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View Full Version : DM Help Tomb of Annihilation - make it more difficult



arcane_asp
2020-12-29, 12:03 PM
I've been running the Tomb of Annihlation campaign this year, around the same table where possible, and via Roll20 where not. Spoilers below for ToA.

Do any of you fine folks on the GitP forum have any other advice for making Omu & the Tomb more challenging for some competent (and a little bit lucky) players?

Following my earlier thread about Ras Nsi, the party have finally started their run on Omu, and I'm looking forward to running Omu and the Tomb itself :smallsmile:

HOWEVER - the party are all fairly competent players, have followed up extensive side quests, and amassed several NPC's to bolster their ranks. They are a bit higher than the recommended range in the module for Omu, and looking at some of the inventive but not-so-challenging content in Omu, I am concerned that it and the Tomb may not be the big campaign enders I want themto be.

I'm going to tweak it to be more of a challenge. Blessed mother internet has been forthcoming so far, and the 'upgraded' King of Feathers will definitely be making an appearance!

Have considered some modifications to puzzles, more/stronger monsters and some serious organization from the various factions contesting Omu that might be exciting for the players:


The Yuan-Ti (already precedent for clashing with them, see my earlier post 'Surprise Ras Nsi!')
Red Wizards (the players have already fought against some agents in Port Nyanzaru and clashed with Valindra at the Heart of Ubtao)
Kobolds
Vegepygmies
Grung



The current party have medium to good range of magic items, most have a +1 or adamantine weapons. They consist of:

Mondo - Wizard (8)
Serendipity - Bard (5) Warlock (3)
Mistar - Rogue (5) Cleric (3)
Xengu - Samurai (8)
Patrycia - Paladin (7) Cleric (1)

NPC
Artus Cimbar
Dragonbait
Mwaxanare

Willie the Duck
2020-12-29, 12:31 PM
The challenges in the tomb are fine for that group of players. For me what worked best to make it more challenging is make it a bit less clear if the party can take a rest or not (particularly long rest, as the doomsday countdown doesn't seem to make people seem too rushed). Perhaps include some extra sources of wandering monsters to it.

Where I'd put some more challenges is the jungle. Many of the threats there are very boolean (either you have enough water, or you don't, etc.). Adding some things that nip at the heels would be interesting (perhaps some readily defeat-able but persistent and ubiquitous small carnivorous dinosaurs keep trying to eat them in the middle of the night).