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

[CapnZapp]

Thinking about the death curse...

Do you have any ideas as to running a "light" version of it?

That is,

On one hand, I'm not sure I want to commit to a "no Raise Dead" policy for this, or any other campaign...

On the other, I understand the nature of the threat needs to be sufficiently threatening, or people will just leave the jungles of Chult to rot all by themselves.

So, what to do? I assume there are no other encompassing motives or story hooks in the campaign? (I mean, obviously "enter the jungles to find ancient relics and get rich" always works)

Do you think it's a good idea to leave some kind of opening, or a safety valve, for those odd instances where a beloved character dies when that isn't appreciated - when the player really wants to keep playing that character?


Zapp

PS: Haven't read the module yet

Returning to this subject:

I'll allow a killed PC to return from the dead. Once. Then only Revivify, Reincarnate, and Wish helps. (Syndra becomes a level 15 Mage so she can't cast Wish)

I don't think starting a clock right away is conducive to a hexcrawl campaign where the focus is on the sheer joy of exploration. Turning tiles, as it were.

I'll probably hold off Syndra. If a PC gets dead, that's the best clock. Hopefully this doesn't happen during the first stages of the hex crawl.

If it "never" happens, I can always introduce Syndra or an equivalent NPC at a later stage, to hurry the PCs along.

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[Cap'n Kobold]

I'll be running it (in Eberron) that the Soulmonger isn't a device that collects souls, it is a portal to Dolurrh through which a trapped Lord of Dust can feed on the souls there. If it gains enough power through this, it will be able to break free from Khyber.
There are enough movers and shakers with an interest in preventing this that PCs can easily either have ties to them, or be hired by them without needing to be directly affected themselves.
If I did want to have them partially affected, I would probably describe to a dead PC how they are being swept towards somewhere nearby along with other disembodied souls, with immaterial tentacles reaching out and grabbing some. I'd halve the time available for resurrection magics, with a hard limit of maybe 24hrs. (Possibly have this based on proximity to Xen'Drik/Chult and the Temple.)

You could do something similar in the Realms, with souls being diverted and pulled away rather than immediately trapped. Reducing the window of opportunity for resurrection gives a direct effect that the PCs will have to be careful about without directly handicapping them by reducing Max HP.

(Main reason I'm not running the curse as is is because I want to reduce the urgency of the adventure path: I want the PCs to be able to explore the jungle and its locations without feeling required to rush as fast as possible to the Temple.)
(Also, unlike FR, there just plain aren't that many people who will have been resurrected in Eberron.)

 

[CapnZapp]

(Main reason I'm not running the curse as is is because I want to reduce the urgency of the adventure path: I want the PCs to be able to explore the jungle and its locations without feeling required to rush as fast as possible to the Temple.)

You and me both.

From the adventurers POV, the clock only starts ticking if they themselves get resurrected (none of the PCs I've killed so far has returned from the dead, not surprising at low level)

Or I have someone like Syndra hire them. But that only becomes more and more believable as the characters do more and more deeds of exploration and tomb raiding, so that's okay ☺



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