Running Tomb of Horrors

[SilverSavio]

I'm looking for some advice since this is really the second time truly DMing D&D, and the second time running this module. I have a fairly decent 10th level party except for two players. One is playing a Gnome Beguiler who can do the shadow casting thing and loves to abuse teleport, and the other is playing a Combat Trapsmith who can hit high thrities or low forties (can't remember at the moment) for his search and disable device checks reliably.

Any advice on how to make the tomb harder without being unfair?

[Loreweaver15]

Any advice on how to make the Tomb harder without being unfair?

I was under the distinct impression that the Tomb was already unfair, and that that was, in fact, the point of the whole thing :P

[OldTrees1]

Why not run it as is? Teleport is only useful as backtracking due to lack of information and general danger of new areas. There are more than a handful of traps that high skill checks will not prevent. (In fact the only traps I remember that will be trivialized are ones that were jokes to begin with)

[VoxRationis]

I'm not 100% sure, but you might not want to abuse Teleport and similar effects. I remember there being a monster or magical effect which comes down hard on that sort of thing.

[Zweisteine]

Make sure your players haven't read much about the Tomb beforehand. If they know the best (and most well-known) traps, it'll be half as fun.

If they aren't experts on the Tomb, remove the limitation on the Golden Crown and the Gold and Silver Scepter being removed from their room.* Also, be sure to have appropriately-colored props of those items on hand, because of how they work.
*The limitation is in place because once, at a convention, the adventurers took the crown and scepter with them, and used it to auto-kill Acererak. They had to ask Gygax himself if it was legit. It was, but they put measures in place to prevent it from ever happening again.

Most importantly of all, make sure each player has a backup character or two, and isn't too attached to their own character.



Teleportation shouldn't be a problem. Long-ranged teleports (like teleport) aren't precise enough to be of use in a dungeon, and tactical teleports (like dimension door) require line of effect or knowledge of where the target room is beforehand.

[Story]

Make sure your players haven't read much about the Tomb beforehand. If they know the best (and most well-known) traps, it'll be half as fun.


Or you could just change things around a bit to prevent metagaming.

Stuff like the sphere can easily be moved or replaced. The only thing that's really iconic and hard to change is the illusionary Accerak, and that's less well known.

Also Black Labyrinth screws up tactical teleportation if you really want to do that. But then people would have to constantly make saves just to walk around.

[Zweisteine]

You could always drop an always on divert teleport (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/divertTeleport.htm) enchantment on the whole dungeon, except for the parts of the dungeon that cause teleportation themselves. It just diverts you to wherever you're standing.

You could also have instantaneously self-resetting traps of dispel magic set to counterspell any teleportation spells within range.

[SilverSavio]

You could always drop an always on divert teleport (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/divertTeleport.htm) enchantment on the whole dungeon, except for the parts of the dungeon that cause teleportation themselves. It just diverts you to wherever you're standing.

You could also have instantaneously self-resetting traps of dispel magic set to counterspell any teleportation spells within range.

I actually really like the first idea. Because teleport has become the ridiculously easy "Nope" button for the dungeon.

[Story]

The really easy Nope button is a Necropolitan Artificer holding a scroll of Command.

They probably weren't thinking of undead characters when they created a teleporter directly to the end.

[Zweisteine]

For a more Tomb of Horrors-esqueleto teleportation orevention method, divert teleports to a specially prepare room. It has no exits, is deep underground, and is stuffed full of murderous constructs and traps (i.e. if you move at all, your step on a trap).

[G.Cube]

I don't have the in info front of me, but I thought there was supposed to be a high chance every time you teleport that you'll catch sight of the demons that reset the dungeon, and consequently get torn to pieces by them.

[Story]

The demons aren't that threatening though.

[CSeiberlin]

The demons aren't that threatening though.

Vrocks (type I) iirc. <heh...might as well dig it out and look> It's actually a chance of type I to type IV (Nalfeshnee)... that's a decent challenging spread of CRs for a level 10 party. They won't interfere except in given conditions if that's what you meant by not threatening though.

On the trapsmith's high trap checks....at level 10 to be honest that's not something I'd be worried about... it's what he does and he should expect to be successful 95%+ of the time. The traps in ToH are speed bumps in large part, the real death traps require sussing out the tricks and puzzles (which are player driven and not skill rolls). While at first blush Gygax doesn't give many apparent clues, I've found that both careful DM descriptions and clever play the Tomb is only unfair to sloppy players. There are more arbitrary and deadly adventures in the published canon (Ravenloft for instance).

The shadowcaster has some abilities that might make things too easy. Overall there are a few spells in 3.5 that weren't in 1e that can make aspects of the Tomb a cakewalk.

He could create semi-real illusions to trap-detect\experiment for instance. Granted a conjurer can do the same thing.

Offhand, if you really want to block teleport and other shenanigans I'd probably just put a weirdstone in the end Vault. If I wanted to keep the weirdstone out of the players hands at the end of the adventure, I'd make it intelligent (as in intelligent magic item), grant it some sort of flight\levitation, give it a some form of attack (a spell or power it can activate once a round), and carve it so it looked like a smaller green floating head of the Devourer. I wouldn't make the attack too powerful but at least in that 10-25 hp a round damage range...most players will probably destroy it without hesitation.

Granted a weirdstone sortof complicates the demons hanging out in the ethereal but I'd change their 'sentry post position' from outside in the ethereal to posted inside the tomb but bound inside artwork... like paintings of demons on the walls or carved demon heads lining the floor or ceiling. The can materialize and attack (or do repairs) when triggering conditions are met...like the PCs decide to rock to mud or bash their way through the dungeon walls.

It's a fairly combat light adventure. If your players are used a bit more action I'd look for some sort of enemy\rival to the PCs they've crossed paths before within the campaign (assuming this isn't a one shot) and put a competing 'adventuring party' into the dungeon to act as foils when things seem slow. Or just some other faction that is partially using the PCs to dungeon crash the traps and follow behind... dunno, you know what works for you campaign best.

[Captnq]

Blow up the place.

Have the inn they stay at before they go in feed them corrupted flesh and they all start to grow extra evil heads by the time they enter the tomb.

Pull a player aside and tell him he is secretly a demilich. He's not. He was just mind controlled to think he was.

You know, fun stuff.

No reason not to pull out all the stops. Get lovecraftian.

[Captnq]

I got it!

Tell them a rumor that whenever anyone teleports into, out of, or inside the tomb, they arrive just fine, but all their equipment goes somewhere else and they arrive naked.

Every time the teleport, you say, "are you SURE you want to do this?" Then hold up a d10. If they say yes, roll it in front of them and then regardless of the outcome, snap your fingers and say, "Crap."

Or actually strip them of their equipment. Either or.

[SilverSavio]

...Pull a player aside and tell him he is secretly a demilich. He's not. He was just mind controlled to think he was....

Maybe I should do this to one of my players since one of the players decided his character would go evil while spending two weeks there while the players went to revive two party members, since I modified one of the chest traps to spray Dust of Chocking and Sneezing instead of wimpy bolts, and they had a bit of a scuffle. But that would be interesting.

[Story]

since I modified one of the chest traps to spray Dust of Chocking and Sneezing instead of wimpy bolts, and they had a bit of a scuffle. But that would be interesting.

Introducing the Dust to a game seems like a very dangerous move. Are all their enemies from now on going to be conveniently immune to stunning?