Ideal party composotion for Tomb of Horrors (Please no spoilers)

[Biggstick]

Context. So in the group of friends that I'm DM'ing, one of the Players (who was the original DM of the group) has asked us if we'd like to make a run through the Yawning Portal's Tomb of Horrors. He's explained that it's an extremely detail oriented dungeon and has read the opening bits of information from the book to us (the initial information that the book tells the DM to give to Players reveals what's at the end of the dungeon, so we know what we're going to face). We've agreed and will be playing on a night different from our normal game night.

Situation. We are part of an expedition who has followed information on an old map and set-up a base camp within the area that is believed to be close to the Tomb. The expedition has recently discovered the Tomb, and we (the party) will be the first ones to try to enter. This base camp is about a mile away from the Tomb and has everything we could need from the PHB (yes that includes Plate armor). The base camp will have in addition to basic PHB gear, potions of healing, level 0, 1, and 2 scrolls, and spell components worth up to 1000 gold available to restock should we find ourselves running in fear from the Tomb after losing all our stuff. This is intended to be used as a place we can rebuild PC's should our characters die or need replacement stuff for free. The DM will not allow abuse of this feature, so no grabbing 5 sets of Plate armor for a single character.

Guidelines. There are 5 Players. We will be level 14 (a bit high imo, I thought level 12 would be the norm). PHB, SCAG, Volo's, and the non-crazy UA's (still have to be approved by the DM before they can be used) are allowed. We will start with 6500 gold to purchase our initial starting gear and spell components (or whatever we like), as well as being able to choose 3 uncommon magic items and 1 rare magic item from the DMG (no cost). Not much of a need for backstory, as we are building characters specifically to go into this dungeon and not really care what happens to them afterwards.

The Question. What is your ideal party composition for delving into the Tomb of Horrors within the guidelines presented above? Please, refrain from dropping major spoilers.

[Dalebert]

My only suggestion would be get someone in there with (insanely) high perception and investigation skills. Have some spell versatility. I would value versatility of spells over power, e.g. divination type stuff over Delayed Blast Fireball. Prepare lots of remedy spells, e.g. Lesser Restoration, Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, Greater Restoration, etc. Have some fodder like skeletons or Unseen Servants for opening things and messing with stuff. Bring bigger-on-the-inside containers with lots of gear--ropes, grappling hooks, pitons, 10 ft poles (seriously), crowbars, chalk, oil. I mean, just get creative. We literally had one guy who added up everything in the gear list, multiplied by 5, spent that much and said he had five of everything in the PHB. Surprising how useful it ended up being on several occasions.

Too bad you can't pick Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments as an item or you'd have that covered.

Be super paranoid; just not quite as paranoid as we were. We spent close to 20 hours finishing it and some folks were getting way burnt out on the tedium. It's hard to say where to draw the line. I think my roommate has PTSD from it.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I prefer pure classes to multi-classed ones, so I'd do- half-elf lore bard, high elf divination wizard, variant human ancients paladin, hill dwarf life cleric, and winged tiefling tome fiendlock. This is to create a ton of utility, defensive buffs, healing, necessary skills, and massive redundancy. Redundancy is more vital than you may realize, and combat prowess is a secondary concern. Hitty-type characters have little place in the tomb, so definitely don't take your average barbarian or fighter, and even most monks, rangers, and rogues are mostly dead weight. Those who cannot either save party members or come with good magical utility aren't going to be much help, and are going to be bored or dead.

Don't waste too much of your gold on magic arms and armor. While you do need some of it, items with weird utility are worth so much more. Sovereign glue could jury rig solutions to problems, for example. Sending stones can be used to avoid making bad situations worse. If you can buy spell scrolls, load up on every single incidental spell you can think of that might be remotely useful. Those are probably the best use of your money. As for your freebie magic items, I'm not sure off the top of my head. Your usual bread and butter equipment upgrades, I'd say. Again, there isn't much fighting in the tomb, but what IS there can be incredibly dangerous.

[Thrudd]

Just have smart players that are good listeners, pay attention and be paranoid. It doesn't really matter what characters you have. I suppose having some magic never hurts.

[Beelzebubba]

Just have smart players that are good listeners, pay attention and be paranoid. It doesn't really matter what characters you have. I suppose having some magic never hurts.

Yeah, this.

To paraphrase Gary, 'it's about player skill, not character skill'. Equipping perfectly for it sort of defeats the purpose.

I think it's even more fun to go in a bit lower level and each bring in two characters, or a character and a hired henchman.

[Biggstick]

My only suggestion would be get someone in there with (insanely) high perception and investigation skills. Have some spell versatility. I would value versatility of spells over power, e.g. divination type stuff over Delayed Blast Fireball. Prepare lots of remedy spells, e.g. Lesser Restoration, Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, Greater Restoration, etc. Have some fodder like skeletons or Unseen Servants for opening things and messing with stuff. Bring bigger-on-the-inside containers with lots of gear--ropes, grappling hooks, pitons, 10 ft poles (seriously), crowbars, chalk, oil. I mean, just get creative. We literally had one guy who added up everything in the gear list, multiplied by 5, spent that much and said he had five of everything in the PHB. Surprising how useful it ended up being on several occasions.

Too bad you can't pick Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments as an item or you'd have that covered.

Be super paranoid; just not quite as paranoid as we were. We spent close to 20 hours finishing it and some folks were getting way burnt out on the tedium. It's hard to say where to draw the line. I think my roommate has PTSD from it.

I think we'll probably have the super paranoid part down. We've spent an entire 5-6 hour session (plus time outside game) planning and executing the scouting/taking over of a castle.

We have one Player who's already excited to play an Arcane Trickster, so they'll be the primary Rogue. I'll be playing a Trickery Cleric with a 1 level dip of Rogue (Expertise in Perception/Investigation), the Observant feat, and maxed out Wisdom as a back-up to him being the primary Rogue. I know Trickery Cleric isn't necessarily the ideal Cleric for a delve into the Tomb, but I've never had a chance to play one, and I won't miss the chance!

I'll be grabbing all the utility based stuff you were talking about on my Cleric as well. I think this is the first Cleric that I won't take Banishment or Spirit Guardians on!

I also plan have quite a bit of the PHB listed equipment in my Bag of Holding. You never know when you might need it.


I prefer pure classes to multi-classed ones, so I'd do- half-elf lore bard, high elf divination wizard, variant human ancients paladin, hill dwarf life cleric, and winged tiefling tome fiendlock. This is to create a ton of utility, defensive buffs, healing, necessary skills, and massive redundancy. Redundancy is more vital than you may realize, and combat prowess is a secondary concern. Hitty-type characters have little place in the tomb, so definitely don't take your average barbarian or fighter, and even most monks, rangers, and rogues are mostly dead weight. Those who cannot either save party members or come with good magical utility aren't going to be much help, and are going to be bored or dead.

Don't waste too much of your gold on magic arms and armor. While you do need some of it, items with weird utility are worth so much more. Sovereign glue could jury rig solutions to problems, for example. Sending stones can be used to avoid making bad situations worse. If you can buy spell scrolls, load up on every single incidental spell you can think of that might be remotely useful. Those are probably the best use of your money. As for your freebie magic items, I'm not sure off the top of my head. Your usual bread and butter equipment upgrades, I'd say. Again, there isn't much fighting in the tomb, but what IS there can be incredibly dangerous.

Why would you bring a Warlock instead of a Rogue? Otherwise, I like the look of your group. Lots of overlap in all the right places.

I was under the impression that Rogues, Wizards, and Clerics are some of the most useful classes when delving into the dungeon. I've heard this place is a Trap finding Rogue's paradise, as it's practically full of the things.

Thanks for the heads up on magic armor and weapons.


Just have smart players that are good listeners, pay attention and be paranoid. It doesn't really matter what characters you have. I suppose having some magic never hurts.

Oh we'll definitely have some magic, and some paranoid players. :)

[Vaz]

Rogue with Expertise in Thieves Tools, Life Cleric, and Wizard of some variant; Evocation probably, or a Harvest Druid with a level of something to use with Magic Missile if you use Mike Mearls stupid rule. No save, no attack roll is awesome.

Also, take multiple 10ft poles, if not more.

[FabulousFizban]

Ideal balance are the PCs, and hirelings, sooo many hirelings.