Tomb of Horrors

[Ryulin18]

What would you guys say is the perfect party line up for the tomb of horrors?

I'd have to say 4-6 rogues. Still would make them scream as they were picked off one by one :smallbiggrin:.

I'm running it soon so any stories of your games would be fantastic to aid me!

[vhfforever]

Someone with a great deal of common sense and a Wand of Summon Monster I would be able to help make a decent dent into it.

[Taelas]

Biggest problem with ToH is that it is so infamous now that even people who haven't played it generally know the gist of some of the content simply via cultural osmosis.

[Ryulin18]

Biggest problem with ToH is that it is so infamous now that even people who haven't played it generally know the gist of some of the content simply via cultural osmosis.

My party hasn't heard of it. But I'm quite sure one of them would download the pdf, read it thoroughly and prepare his character.

That's why I'm keeping it very quiet until the day we play!

[OrzhvoPatriarch]

Believe it or not? Standard Adventure Party. Fighter, Rouge, Wizard, Cleric. Each class does have something to do, which is the sign of a good adventure. The rouge gets to disarm the traps and search, the wizard has plenty of options to use his spells to good effect, and the cleric is sadly just here to be a band-aid. Now, many people over look the Fighter for this dungeon, but the few monsters in the place are mostly golems. Immune to magic and immune to sneak attack, so you need someone to dish out the beat down.

[Novawurmson]

Someone with a great deal of common sense and a Wand of Summon Monster I would be able to help make a decent dent into it.

Or the summoning reserve feat and a few ten-foot poles.

[Kaeso]

I have no idea what Tomb of Horrors is about, but my best bet would be an all tier 1 party. Perhaps all cleric, since clerics are so versatile.

Beatstick: Cleric of *insert god with war domain*/Ordained Champion
Skillmonkey: Cloistered Cleric with trickery domain, perhaps Zen Archery to compensate for his fragility
Caster: Cloistered cleric with magic and/or spell domain

If we assume a party of six, ie. two of both roles, then everybody in the party can do everything, but some are just better at it than others. Whatever may happen, nobody has to ever feel useless.

[Gavinfoxx]

You might want to look at this:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163734

Just read my question, and then skip to post 22. That's when the serious answers actually start. ;) ;)

[Rossebay]

What would you guys say is the perfect party line up for the tomb of horrors?

I'd have to say 4-6 rogues. Still would make them scream as they were picked off one by one :smallbiggrin:.

I'm running it soon so any stories of your games would be fantastic to aid me!

Warforged Paladin 7/Fighter 2 with Adamantine Body.

Remodeled dungeon. Walked through most traps. Combat Vigor meant constant healing.

LoH'd the Lich.

The DM really didn't like me, hahaha.

Lesser Tiefling Factotum 9.

Wizard 9.

-------------

Another run, I pulled DMM Cleric of Pelor/Radiant Servant of Pelor with a lot of healing and resurrection cheese.

Still had that Factotum, Wizard, and a Minotaur fighter.

[Snowbluff]

I tactfully disagree. 6 Clerics, eat performing a necessary function. Some persistamancy melee, an archer, a healing/recovery focused one, blaster, summoner. All decked out with Divine Insight and Cross Classing (otherwise their skills would overlap) to handle skill checks. Buffs to make saves. Summons to clear traps (Summon reserve feat?).

All to prove I end up playing this class too much.

[Gavinfoxx]

You'd need a Kobold/Trickery cleric to handle traps.

[Snowbluff]

You'd need a Kobold/Trickery cleric to handle traps.

Ooooh good idea. I still got cleric slot for that. Thanks!

[Gavinfoxx]

Make it a Cloistered Cleric too.

[Snowbluff]

Make it a Cloistered Cleric too.

That's a given ^^

[Augulus]

Whisper Gnomes!

Also, a funny story: Barbarian in my party walks up to the glowy orb (that smells like ozone, apparently), and announces that he's attempting a tumble. He never came out of the glowy orb.

A few minutes later, gargoyle TPK's the rest of us.

The DM was like..... well, now what? :smallmad:

[Amphetryon]

Adamantine Warforged Crusader (Devoted Spirit focus).
Dread Necromancer (minionmancer).
Beguiler (2nd traps guy/arcanist).
Druid (summons focused, maintains healing spells until needing to swap them spontaneously).

I'd think that works pretty well.

[CTrees]

You know, every time I see a creative thread on the ol' Tomb of Horrors, I want to run it. This time, the group I'm DMing is almost the right level... I wonder if they'd forgive me? Also, I wonder how much a conversion to Pathfinder would change things? Hrm...

As for the perfect party? Have someone with the summon elemental reserve feat. Infinite earth elementals earthgliding through walls, scouting and setting off traps is too good to pass up for this place.

EDIT: Geeze, need more coffee!

[some guy]

You know, every time I see a creative thread on the ol' Tomb of Horrors, I want to run it. This time, the group I'm DMing is almost the right level... I wonder if they'd forgive me? Also, I wonder how much a conversion to Pathfinder would change things? Hrm...


Wait, you want to run the Tomb for an existing party? They'd probably won't forgive you. The Tomb is great for 1-3 evenings with just a freshly created party, but if a DM of mine would say that next session we were to tackle the Tomb of Horrors with the long-going party I would decline.

There's two possible TPK's before they even enter the tomb. Even if they'd survive they're likely to be permanently crippled.

I just ran it last week for a short evening (we ended when 3 of the 5-man party were burned alive in lava). They played reasonably smart and came a long way. But if they weren't an all dwarf party three of them would be dead already.

[Zaranthan]

Cleric with Magic & Knowledge Domains
Cleric with Kobold & Trickery Domains
Cleric with Strength & War Domains

Of course, that's my answer to everything, but if it ain't broke...

[CTrees]

Wait, you want to run the Tomb for an existing party? They'd probably won't forgive you. The Tomb is great for 1-3 evenings with just a freshly created party, but if a DM of mine would say that next session we were to tackle the Tomb of Horrors with the long-going party I would decline.

There's two possible TPK's before they even enter the tomb. Even if they'd survive they're likely to be permanently crippled.


Heh heh heh heh heh...

[Ryulin18]

As for the perfect party? Have someone with the summon elemental reserve feat. Infinite earth elementals earthgliding through walls, scouting and setting off traps is too good to pass up for this place.

"PC's are discouraged from bypassing walls by summoning a crap load of demons every time they do".

Pg 4. Now who wants to screw with a Nalfeshnee (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Nalfeshnee) just to see the next room?

[CTrees]

Okay, that's a lack of knowledge on my part. I'm familiar with a lot of the basics of the tomb (a little hard not to be, after awhile), but I've intentionall not read through the module, just in case I ever get the chance to play it.

Because yeah, that's actually exactly a primary trick I'd build into the PC I rolled, given the opportunity, and it would have got horribly, hilariously wrong. Exactly as it should. Still, the trick works for setting a lot of stuff off, even better than the rod of summon monster I (admittedly, there are a bunch of resetting traps, but you're at least aware).

EDIT: Actually, I just checked the PDF, and page four lists the demons being summoned if anyone goes ethereal. In that entry, nothing is noted about reactions to earthglide (they eventually reset traps, but that's the only damage which would normally be done, and a firm timeline isn't given). Is there a callout somewhere else?