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View Full Version : Tomb of Horrors (13th-15th level) [3.5]



Volos
2010-08-14, 10:42 PM
I'm planning on running the Tomb of Horrors for my group as a side quest for when we are missing players during important parts of my main campaign. I just downloaded the free update to 3.5 rules, but the dungeon is built for 9th level characters. My players are a group of five 13th level adventurers. We have a wizard (god spec), a rogue/assassin (skills goddess spec), a druid (broken out of the box spec), a paladin (divine it to submission spec), and a fighter (anything you can do, arrows can do better spec). So far they have been able to out-think or overpower anything I throw at them for their own level. So far I've been having to run most adventures atleast two to three levels higher then the party's average. Is there anything I should do to make the Tomb of Horrors more horrible? I doubt they will be able to handle it as it is, but I want to have that old school feel that the original gave your players... that whole, "I'm going to kill the DM in his sleep" sort of reaction. My group realizes how tough this is going to be and they even suggested it to me, so atleast I can defend myself by claiming no blame for coming up with the idea. Any tips would be helpful, but a homebrew update for higher levels would be awesome.

Mando Knight
2010-08-14, 11:28 PM
Bump up the DCs of all the abilities and traps, and give the monsters a couple extra HD each. Or replace them all with dragons and outsiders.

Volos
2010-08-14, 11:32 PM
Alright, I can (and was somewhat planning to) do that. DCs and Monster Swap is easy enough to handle, but are there any of the rooms I should modify for the sudden higher level party, or is it tricksy enough already? I trust the G man, but I really want my party to cry themselves to sleep. They did ask for it, after all.

Mando Knight
2010-08-14, 11:35 PM
Can't go wrong with a few more hidden triggers unleashing traps of Mordekainen's Disjunction followed by Wail of the Banshee...

Shadowbane
2010-08-14, 11:47 PM
Beware the paladin, by the way. I managed to basically solo Tomb of Horrors using a paladin with pumped up charisma.

Volos
2010-08-15, 12:21 AM
The paladin (and for that matter, the party in general) shouldn't be a problem. All of their characters are built on a focus toward roleplaying and problem solving. The lack of cheddar in the group is actually quite surprising, concidering that they all are power players by nature. Their characters are built for my main campaign, so they shouldn't have too easy a time with the tomb.

NM020110
2010-08-15, 01:20 PM
One thing that I added to the tomb to increase it's difficulty was to place the players under a suggestion and a dominate at the start of the tomb. The suggestion is to move quickly through the tomb (no spending days divining those doors, or resting to regain spells). The dominate...
As you enter the room, you see a floating skull. It turns so that it's ruby eyes face you, and a voice rings out in your head, commanding you to turn upon your allies.
Also, I would recommend putting some random encounters back in. It'll help keep them moving, at the very least.

If any of the players in my game use the knowledge contained in this post, nothing will change.

Volos
2010-08-15, 06:14 PM
Dominate and Suggestion... I'm liking this. It would be easy enough concidering that the 'party leaders' have crap for will saves and everyone in my group is pretty good about playing their characters well while under the influence of spells.

sdream
2010-08-16, 07:55 AM
Given that a lot of the traps are save or die (or don't be stupid or be permanantly destroyed). I would make sure your homebrew or houserule a way to keep the party in the game, in case of a couple early vaporizations.

Running the Tomb as a "test" by a malign entity, where death is just his delicious amusement, and no true escape from his torment would be a decent way to keep the ball rolling.