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gallagher
2010-07-14, 05:17 PM
So i have a few questions surrounding the ToH

first of all, what is the ideal optimized team to go through the tomb? i quite possibly may be getting into a game, and need to know the best route depending what role i will need to fill.

secondly, would it be less lethal, but still fun, if it were planned to be for characters around level 10-11? (if i recall it is supposed to be 8-9). i heard of many people saying that they had to get a 9 lives rule for this game.

third, has anyone ever, without foreknowledge of the Tomb, gotten through it without dying? not the whole party, i mean you yourself

Kurald Galain
2010-07-14, 05:27 PM
first of all, what is the ideal optimized team to go through the tomb?

Anyone with summons.

Particularly, there is a Reserve Feat that lets you summon infinite small elemental creatures. Send them ahead to find traps.

PId6
2010-07-14, 05:32 PM
Get a malconvoker with Summon Elemental, a rogue with a maxed out Search, and a cleric that DMM buffs, and you should be able to get through the whole thing without a scratch.

Loren
2010-07-14, 05:40 PM
I have some players in it and they've gotten good distance so far, but they've been within half a round of a disaster... well there are some save or take 20d20's coming :smallbiggrin:

Advice:
-search often, search well
-never under estimate the utility of divination spells
-set aside some of your magic for problem solving/trap finding
-combat is often fast and lethal, be ready to take big hits. Similarly, think of ways to negate enemies who will pulverize your melee in a round or two.
-sneak attack and similar things is next to useless. Trapfinding however, is very useful.

Changing the level by one or 2 probably won't have a huge effecton lethality, and I certainly doubt it will increase the fun. All the problems can be solved at the intended level.

Party mix
-a melee is a necessity. I'd recommend seeing it as a defensive role. So try to deny attacks/absorb them as you won't be able to slash your way through tough combats.
-a trap finder/disabler, also a necessity
-arcane, you need to be able to cope with a variety of situations. You need to think about what will get you the most bang for your buck.
-healer/buffer, there will be wounded

Kythorian
2010-07-14, 06:05 PM
Tomb of horrors is not that bad if you optimize and are smart about it. Yes, a horde of summons(or commoners, or undead, or goats, or really anything you can send ahead of you to set of traps) is a must. Several years ago our group ran the tomb of horrors. Of course, i had heard of it, so we all decently optimized and were incredibly careful going through, but none of us had ever actually read about specifically what was in it, and we only lost one person.

That was to a surprise full round attack that just wiped the character before he could act. Otherwise, it wasn't too bad.

So yes, it is very possible. Our team was lvl 8, and was made up of(i think): a factotum, a kobold cloistered cleric(DMM)(and with trapfinding), a warblade, a wizard with trapfinding(don't remember how), a malconvoker, and a beguiler(don't remember why. it seemed like a good idea at the time).

Anyway, this isn't even close to 100% optimized, and it wasn't bad. the tomb of horrors will probably only give a TPK if you treat it like any other random dungeoncrawl. As long as you are very aware of the fact that it is the Tomb of Horrors, you should be ok.

Things like a wand of detect hidden door, etc is quite helpful too.

Zovc
2010-07-14, 06:21 PM
Party mix
-a melee is a necessity. I'd recommend seeing it as a defensive role. So try to deny attacks/absorb them as you won't be able to slash your way through tough combats.
-a trap finder/disabler, also a necessity
-arcane, you need to be able to cope with a variety of situations. You need to think about what will get you the most bang for your buck.
-healer/buffer, there will be wounded

In other words, make sure your "trap finder/disabler" is a Beguiler so that he can help you with random utility spells. Bonus points if the beguiler expands his/her spell list.

Also, since you said


Advice:
-search often, search well
-never under estimate the utility of divination spells
-set aside some of your magic for problem solving/trap finding
-combat is often fast and lethal, be ready to take big hits. Similarly, think of ways to negate enemies who will pulverize your melee in a round or two.
-sneak attack and similar things is next to useless. Trapfinding however, is very useful.

Beguiler with a level of Divine Oracle is almost infinitely better than Rogue. :)

Kythorian
2010-07-14, 06:25 PM
Oh yeah. That was why we included a beguiler. So yeah, we had 4/6 of our group with trapfinding and maxed spot/search. All with other roles they were decent at too, plus a tank, and a summoner. keep the summoner in the back, and the summons in the front and sides, and it worked out fine.

Umael
2010-07-14, 06:27 PM
So which one died?

Kythorian
2010-07-14, 06:30 PM
Beguiler died. Early too, which is why i forgot why he was supposed to be useful when we were planning. But we had plenty of backup searchers/trapfinders/disablers, and plenty of backup arcane magic too, so it wasn't a big deal. We decided he was the most disposable, so he was the first one to check through for traps. So he was the first one to be attacked(since the enemy was nice enough to ignore the summons as they walked around past it). Factotum took over lead search duties after that.

Jack_Simth
2010-07-14, 08:25 PM
So i have a few questions surrounding the ToH

first of all, what is the ideal optimized team to go through the tomb? i quite possibly may be getting into a game, and need to know the best route depending what role i will need to fill.

secondly, would it be less lethal, but still fun, if it were planned to be for characters around level 10-11? (if i recall it is supposed to be 8-9). i heard of many people saying that they had to get a 9 lives rule for this game.

third, has anyone ever, without foreknowledge of the Tomb, gotten through it without dying? not the whole party, i mean you yourself

To get through The Tomb, you need:
1) A combat-optimized character or three who follows orders from the trapmonkey (there's a few overpowered beasties that'll need killing). These guys also need a way to survive without air for long periods of time. One fight wonders are fine - resting up is not a problem.
2) A magical trapmonkey.

Item 1, the Combat-optimized character can be any high-end battle build (although almost nothing can be sneak-attacked by default). Number 1 will be useless in 95+% of the dungeon, but is quite handy for the remaining small percentage.

Item 2, A Dissasembler Druid, a Trapsmith Wizard, or other magical trapmonkey, solos the other 95+% of the dungeon.

Here's how the Magical Trapmonkey works:
You need:
1) A Very long-duration detect magic effect (Detect Magic + Scroll of Permanency, Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell(Detect Magic)), the Magic Sensitive Reserve Feat, a lot of castings of Arcane Sight, or similar).
2) A neigh-endless supply of utterly loyal expendable minions (Summon Elemental Reserve Feat, wands of Summon Monster I, a lot of castings of Summon Monster I, the Thrallherd PrC, whatever).
3) A way to talk to your minions so they know exactly what you want them to do (a permanent Tongues effect, spend the ranks on Speak Language, get Telepathy from a Mindbender dip, whatever is appropriate to your chosen minion method).
4) A way to deal damage to Hard objects at range, a lot (Lots of castings of Shout, the Acidic Splatter reserve feat, Energy Ray (Sonic), whatever)
5) A way to survive without air
6) Extradimensional storage.
7) A willingness to be bored.
8) Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

How it works:
Step 1: Check for magic (the full three rounds, in all six base directions [Up, down, North, South, East, West - at 90 degree arcs, that's everything] if you're using Detect Magic).
Step 2: If magic is found, blast whatever was magical, then GoTo Step 1 (until there's no more magic).
Step 3: Send your utterly loyal expendable minion (or better, several - multiple types, if you have more than one; I'm fond of the Summon Elemental Reserve Feat) along your intended path of travel, to the maximum distance possible.
Step 4: If anything happens to the minion, blast the thing that did the happening, and GoTo Step 1.
Step 5: If you determine something needs to be manipulated, order a minion to do it, while you stay as far away as you can manage.
Step 6: If you think you need to go through something you can't see through, reconsider.
Step 7: If you still think you need to go through it, don't. Instead, blast a hole in the wall.
Step 8: If you determine a door needs to be opened, see Step 5.
Step 9: If you want to grab any loot, you'll need to manipulate the thing. See Step 5, and make sure the disposable minion puts it into the extra-dimensional storage. You never, ever, touch it directly.
Step 10: Loot the scrap metal from the doors and fixtures after you've blown them to smithereens (see Step 5 and 9 for picking up the scraps).
Step 11: Once you've had disposable minions check everything, manipulate everything that needs manipulation, you've eliminated all surrounding magic, and every test with a disposable minion comes back safe, take a 5 foot step along your intended path of travel.
Step 12: GoTo Step 1.

That'll take care of 95+% of the Tomb of Horrors.

subject42
2010-07-14, 08:47 PM
We run a ToH game now and then with a revolving cast. So far, the two most useful items in the game have been Survival Pouches (MiC) and Tree Feather tokens.

Between the two of them, nothing is insurmountable.

Lhurgyof
2010-07-14, 08:51 PM
I've run it and run in it.
No we didn't survive, but we made it to the last encounter and died.
And doesn't it say something about summoning creatures in the ToH... or at least, contacting other planes (Which summoning totally is...)?

Deca
2010-07-15, 04:03 AM
Having characters good at searching for traps is pretty much an absolute must. Obviously.

>_>

<_<


Also, trust the mouth of the green devil statue. It might look forboding but that's just the writers of the dungeon trying to trick you. It's totally legit and actually leads into the easiest way through the Tomb.

Ashram
2010-07-15, 05:19 AM
Some of the dungeon might be a little lackluster if your DM doesn't want to include the monsters/items from Libris Mortis that 3.5 ToH threw in there.

There are a lot of traps that are really force you to either think outside the box or be a metagamer. Certain ones are purely chance-based; pick the correct answer and continue, pick the wrong one and you die. Acererak was a ****.

Also, the last real fight is a pain in the you-know-where. Don't expect to survive it. The boss has a really stupid (Common) weakness, but if you go after the item that it's weak to, the DM will know right away and probably stop you.

Plus, don't trust Deca unless you like never seeing your character again. :P

Zeta Kai
2010-07-15, 05:28 AM
Some back-up character sheets might be nice. Preferable pre-rolled. It helps keep the game running between TPKs.

Jack_Simth
2010-07-15, 06:55 AM
I've run it and run in it.
No we didn't survive, but we made it to the last encounter and died.
And doesn't it say something about summoning creatures in the ToH... or at least, contacting other planes (Which summoning totally is...)?
No, actually, although it does have notes about the Legend Lore spell... which gives you basically no useful info.

What it really talks about is Ethereal travel.

Coplantor
2010-07-15, 09:50 AM
WARNING! SPOILERS!


If your party is made of undead with high enough will and turn/rebuke resistance, you can use the door that teleports non living matter directly to the end of the dungeon and skip pretty much almost the entire thing.

And of course, you'd also skip everything that's good, funny and entertaining of the dungeon, but that's your call :smallbiggrin:

Lhurgyof
2010-07-15, 11:02 AM
No, actually, although it does have notes about the Legend Lore spell... which gives you basically no useful info.

What it really talks about is Ethereal travel.

Ah, poo. I thought it'd be funny to have the optimized out cleric cast a few summon spells and cause a TPK. xD

Tyndmyr
2010-07-15, 11:29 AM
Anyone have a link to ToH 3.5? I have a campaign winding up expectedly, and it should be entertaining.

LansXero
2010-07-15, 11:42 AM
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a

:D

Tyndmyr
2010-07-15, 12:04 PM
Many thanks!

Jack_Simth
2010-07-15, 07:55 PM
WARNING! SPOILERS!


If your party is made of undead with high enough will and turn/rebuke resistance, you can use the door that teleports non living matter directly to the end of the dungeon and skip pretty much almost the entire thing.

And of course, you'd also skip everything that's good, funny and entertaining of the dungeon, but that's your call :smallbiggrin:
Yes, but you could also Throw no-SR area spells through it to your heart's content, and kill the end-game boss without ever risking yourselves. Without going undead. After all, spells aren't living things.... you just need to find a way to make Fireball not permit SR.

Lhurgyof
2010-07-15, 08:56 PM
Yes, but you could also Throw no-SR area spells through it to your heart's content, and kill the end-game boss without ever risking yourselves. Without going undead. After all, spells aren't living things.... you just need to find a way to make Fireball not permit SR.

I don't believe players have meteor swarm at that point. xD

Jack_Simth
2010-07-15, 09:04 PM
I don't believe players have meteor swarm at that point. xD
Eh, wouldn't work anyway. I suppose the Summon Undead line might ... actually, that's... hmm. You just need a LOT of them, and they need to be high-end, but... nifty. Mwahahahahahaha....

Deth Muncher
2010-07-15, 09:16 PM
Yes, but you could also Throw no-SR area spells through it to your heart's content, and kill the end-game boss without ever risking yourselves. Without going undead. After all, spells aren't living things.... you just need to find a way to make Fireball not permit SR.

Also, it sounds like you could argue Warforged could walk through that A-OK and beat the bollocks out of the endboss.

Jack_Simth
2010-07-15, 09:21 PM
Also, it sounds like you could argue Warforged could walk through that A-OK and beat the bollocks out of the endboss.
Ah, but the phrasing is All living matter and Warforged are LIVING constructs.

Teutonic Knight
2010-07-15, 09:23 PM
We made it through with two barbarians, a rogue, a cleric and a paladin. And maybe a sorcerer, I'm not sure about the sorcerer.

Like what everyone said, you need someone who can summon creatures. We had a cleric and Summon Monster I.

And I was one the barbarians, and never died, I think.

kpenguin
2010-07-15, 09:24 PM
We made it through with two barbarians, a rogue, a cleric and a paladin. And maybe a sorcerer, I'm not sure about the sorcerer.

Like what everyone said, you need someone who can summon creatures. We had a cleric and Summon Monster I.

And I was one the barbarians, and never died, I think.

Of course, you also had a staff of resurrection and a fairly forgiving GM.:smallwink:

Teutonic Knight
2010-07-15, 09:25 PM
Of course, you also had a staff of resurrection and a fairly forgiving GM.:smallwink:

Thank you, forgiving GM.

raitalin
2010-07-16, 04:30 AM
I made up an optimized team consisting of a Warforged Dungeoncrasher, a trapmonkey Factotum, a DMM Persist Cloistered Cleric and a Master Specialist Conjurer for a one-shot run through the dungeon.

They were defeated by the CR 3 Brain-in-a-jar.

Initially, the Factotum was dominated while searching the corridor of spheres. He informed the group that the sphere containing the BIAG was solid and then attempted to abduct the wizard when the group made camp the night. He was brutally thrashed by the Dungeoncrasher. When the group continued searching the next day the Wizard was dominated (rolled a 2) after finding and entering the sphere hiding the BIAJ. I ruled that since the Cleric and Fighter had stating they were waiting for the all clear the wizard had 2 rounds before they acted. Between the narrow corridor, the near-limitless summons and the BIAJ pinning the Cleric down with telekinesis it wasn't a pretty end.

I offered to let them resurrect, but they gave up, losing D&D once and for all.

But honestly, as has been pointed out by others already, the Tomb is more about meticulous player action than character ability. If you're not careful a bad roll will kill you no matter how awesome your build is, and sometimes you don't even get a save.

I think if a group knows 2e, its a better system to run the Tomb in, as it requires more clever thinking than meticulous, repetitive action. Not that theres any lack of long, boring thorough searching in any Tomb run with a chance at success.

Axolotl
2010-07-16, 04:48 AM
I made up an optimized team consisting of a Warforged Dungeoncrasher, a trapmonkey Factotum, a DMM Persist Cloistered Cleric and a Master Specialist Conjurer for a one-shot run through the dungeon.

They were defeated by the CR 3 Brain-in-a-jar.

Initially, the Factotum was dominated while searching the corridor of spheres. He informed the group that the sphere containing the BIAG was solid and then attempted to abduct the wizard when the group made camp the night. He was brutally thrashed by the Dungeoncrasher. When the group continued searching the next day the Wizard was dominated (rolled a 2) after finding and entering the sphere hiding the BIAJ. I ruled that since the Cleric and Fighter had stating they were waiting for the all clear the wizard had 2 rounds before they acted. Between the narrow corridor, the near-limitless summons and the BIAJ pinning the Cleric down with telekinesis it wasn't a pretty end.

I offered to let them resurrect, but they gave up, losing D&D once and for all.That's what happened to the party I DM'd for in the Tomb of Horrors. Although they'd lost several party members before that.
The first to die was prety funny because another character actually found the trap that killed him. It was in one of the fake enterances, the one where the ceiling collapses. Now the rogue searched for traps and succeded so I told him he found a wire running from the door to the ceiling. His first instinct was to pull on it which activated the trap illing one of the other PC's. The other player was not pleased at this turn of events.

The rogue eventually died leaing into the green devil mouth.
In hindsight my DMing for the tomb was really bad. I wanted to prove to my friend that this was the ultimate unbeatable dungeon and was very jerkish stopping valid strategys just to prove how awesome the dungeon was. In actuality even if I'd be benevolent they'd proably have still all died, they weren't very compotent players, but they would have had fun.

Jack_Simth
2010-07-16, 06:54 AM
But honestly, as has been pointed out by others already, the Tomb is more about meticulous player action than character ability. If you're not careful a bad roll will kill you no matter how awesome your build is, and sometimes you don't even get a save.

I think if a group knows 2e, its a better system to run the Tomb in, as it requires more clever thinking than meticulous, repetitive action. Not that theres any lack of long, boring thorough searching in any Tomb run with a chance at success.
Detect Magic, Summon Monster, Tongues, and assorted attacking spells have existed since 1st Edition. You can do a Trapsmith build in 1st or 2nd edition the exact same way - it just takes longer (more resting to replenish spells).

Also, it's not clever thinking, it's good guessing. See, the puzzles only made sense to the creator, really. Anyone sufficiently in-tune with the creator will be able to get through them... others, not so much. I mean, seriously - at some stages, you get hurt/killed for not doing something that maybe looks like it should be done. At others, you get hurt/killed for doing something that looks like it should be done. Some doors, if you open them, you get hurt/killed. Other doors, if you don't open them, you cannot proceed (and maybe get hurt/killed).

Boccobsblog
2010-07-16, 08:42 AM
There isn't much combat, so don't focus on that.

Psyx
2010-07-16, 08:50 AM
ToH was the last game I played in 2e before swearing off it forever.

Something to do with a sadistic GM and me playing the Thief.

As though the ToH wasn't bad enough the GM modified it so:

No resting/loitering, as the dungeon was 'eaten up' behind us by some inky void.
Whole thing was set in a Wild Magic zone.
It wasn't hard enough, so Grimtooth's traps were added. LOTS of Grimtooth's traps.
Traps became utterly arbitrary and had to be disarmed via guesswork.

I got us through the first 23 traps safely. The last one killed us all.
Fun game. Not.

Deca
2010-07-17, 02:59 AM
There isn't much combat, so don't focus on that.

Though the combat encounters can get pretty nasty. I once had a party with every member being super-high Search skill trap detectors that completely hosed the first few traps. Right up until they ran into the four-armed gargoyle and they realised they had no real combat guys.

Fun times.

Tyndmyr
2010-07-17, 02:07 PM
DMed ToH last night in a 9hr marathon game.

PCs: Level 15 Samurai, Level 15 Factotum. Both pretty heavily optimized.
Since the party didn't show, I made the agreement with them that they could each purchase a single clone, which would function if ANYTHING killed them. This detail became important.

What happened(spoilers ahead):

They happily trigger the traps on both false enterances. The second one is relatively minor, thanks to teleport.

Slightly more cautious, they head down the real enterance, blissfully ignoring the red path, but searching with due paranoia once the factotum discovers a pit trap early on. They stare in puzzlement at the choice between the mists and the demon for a while, then go back, and release the gargoyle. It does pretty good, inflicting a lot of damage on them(I swear its higher than CR 9) before death. They head back out to the main hallway.

They choose the demon to proceed. Factotum goes first, to "check for traps inside". As he specifies he his cautiously pushing his crossbow ahead of him, I have the crossbow sucked in and destroyed first. He says "wtf? I need to get my crossbow", and dives in head first. The samurai follows. Well, now we're on the clones.

They search everything with due paranoia now, and they stay to the red path. All traps are found, as is the poem. They then walk into the mists, and promptly end up in the prison cell over the pit. Not bothering to search floor or ceiling, the factotum specifies that he's hanging on to the levers, and the samurai is next to him watching. They slam them all down. Factotum makes his check to hang on, and, due to a natural 20 on a reflex save, can touch the Samurai before he hurtles downward. He casts Fly. Working together, they manage to get the top open, and get out of there.

They pop through the chests, from most obviously valuable to least, popping the trap, massacring the vipers almost without wounds, and pounding down the bone giant with relatively little problems. They treat the box and ring with great concern and paranoia, almost leaving it behind. The samurai chops the chests into pieces small enough to fit into his bag of holding. Looks like they'll get some loot after all.

After some confusion, they find the secret tunnels(the factotum has great skill checks), and wander out into the hall of orbs. They don't realize the significance of the poem yet, though they reread it repeatedly.

They find the passage of seven doors back to the first gargoyle room. The first half goes rough, with a lot of dispel magic charges wasted. At the fourth door, the factotum realizes that every one so far has been different. He starts guessing different ways to open doors, and they pop through the end part flawlessly.

Happy to know where they are again, they wander back to the enterance. Factotum suggests that the samurai try the demon again, just to be sure. Samurai suggests the factotum perform certain impossible acts on himself. They figure out the puzzle of the colors, and head through, on the red path.

After putting a gem in each hand and having them crushed, they kick the gargoyle and leave. They wander back and forth, the factotum being quite lucky on saves from the brain, as they chart out all the various colors. They consult the poem, and choose correctly. They then probe every last color out of paranoia, disposing of the brain relatively easily. Sadly, it's pretty useless against people who can roll a good will save.

They search everything, and wisely stay away from the altar. Every pew is looted, though they forget to check the urn for loot after the excitement of the fight. They go and have fun with the misty door. The factotum, going first, passes both saves, and encourages the samurai to follow. The samurai fails them both, and begins swearing in a most unwomanly fashion.

Then, while the factotum has discovered the secret door, and is messing with the slot, the samurai gets a bright look on his face, and he runs through the door a second and a third time. Oops. When she comes back, naked, the factotum decides that he loves this dungeon. She runs through many more times, attempting to get some combination where she passes both saves. She gives up having her proper alignment, but still female, and puts on the battered armor from the skeleton, and grabs a scythe from the downed bone golem.

The door pits pose them no difficulty. They laugh at the obvious trap of people running away from them. "Yeah, like there's a party in the middle of this dungeon", the factotum says. They throw lots of rocks to the end of the tunnel out of curiosity, triggering the trap while safe. Then, they merrily continue the right way.

They discover the mummy room, but decline to do more than search for secret doors and loot the hand. After finding the way forward, they wander back to the false lich's tomb. Gleeful at the discovery of the mace, they promptly head in, and proceede to pwn the lich in two rounds of combat, passing the save on the single disintigrate thrown out. Collapsing dungeon? Oh, they buy it. Completely. Grabbing the jade chest and the crown, they book it.

They persistently refer to the chest as "the phylactery", which I find hilarious, and in a brief screamed conversation, determine that they can't leave without the samurai's gear. They sprint headlong into the trap, getting stabbed repeatedly. They get to the end and panic. "It's a dead end!" The samurai runs back into the trap. Stab. The factotum dives in and teleports them outside the enterance.

They heal up, and rest for the night. Healing supplies are getting low. They come back in, and complain about there being no way out...but slowly begin to get suspicious of the fight for being "too easy", and for the "phylactery" being entirely non magical, the factotum's Artificer's Eye not showing any magic. They loot the remainder of the false tomb, remember to go back to loot the urn, and eventually find the way forward.

They open every last box in here, ignoring the tremors. The vipers are essentially screwed, due to held actions after the first one, but it takes quite a while. After the last box, the factotum accidentally triggers a slime while searching. Luckily, he passes his save. They clear the other one from a distance, and move onward.

Coming to the crossroads, they disarm the trap, then head south. Unfortunately, the factotum forgets to check for traps, and they take a copious amount of spears to the face. They go right, and merrily head into the mists, and take down the caster there...the samurai fails his save against her song, but they both do fine against the mists, and the factotum saves him before he starts bleeding levels.

North, they find the secret door eventually, but miss the second one afterward. They let the construct out, panic, and run past the door he can't get through. Here, they hatch a plot. They re-enable the pit trap, destroy the door utterly so the construct can get through, and run. Unfortunately, the factotum gets run over in the process. They are eventually successful in baiting the construct into the pit, though it might have been less painful to just kill it.

Next, they delay, as they cant find a way forward. They go back, and try the archway to the south of the hall of orbs, losing all their gear. Eventually, the poem is remembered, and they find the tunnel. The naked duo picks the lock with improvised tools, and wanders around the room of collumns. The factotum screams "F*** you, Gygax", as he hurls the crown and scepter into the demon mouths.

I stare at the adventure for a while, then rule they the crown and scepter reappear on the throne. They try a few more times, hopeful of breaking something. Then, they decide to play with the gem. The factotum wishes for all their gear back. It appears, all the weapons inside of them(Max damage for every weapon they were carrying), everything else laying on the ground. Gem goes red, and they roll init. They both spend a round grabbing all the gear they can. Gem blows. Factotum makes the save, but the samurai gets instagibbed. This also proved unfortunate for much of their gear.

One true rez detour later(The players keep standing contracts at temples. If they can't scry on a player for a day, true rez time. Expensive, but worth it.), they're back in the col. room. They play with the crown and scepter a bit, putting it on and taking it off. They fail the search for the keyhole on the dais, but find the other passage. The animated swords and shields tear the crap outta the factotum with a great series of hits, then the samurai kills all eight in a single round. Told you they were optimized.

They wander around cluelessly, having not discovered key or keyhole Eventually, they fly through the left demon face. Aw, no gear again. They re-search the room, and find the keyhole. This leads them back to the key, albeit with the minor hint from me "It must be somewhere you haven't searched yet". Unfortunately, they opened the jars by smashing them. With acid, this is a relatively bad idea. Pudding died in one round thanks to the factotum casting repeatedly.

They happily found the way forward, and managed to trigger the flood of blood by bad picking. After trying both keys, of course. Fortunately, they managed to pick the lock successfully before the room filled, and escape into the safety of the AMF. With much paranoia, they check every last thing for traps. They open the urn politely, and upon appearance of the annoyed efreeti, calmly talk with him and manage to coax a wish from him. They wish for their stuff back again, with more success this time.

They bash the weapons from the statues, lock them in the sarcophagus, and knock over a statue. They smash the remaining statues with extreme prejudice, finding the trapdoor, and shortly therafter finding the secret door to the true crypt. They unsuccessfully try the second key. They pick the lock, then the factotum goes forward, while the samurai stands back.

At the next lock, they first trigger the trap by using the first key. They then use the second key to trigger it, and unfortunately, the factotum doesn't leave in time. Im not sure why this trap is listed as CR6, but only his ability as a factotum to spend four inspiration points to survive a deadly blow, once per day, saved him.

Seeing the skull, they act with due paranoia. Neither enters the room at first, then, they charge/readied action nuke the skull together. It dies without having a chance to act. Celebration and looting commence.



Verdict: Everyone loved it. We want more like it, and if we can't find any, we'll make them. With the exception of the first boss, we also want more badass monsters.

It's hard...but not as hard as many make out. Both agreed that every time there was a death, they had just previously said "well, we know we shouldn't do this, but...". They got every bit of loot in the entire place, cleared absolutely everything, and didn't spend a ridiculous amount of time dithering about what to do. They were a bit high level, but with only two of them, and no summoned mobs, it seemed appropriate. Level only helps so much anyhow.