D&D 5E [Tomb of Annihilation] Less absolute Curse?

[CapnZapp]

Soften the curse just enough so that instead of no revive magic of any kind working, only reincarnate works, and if a character dies, the reincarnate spell brings them back as a race native to Chult. Enter a man, exit a grung.

Lol.

My players avoid reincarnation like the plague - losing their precious racial bonuses is worse than death!

But yes, reincarnate is a good exception. So is probably revivify - where you come back with the wasting disease*.

*) One "hidden" design mechanism nobody has mentioned so far, but one which I hope the design team is fully aware of is...

...few player characters will die of the wasting disease!

Why? Because they will probably level up just as fast as the wasting disease lowers their max hp!!

(Example: A Cleric rolling a 5 on her d8 with a +1 Con modifier just gained 6 more days to find the Tomb!)

Of course, you're not much good in a level 11 dungeon if you have hit points like a level 1 character, but still...

Does the adventure have any guidelines as to how many days they expect the heroes will need to complete their quest? Does the text give an explicit number?


Zapp

PS. I read somewhere that they can get a Patron with X number of hit points, from which you have to deduct 20 since the wasting disease has already started.

Presumably this X-20 number is meant to be good enough for any reasonable party to find their goal...

But this might be for AL play, so I could have misremembered...

 

[Sacrosanct]

I just wanted to note how amusing it was to find this comment from the OP in a thread from July that bubbled up today.



Life comes at you fast.

When I read the OP, I thought the same thing

3 years of complaining how the game is too easy, and how it's not challenging, there's no risk of dying, etc, etc etc. This comes out where PCs can't be raised, and suddenly it's "that's too much."

If there's no risk of PCs dying, why all the sudden is it too much not to be able to raise them? I get the feeling the game doesn't feel challenging because every time something like this comes up, he changes or neuters the rules to make it not as challenging (that example of play thread a while ago supports that assumption). So.....self inflicted complaints?

But to the point, the game still has death saving throws, which is a huge buffer between actually dying. And if a PC does die permanently? Um...this is D&D. It happens. Then again, as a 1e player from 1981 to 2012, you didn't get access to raise dead magic in AD&D until you were high level anyway, so death was pretty much permanent regardless for most of the game. Not like 5e where you have revifiy after a few sessions of game play.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

It's a thought, but since the only non-natural healing in my campaign is a refluffed Keoghtom's ointment, the options are limited. I flat ban all full casters except the warlock, and enemy spellcasters are summoners; that is, they summon "demons" to fight for them and do their bidding.

It's a corner of my own devising, but I'm backed in a corner nonetheless. I'm not really crying, since I have no real use for giant adventure path style adventures anyway, but still. It makes me sad.

So did you modify the Wolverine on steroids 5e healing as well?

 

[Ath-kethin]

So did you modify the Wolverine on steroids 5e healing as well?

No. 5e natural healing is fine as far as I'm concerned.

My campaign leans more toward a sword-and-sorcery vibe a la Howard and Lieber, and in neither case was there a situation where the hero was tied up for days/weeks/months recovering form injuries. In fact, that approach is much more Tolkien, by the books.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

PS. I read somewhere that they can get a Patron with X number of hit points, from which you have to deduct 20 since the wasting disease has already started.

Presumably this X-20 number is meant to be good enough for any reasonable party to find their goal...

But this might be for AL play, so I could have misremembered...

That is an AL-only rule. The season starts 20 days after the Curse goes into effect, so any AL characters that have been previously brought back to life, by any method, start out at -20 max HP.

Of course, any character who has never had to be revived in any way magically is not under the wasting part of the Curse. They only have to deal with the whole "not revivable at all on death" part of it.

One workaround I have thought of using is the people who hire the party to hunt for the cause of the Curse, give each of the characters a special, one-use magic item that they wear on them which will catch and absorb their soul if they die. A soulstone on a necklace or set in a ring, or a modified magic jar-type spell, or some such. They still cannot be revived til after the adventure is concluded, but their character is also not permanently gone if they die otherwise. Then when they remaining party members return in triumph, one of the revival spells that does not require a body, or only a tiny piece of the body collected by the rest of the party, to work will be cast for any of the characters who died.

 

[CapnZapp]

That is an AL-only rule. The season starts 20 days after the Curse goes into effect, so any AL characters that have been previously brought back to life, by any method, start out at -20 max HP.

Of course, any character who has never had to be revived in any way magically is not under the wasting part of the Curse. They only have to deal with the whole "not revivable at all on death" part of it.

One workaround I have thought of using is the people who hire the party to hunt for the cause of the Curse, give each of the characters a special, one-use magic item that they wear on them which will catch and absorb their soul if they die. A soulstone on a necklace or set in a ring, or a modified magic jar-type spell, or some such. They still cannot be revived til after the adventure is concluded, but their character is also not permanently gone if they die otherwise. Then when they remaining party members return in triumph, one of the revival spells that does not require a body, or only a tiny piece of the body collected by the rest of the party, to work will be cast for any of the characters who died.

Sure, but it might still tell us how many days we can expect the quest to be concluded in?

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Sacrosanct]

It is mentioned how time is of the essence, but there is no guide telling you how many days. I'm guessing, the adventure can take a long time, because you're only travelling one hex a day in ideal conditions. Based on the map, this could easily mean months of game time.

 

[CapnZapp]

It is mentioned how time is of the essence, but there is no guide telling you how many days. I'm guessing, the adventure can take a long time, because you're only travelling one hex a day in ideal conditions. Based on the map, this could easily mean months of game time.

Thank you.

 

[CapnZapp]

Do the module address the issue of "many" (not saying "six to eight" out loud) encounters per game day? Since there obviously will be lots of game days, I mean... there can't well be 7 encounters each day for 50 days or the party will be epic level before they come even close to the tomb...

I mean, if there's 0-2 random encounters per day, and those aren't substantially more deadly than in previous offerings, they're going to remain speed bumps, and I will have to cut them out. (If you have read Out of the Abyss, it too featured months of travel, and pitted the odd goblin or minotaur against not only the level 8-12 party, but a party with a full gaggle of NPCs too)

Not talking about anything with a story. I fully assume there will be "special" hexes with much more elaborate encounters.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Exploration phase has never really held to the 6-8 encounters per day. It's the exploration phase after all. However, when you're in the "dungeony" parts, it's very likely you'll get 6-8 (or more) per day unless you're the kind of table that allows PCs to rest whenever they want. But much of the game until you get to Omu will be only a couple encounters per day at most.