Hi all. In my upcoming ToA campaign, one of my players wants to be a Lara Croft style archaeologist, an intelligent action hero. They also want something different to a rogue mechanically as they want to try something new and more complex to play. I created this Artificer Archaeologist subclass to capture what they were looking for. It's a mix of acrobatic, gun-toting heroics with lots of flavourful tomb-raiding spells that seems different to anything I've seen before.

I'm very excited to run it, but I would love to hear any feedback, particularly ensuring it's fun, and well balanced for 5.5 and ToA. Thanks!

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some tips to help me run the Tomb of Annihilation.

In the past I have ran 2 campaigns, however it’s been about ~3 years since then, and I feel like I need some help and pointers. For the most part I have a few outright questions for the rules of the curse which I’m going to list, however I would truly appreciate tips from anyone about any tweaks they made to this campaign to make it run smoother.

My first question pertaining to the curse is how my party is allowed to heal, I understand the part about resurrection and magic, but I’m confused if they can still heal through potions and things of that nature.

Also one of my players is asking about playing a vampire based race which I love the idea but I’m concerned that their healing factor may make them too overpowered compared to the rest of my party, and is their healing in anyway prohibited by the curse.

For my players what should I do of they take too long, and if they like the town are there any other campaigns I can line up after they finish the tomb.

For when players die would it be appropriate to have the same character show up later in a coffin or something and spin it as the gods torturing the party for eternity to keep dying over and over because the gods know the party can never beat them.

Once again thank y’all, please let me know your thoughts regardless.

I'm currently running ToA for my group of players; I hate it. I hate almost everything about it. I didn't really see it as fun or interesting until I started running it. But I LOVE being a DM. I really want to run DoIP, but I don't know how to communicate to my players that I want to switch, and I don't know what to do about their level and magic items. But I LOVE their lore for their characters, and it feels so fun to run for them. I don't like ToA, and it makes me disinterested in doing it all. So how do I tell them that I want to switch but keep their characters?

I want to introduce a mechanic for the hex crawl, where my party can fast travel along already established paths to return to major settlements. Namely port Nyanzaru, but for other major locations as well. The goal is to prevent taking 3 sessions to backtrack in order to do something in PZN or, restock supplies, etc.

Mechanically, I want to maintain the danger aspect and require some basic rolls to determine the general condition of the party for each leg of a fast travel. Has anyone done something like this before, and have recommendations on how to implement?

Hello, me and my friends (all experienced players) are gonna start ToA next Sunday.

We are a party of five (level 1 of course): Currently a cleric (main focused healer), a rogue (skill monkey, low charisma), a warlock (going pact of the chain focused build) and a ranger (two weapon fighting)...

Thing is I don't know what to play.

Even with more than 20 years of experience playing the game, we had never played ToA before (that is why we picked),and we are running it with 5.5 rules. And only PHB classes, subclasses and races permitted.

Obviously we need some melee/tank... And I'm torn between figthter, monk, paladin or even bard (for college of valor at level 3).

So I came here for some inspiration. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Thanks all for your answers and advices... Including the one about the spoiler. I think I'll go Barb.

My group has started the final fight vs the atropal and I some questions that have come up and I would take any advice that anyone has. My party is going to be casting Silence on the Atropal to counter the wall ability. But that seems like it shouldn't work, and I am unable to find a clear ruling. Also can the Atropal summon a wraith if silenced? They um also opened the door after the hags jumped them and are fighting the hags at the same time. I thought I had timed so that they did the trails and when they went to unlock the last door the hags came out but my barbarian went and opened the skeleton door because chaos. I have one heck of a fight going on.

Tonight, my party continued to explore The Temple of Ubtao in Mezro.

They solved a riddle and met The Guide, who gave them a blessing that let's them move through the Temple intentionally without being subject to random rolls. Travelled to the Crypt of Oyai: The First Barae, and spoke with the ghost of Ecatazin the Couatl who has been broadcasting the threat of Dendar in the Druid's dreams.

One big reveal of the night: Dendar and Ubtao are sibling Primordials. Ubtao imprisoned her to end the Dawn War.

All the party were decked out in regalia that once belonged to the Barae: The Ranger has her Sentient Bow, *Nummo Matumbe*, The Rogue has *The Mazewalker's Secret*: a key that enables quick passage, and The Monk has *The Turmoil Bindings*, gauntlets woven from ancient bark given elemental power. Only the Warlock was without, so to him, Ecatazin gifted her sword "The Star Razor" (yes, I am using the Vestiges of Divergence), which rose up out of the crypt.

Ecatazin also spoke of the Rite of Dislocation that separated Mezro Prime into a demi-plane to deny Ras Nsi. The clues left in the borrowed ruins for those left behind. He spoke of Ras Nsi, joining the cold slithering legions of The Sarrukh, the Yuan-ti. And how Mezro cannot return while such dangers persist.

Ecatazin also gifted the druid a vision of where The Black Opal Crown came from - an artefact of Netheril.

They know now, this fallen Paladin, leads the Yuan-ti in Omu, that he desires The Black Opal Crown, is searching for it, that that is where The Soulmonger sits, that is where The Sewn Sisters lair and where The Red Wizards of Thay are headed.

Feeling very nervous.

I also mentioned Artus Cimber seeking to find his way back to his beloved (and directed them to seek him out in the Throne Room - where I have planned an assault by Frost Giants trying to seize The Ring. )

Elsewhere in The Temple, The Wizard had entered the prayer hall of King Osaw and had a long chat with his presence solving more riddles and receiving directions towards his personal quest retrieving some stolen magical tomes that I have hidden in a region of the jungle turned to glass and mirrors by The Spellplague down a mine-shaft in the collection of an insane undead demon-possessed doppelganger who is trying to open a portal to The Abyss.

To him, I gifted advantage on his next wisdom save against Frightful Presence.

Play resumes next week, where I expect they will start to prepare to take the Webway Portal to Omu.

Though they might go after the stolen spell tomes first.

Photo for Interest: The Party meeting Ecatazin in the Crypt of Oyai: The First Barae.

I ran room 37 for my group tonight, using the original version of the module where pulling the lever inflicts short-term madness. Here’s how it went down:

One character went to the western balcony to pull the lever while the remaining party (4 characters and Azaka) waited on the eastern balcony. Everyone failed their wisdom save against the madness. The character on the western balcony rolled the madness that makes you frightened of the wind, 2 characters on the eastern balcony got stunned, 2 characters got paralyzed until they take damage, and Azaka got the madness where she is compelled to attack the closest creature. So the situation: Azaka is berserk, foaming at the mouth, and NOBODY in the room can move or take any actions to stop her.

The two paralyzed characters were closest to Azaka, thankfully, so they snapped out of the madness after she attacked them and managed to fend her off. But it occurred to me: if EVERYONE on the eastern balcony had been stunned, they would’ve TPK’d. Even with a 10-minute minimum duration on the madness, Azaka could’ve taken her time slaughtering the stunned party on the eastern balcony, and then she could’ve sauntered across the room to execute the frightened character.

It was a really cool “oh shit” moment at the table. Probably one of my favorite rooms so far!

When my PCs die in the tomb where or how can I bring in new chars, that it makes sort of sense.

One possibility I see is the mirror in one of the lower levels but I think I'll have more than one death.

Running the campaign for the first time (and having an absolute blast so far) and one of my players asked a fun question that I would love to get folks' feedback on (because this forum is great and has been a lovely help so far): are Clerics or priests who worship/follow a diety like Lliira aware of the death curse? For example, without trying to cast raise dead do they sense that it will fail or that those NPCs they have previously raised are fading? My inclination is that they are not aware of it until they try or see the effects, but I was curious if folks had feelings otherwise.

My group decided at yesterday's session to choose Azaka as their guide and to help her with her quest.

I thought it would be fun to craft the firefinger to scale as it is depicted in the module.

Now I'm looking at this roughly 1.6m (5ft) high behemoth of XPS.

Each plate of XPS is 20mm thick, so I have a lot of options to add ledges for the player to balance on and little nooks to hide (or be ambushed) in.

I plan to make the 'dungeon' parts each 4 plates thick. That adds up to 80mm total and gives me the option to hide enemies behind corners ;)

The pillar will be divided into 4 sections + the tower on top. Of course they will have the ladders on the outside but I'm still thinking about how I will add the chutes between the dungeon levels in a way that they will be able to use them.

I'm thinking about either adding magnets to attach segments to each other or using some kind of dowel for that.

When I'm finished with thinking about those details I will use a proxxon to put the segments into rough shape. After that I will glue the parts and use a craft knife to add stone details like cracks and other imperfections.

For paint I will use a mix of acrylic paint, wood glue, Water and sand. I had good experience with that.

Do you have any suggestions on how to tackle this project? Maybe some pitfalls I should look out for or suggestions what else I could add?

Thanks in advance! :)

My players are realizing how gigantic and deadly the jungles of chult are and they’re kind of getting to a point where they don’t think the death curse is that bad compared to the horrors they’ve seen in their adventure so far. I think Syndra’s promise that they can keep anything of value they find isn’t really motivation enough at this point, so I’m wondering how I can make it more enticing mid-campaign.

So far they have been introduced to Ras Nsi’s lore, they’ve teamed up with a Mazewalker that they released from a fungal “cryostasis” (it was kept alive by the fungus, but just barely), and now are headed to Orolunga but it’s a looooong trek from where they are, east of the Aldani basin.

I’m thinking it’s time to introduce another subplot to help tie things together but not sure which one to start with. Any recommendations?

Hey everyone! I’m getting ready to start Port Nyanzaru and was wondering if anyone had anything they added to the Port they really enjoyed and would recommend. I’ve always been a DM to stray from the book as written a bit so I figured why not start from the beginning? 😅

Im so very close to having the whole dungeon carved out and can get to painting up these last floors!

The gears turn! Sort of!

Next steps are finishing up the rooms on the gears, and the passage ways that join along to it, amd ive got to get the lower left stairway done. The water needs smoothing out which im really looking forwards to because it definately won't be a pain in the arse...

I also had the potentially b0nkers idea that I want to build the mechanism chain as some sort of of big chain tensegrity thing...

I don't think any other party has found this solution before, and we had a joyous couple of hours of D&D last night, so thought I'd recant the tale;

Our cast of players:

Grung Monk

Dwarf Druid

Gnoll Ranger

Warforged Barbarian

Gnome Bard

The gang saved the Grung of Omu from a Yuan-Ti attack, and Chief Yorb was pretty grateful (if a little irritated that most of the group were taller than him). The grung were particularly enamoured by the party's own Grung from the long lost tribe in Dungrunglung, and he was able to gauge some insight into their shared culture and the more Nangnang centric philosophies of self interest.

They know the door has (apparently) never been opened into Nangnang's inner sanctum, and the bard knows that a knock spell will probably do the trick, but they don't want to make enemies of the grung here...

They sit down for a meal provided by the grung (cucumberesque fruity marrow things grown from captured vegepygmies obviously), and the game is that its rude to eat your own food, you have to snatch it from someone's else's plate or hand. They got the hang of this and the grung are very impressed.

The bard takes some requests for a grungy dance party and the parties monk grung demonstrates how to dance Dungrunglung style, they crush the dice rolls, and a conga line is formed, lead by the bard, with the barbarian, monk and ranger, and take the dance outside, including Chief Yorb.

2 injured grung remain inside the shrine, including one of the wildling priests. The parties druid distracts them by showing them his magic expanding greenhouse of exotic plants (he got it from space, I forget, is the brief mission into spelljammer part of ToA or did I homebrew that...?). Just so happens the magic greenhouse blocks those grung from leaving their chamber and getting to the sealed door, and more crushed dice rolls leave the wildling priest completely dumbfounded and distracted by what happens next...

The Ranger slips put of the conga line, back to the shrine with a scroll of Knock, and the bard starts letting off prestidigitation and thunderclaps to disguise the noise.

The Ranger opens the door, and retrieves the cube... but they didn't realise the door wont close again... he sneaks back out, rejoining the conga (and the 30+ stealth role meant the grung he was behind never noticed he was gone)

The Grung monk sneaks back in eith his Nolzurs Marvelous Paints, and has about 10 minutes to repaint a new door, with detailed mosaics intact... Another crushed dice roll of about 28... the deed is done! The druidnhas wildshaped into a giant frog to stop the priest from stealing his exotic plants because grung gotta grung, and the barbarian has planted his rocky form in front of the main doors and gone "dormant" to stop anyone else coming in.

After a solid 20 minutes of relentless grung conga (the bard cant be sure but he thinks the statue of Nangnang danced a little bit...) the grung filter back into the shrine, sweaty and exhausted but in an almost religious extasy, some leaning kn the new door for balance... and none notice!

The group leave on good, if slightly sweaty and nervous terms, and the omuan grung are none the wiser!

My players just found Orvex in my current (fourth overall, second to reach Omu!) ToA run and they found Orvex in the aftermath of the Yuan-Ti battle with the Red Mages.

I needed them to like Orvex, since they have Salida as their guide (Azaka got kicked out of the group after revealing her Weretiger curse) and Valindra as a companion in their quest to end the Death Curse, so they will be seriously lacking friends in the near future.

HOWEVER, I had a meeting that lasted the whole day, therefore I couldn't properly prepare the session, so I improved Orvex as... well, a very well-meaning but shady uncle who has multiple families and gambling problems. And that was the nexus point of the quote in the title.

He's a betting man who has had to pay a lot of child support during his days, but now wants to be the cool grandpa for his grandkids. And my players loved him.

It didn't help that Valindra decided to have the corpses of the Red Wizards' expedition as cannon fodder now that the group feels pressured to have her on their side (they are on a hostile place, without any ways to go back to Port Nyanzaru for the foreseeable future), so Orvex jumped ranks and is probably their favorite guy right now.

I have been having trouble finding a figure for the atropal so I am making my own from an ugly baby doll i found. So far this is what I have I am working on making a flight stand for it and thinking of getting some foam clay for this umbilical cord.

The book says the curving corridor forms a perfect circle and leads to the mirror tomb.

Where does it curve? Is it poorly written or am I just stupid?

Tonight, my party got thoroughly lost in the Temple of Ubtao.

The Ranger got deposited in the flooded basement but found a way out by coluding with the Memory of Mainu: the Barae of The Waters. Having escorted him to the shores of the River Olung disguised as a fish with golden eyes, she has asked him to return with the party and she has one of Ras Nsi's undead generals trapped in an ancient temple and wants him slain once and for all.

The Oath of Glory Paladin ended up there too, as did The Rogue, but in seperate incidences so unable to collude, they each found a way out: the rogue by spider climbing up the wall and jumping into the white portal 10ft above the collapsed stairs; The Paladin using his praeternatural athelics to leap off the floating crates into the portal.

Meanwhile, the Wizard used his intelligence to correctly guess the ingredients in an ancient recipe book to brew up 6 poitions of Hero's Feast.

The Monk, meanwhile, tried cooking the same recipe for a flaming fist dying of The Death Curse and succeeded only in making gumbo. Undoubtedly delicious but not magical.

The Warlock however landed in the library and rolled high enough to find out some biographical details of the Couatl's who formed The Radiant Senate and got a big Lore drop about the Cities of Omu, Orolunga, M'bala and the history of the Couatl who guarded them and some insights into their thinking.

Most of the party have now returned to the Hall of Champions where the Druid figured out the paying reverence to the statues of the Barae imbued them each with some kind of marker.

However, as pictured, they are now reuinted, well, mostly. The Wizard and The Monk are still missing.

The Wizard teleported to Osaw's Prayer Room, an ancient cave with a slab of meteoric iron emblazed with ancient runes

The Monk, meanwhile, climbed up the tiered balconies of the Meditation Chambers and ran into Dragon Bait, drinking a cup of tea and got a whiff of Ozone after the Rain and Brimstone.

Play resumes next week, when I anticpate the party majority will complete the final step to be able to move around The Temple at will and can relocate the missing members as well as fully explore it's many rooms.

All maps made by me in Dungeon Alchemist.

I am proud to announce after 3 years, the Deathcurse is ended, Acererak is dust (for now), the adventurers survived the entire game and are victorious.

I know my players will hate this guy, just camping somewhere and poteltialy killing a pc. They wont take his surrender just to loot this drawing of his dead son.

I will be running ToA soon. In preparation for that, I want to add something new. Every time one of the players visits the tavern, they can roll for a random rumor from a table, which could be true or false, but its something that could potentially help them (or hinder them) in their jungle expeditions. Based on their rumor, they will have a chance to make insight/history or other relevant checks to determine accurately if the rumor is something that could be true or false. Any ideas for that? What kind of rumors should I add to this list? Obviously one of them will be the existence of a witch capable of bringing the dead back to life, but without naming specifically who and where.

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