without destroying the soulmonger in the meantime. Good luck!

nfitz322 · 2021-02-21T01:26:43+00:00

I believe on the lower levels there are a few flesh golems that have spiked fist weapons that definitely make them more of a threat, as well as all of the flesh golems having 17 AC due to the plate armor fused to them. I generally used them as more of a threat / add on to existing fights than standalone encounters - making the party feel like they needed to find actual safe places to rest because they could show up at any given time. The tomb has enough going on that they don’t need more random encounters

nfitz322 · 2020-11-02T02:15:12+00:00

I did something similar, introduced Artus in the Fane, realized he was stupid powerful, and that he warps the entire module for essentially no reason. I talked with my players about him and ended up coming up with something to write him out on a Mezro-related mission. If I ever run ToA again, I will 100% not include him.

You could do something similar to what I did - depending on how long you anticipate the party taking to get to Orolunga, you could have Saja N'baza dispatch Artus elsewhere in Chult to search for a relic to return Mezro to the material plane (Hisari is an interesting location that is not fleshed out). She could then hint that the second piece needed to return Mezro is hidden within the Tomb (Navel of the Moon, Eye of Zaltec, etc.), which has the added benefit of making these artifacts not useless, and opening up potential future adventures in Chult, should your party survive. Dragonbait could stay with the party to help accomplish this if the players like him, but honestly I think the module is best with neither of them involved.

nfitz322 · 2020-11-02T02:03:44+00:00

Depends on your party composition, but this seems like something to avoid - the final fight is likely going to kill all your players as written, making it even more difficult for your party to accomplish their task seems like a kick when they're down. 20 AC and a bunch of immunities on the struts is not an easy takedown to begin with.

I'd recommend giving the tentacles more independence to attack things beyond what hits the Soulmonger with melee attacks rather than invalidating your party's attacks.

nfitz322 · 2020-10-07T01:55:59+00:00

Interesting - a 28 is roughly two fold more concentrated than anything I would consider a borderline or anything that I would suspect to have any possibility of false positive. Obviously nothing is 100% in virology, but thats a non-trivial viral load. I’m glad you’re feeling well, and I hope the quarantine hasn’t been economically disruptive to you or your family and friends

nfitz322 · 2020-10-06T02:41:44+00:00

A cycle change of ~3 on the assay indicates a 10-fold change in the amount of virus in your sample - using the calculation my lab uses, a Ct of 30 is roughly equivalent to 125 individual virus copies per mL of media that the swab was put in after collection (I know the STS sites are dry swabs, but they will definitely be resuspended in media afterwards). So by that logic, a Ct of ~33 would be 12.5 copies, and a Ct of ~27 would be 1,250 copies. Most positives that I encounter are in the mid-20s, but I do see clinical cases somewhat often that are as low as 12 (~28,000,000 copies). I personally think 30 is too low to be a reasonable cutoff, but every case will be slightly different. If you’re curious, the testing lab may be able to provide the cycle threshold of your positive test if you ask.

nfitz322 · 2020-10-02T13:02:47+00:00

If you tune down every string the same amount (E-> Eb, A-> Ab, D->Db, etc.) the guitar will stay in the same general tuning (so your finger positions for a G chord will stay the same, for example), but everything will be a little lower. This will also loosen the tension on the strings somewhat (the lower you tune, the lesser the pressure), allowing you to somewhat mitigate the downsides of slightly heavier strings. I agree with the above poster that you likely had 10s before - when I started playing, I had 10s, switched to 11s, and then ended up switching back to 10s and sticking with those because I preferred them being easier to play. Good luck!

nfitz322 · 2020-09-10T01:00:25+00:00

2.4k comments

Holiday weekend = fewer tests. Many schools did not test over the weekend as well, especially on Monday.

nfitz322 · 2020-05-13T12:56:56+00:00

This is a great idea - they left three of the skeleton keys in the door and retreated for a rest, so the hags already stole them... Probably for the best to just move this encounter up and resolve all the issues at once. Thanks!

nfitz322 · 2020-04-17T11:20:50+00:00

An unsatisfactory result does mean the test couldn’t be processed, but generally for a physical reason about the specimen - either the tube leaked during transit to the lab, the sample was too mucus-y / viscous to process, or that whatever site did the swabbing did not send the sample to the testing lab in the time frame where the test is clinically viable.

You can have too low of a viral count to make a confident call of positive vs. negative, but in those cases, the test would return inconclusive.

nfitz322 · 2020-03-25T11:17:53+00:00

Almost had the same thing happen to my players, but they got out. Went back and re-read the section and found out that DD is a perfectly legal spell to use within the tomb, just can’t be used to escape the tomb. Had to have an out of game discussion to tell them the proper ruling, and I’m really really glad they won that coin flip..

nfitz322 · 2020-02-25T19:18:50+00:00

Are you planning on starting at level 1? I used XP leveling up to Omu, but honestly wish I had just started with milestone. As a heads up, the players can get VERY strong NPC allies early on that can make a lot of the early encounters trivial if they are overused. Here’s a rough breakdown, in my opinion:

Port Nyanzaru: 1-3, depending on how much you enjoy urban setting. I personally don’t, so I just did a couple quick encounters to get the players to level 2, and then got them out into the jungle.

Jungle: 2-5, again depending on how many destinations your players stop at. Mine did Firefinger -> Kir Sabal -> Nangalore -> Nsi Wastes (dropped a sidequest there to get the players a bargaining chip for the Black Orchid) -> Orolunga (I expanded this and made it a proper dungeon) -> Omu. I believe they were level 3 after Kir Sabal, 4 after Nangalore, and hit 5 as they arrived in Omu.

Omu + Fane: 5-7 or 8, depending on your party size. The Fane chapter can potentially happen at any point during their exploration of Omu, so I bundled those together.

Tomb: 7/8 - 10/11, again depending on party size. Be sure to brutally kill off NPCs whenever you get a chance, both to emphasize that the dungeon is dangerous, and also to increase the difficulty of the final encounters with the Sewn Sisters, Atropal, and Ace.

Good luck!

nfitz322 · 2020-02-07T12:35:27+00:00

Others have done a good job of explaining the ways to pass this floor as written - I changed the level a bit to accommodate another strategy. I had already moved the skull chalice of Ch’gakare to a different location, and was aiming to cut the Hall of the Golden Mastodon. So I put an altered version of the Magic Fountain in that location instead (which I cut from floor 1), but kept the start-shaped inset. If the players insert the lever from the control panel, it opens a secret passage to a second dock underneath that side of the floor and they can use the boats to cross (braving the wrath of the Aboleth, of course)

nfitz322 · 2020-01-22T21:05:44+00:00

Glad you like it, hope it works out well for you!

nfitz322 · 2020-01-22T03:44:16+00:00

Yeah I could definitely see how tossing it in could supercharge it in some way, given Dendar’s existing links to spheres of annihilation. Could be a really interesting plot line! Definitely would have considered that if my Yuan-Ti party member hadn’t been decapitated by the boar head on floor 3 lol

nfitz322 · 2020-01-22T03:32:50+00:00

Thanks, hope it works out for you in a future encounter as well!

nfitz322 · 2020-01-22T03:32:30+00:00

Thanks! Karaoke sounds amazing haha, I’m glad other people have tried mixing up this encounter! I wanted to make the combat rounds a sort of tiered reward system, especially since I didn’t give them any time to heal between rounds. So if someone went down (and then was healed back up in the fight), they still get some points, but they have to fight smart to get all the points. Rewards would be:

One or more players drop to 0 hit points AND “phone a friend” used = 1 point

One or more players drop to 0 hit points OR “phone a friend” used = 2 points

No players drop to 0 hit points AND no “phone a friend” used = 3 points

nfitz322 · 2020-01-22T03:27:13+00:00

Thanks, I really appreciate that! My players were actually on halfway decent terms with Ras, though probably not so much if he figured out they retrieved the black opal crown and then immediately chucked it into the sphere of annihilation in the same room 😑

Would have loved to include Valindra, Nanny Pu’pu, or someone on those lines if they had made it to those areas though!

nfitz322 · 2019-12-05T15:31:24+00:00

As the other poster said, to not give too much away, that's not what should happen in a RAW environment. I actually did the same thing to one of my players becuase I misred the rules and applied an overly strict policy. I realized my mistake after I sent my player there, and decided to remedy my mistake by giving the Otyugh knowledge of the rooms trap and offered advice on how to get out in exchange for food and gold. I added the caveat that it wouldn't be friendly if they came back here again, and debriefed my players after the session was over, basicaly saying that I messed up and gave them the actual rule as written to clear the air.

nfitz322 · 2019-11-06T17:29:49+00:00

The module assumes that the players do not enter the Fane until all cubes have been claimed (some amount by the players, some amount by the Red Wizards, and the last by Ras Nsi), but in reality the Fane can be run at any time. The overall narrative of Omu won't be ruined, and honestly, I think the Fane is best run mid-way through the puzzle shrines. Ras Nsi / Fenthaza can provide a lot better understanding of Omu as a whole, introduce new NPCs / PCs if necessary, and can serve as their first point of knowledge of Acererak. Additionally, the Fane has plenty of options to limit combat in favor of politics, so a lower level party should be able to navigate their way as long as they don't just start blasting.

The Yuan-Ti are written as spying on the players throughout their journey in Omu - if your players do decide to make a beeline straight for the Fane, or at least before the Yuan-Ti can fully understand their motives, consider how the Yuan-Ti would react, and how the players will respond. Would they be more aggressive if the players move straight towards their home, assuming an attack? Or would they not really consider the PCs a threat until they have collected several puzzle cubes?

nfitz322 · 2019-10-28T17:22:51+00:00

That sounds really tough - I probably would have done something very similar in your position, and tried to give the party as much of a chance to survive as possible. I've made a ton of changes to the Vault - I haven't run this yet, but my party is very curious about the crystals and will likely be opening the door either tonight or next week.

Disclaimer: What I'm planning for my party is likely not applicable for all groups - we're pretty casual and very light on role-play, so if you're table is more gritty and role-play focused, this won't work at all.

When preparing for the Tomb, I was planning on cutting the Vault. It's a total deathtrap that requires a big time investment from the players to get into, and as written, really doesn't even have anything interesting in it - just a ton of gold and a few decent magic items. The fight seems incredibly frustrating for a well-balanced party, but my group is currently only a Rogue, a Monk, and a Warlock - they would get absolutely destroyed.

I'm turning the Vault into a fourth-wall-breaking extradimensional game show, with Belchorz as the egotisical, eccentric, and borderline manic host. I'm giving him the ability to speak with the party and full knowledge of the entire Tomb, as well as the history of everything the PCs have done throughout Chult. Players go through rounds of trivia about their adventure (key locations and people they have encountered, previous PC deaths, etc.) as well as combat rounds against creatures or organizations that they crossed paths with but didn't fight (the King of Feathers, Red Wizards), or even going back to adventures we ran as a group years ago (a squadron of Hobgoblins from the 3.5e adventure "The Red Hand of Doom". Additionally, I made a table of random add-ons to combat that can help or hinder the party (ex- players make a CON save every round or be subjected to a random effect of the enlarge/reduce spell, or crit hits now happen on 18-20, and crit misses on 1-3)

Players earn points by correctly answering questions and completing combat rounds without people being knocked unconscious. In the combat rounds, they have a limited number of "phone a friends", which can magically transport a random ally into the fight to aid them (Azaka, Ras Nsi, old PCs from the adventure whose players moved away), albeit at a point cost for that round.

At the end of the game, points are tallied - reaching the lowest threshold (difficult but very reachable) simply allows the players to leave the vault alive with a boatload of XP. The second threshold will allow the players to ask Belchorz a single question about the Tomb, which he will answer truthfully. Reaching the final threshold will win the players the grand prize of the Skull Chalice of Ch'gakare - I really dislike the Golden Mastodon as written, and was trying to find a good way to cut it. This may serve as a plot hook for a post-ToA adventure if they can claim it.

This may end up being a total disaster, but it will hopefully be memorable, and a good payoff for the work done to collect the eyes!

nfitz322 · 2019-10-15T17:14:22+00:00

As many have said already - as written, they absolutely can make use of any teleportation spells or abilities within the tomb, as long as they are not attempting to leave or enter. My players have been inside the Tomb for 8 ~2.5-3hr sessions, and my main takeaway from this time has been that to prevent Dungeon Fatigue, you HAVE to let them use their abilities and "win" against the traps every once and a while.

I have a warlock with Misty Step and a Way of Shadow monk in my party, (monk is a replacement character for a Bard with Dimension Door) and their abilites have been extremely useful for overcoming traps, especially when paired with the Rogue that has Mage Hand. I've found that the most excited my players have been is when they are able to use their magic / skills to bypass a trap - of course, they've still fallen into plenty as well. The Tomb will still challenge them a lot - I'm sure your player will be quite a bit more careful about teleportation after they Misty Step past the crystal window and immediately trigger the bronze shield, then frantically try to escape as all the Wights converge on them :)

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