Even though there are no clues given for this level of the tomb, my players didnt have much trouble figuring out the trials in areas 72 through 76. Its not exactly clear what the party is supposed to do with the whole apparatus, and this clue at least gives an indication as to how to proceed, and the notion that lucky and unlucky outcomes are possible here. They are a high level party and it seems odd giving them zero experience points despite hours of . Q19. Ill also give you some recommendations on handling boss encounters, as well as a little number-crunching to help make things a little more dangerous right at the end. Tomb of Annihilation: Episode 23. PUZZLE FLOOR To reach this section of hall, characters must climb a 7-foot-high ledge. Interested in flipbooks about Tomb of Annihilation? updated Feb 28, 2023. Shagambis Tomb, Area 48. The structure got its name. This is kind of a counter-clue, because rewarding solving a puzzle with betrayal and death is kind of a cheap shot, and at least this lets the PCs know that all might not be as it seems. It had 3 rotating levels and Old Omuan inscription at its base: "Bound by devotion to . This is where they can find the control gem for the slaad in area 24, for one thing. They have been played hundreds of millions of times online. Thats what the players said. Description: Tile-based puzzle game with smooth and addictive gameplay, old-school isometric graphics and excellent music. Finding the Entrance, Areas 2 through 4. You can get between area 70 and the control room, but you have to get into area 70 and find the secret door first, and that means fighting all of the baddies in the wardrobes in area 60. Power word kill is something to remember here, especially if PCs arent dying. The Batiri are goblins. The general effect here is that by the end of a few rounds, the party is completely overwhelmed with devils, and more are arriving all the time. Its a no-win situation, and the best to really be hoped for here is that the players decide that locking their PCs into mysterious chests isnt worth the risk, which of course it isnt. I have not actually play-tested this numerically, and I probably should, but I would say that providing 30 temporary HP instead of 50 as the Trickster God benefit would make the dangers much more relevant, if you wanted a tougher final battle. I would suggest putting the Soulmonger into the initiative order, either by rolling or by assigning it to initiative count 20 (like a lair action). Be strong, and dont let a book intimidate you into making bad decisions for your game. Its a death sentence. At least it gives you a nice, clean way to get rid of that pesky forearm so you can go about your business. As soon as someone reaches the middle of Tunnel A, the whole thing rotates, and now Tunnel B is connecting areas 31 and 34, and anyone who was in Tunnel A when the rotation happened is now trapped there and waiting to die from suffocation. As an NPC, she is portrayed by Spencer Downs. Meaning that there are four principles in man, and this is their destiny:the flesh to earth; the ghost to the tomb; . The bore is the only animal that is depicted that has more than one friend. Various Puzzle Cubes found around the Lost City: Papazotl I'Jin Unkh Kubazan Moa Held by Wizard Wongo Back to Links What Is Tomb of Annihilation?. The players have 12 rounds to figure out something to do, and they are able to use whatever magic or other skills they can muster to solve the problem of the wine pouring in, or to arrange to survive long enough for the room to drain. Okay, first fix is to change Shagambis treasure into something that whomever makes it to the sarcophagus will want and can use. Essentially, if the character needs to eat a snail or oyster, there needs to be a reason to try that: a wall carving, maybe, or empty shells. Either teleport characters into area 50 facing away from the mirror, or put a shroud or something over the mirror, or change something so that the very first unavoidable thing to happen after teleporting isnt getting stuck in the mirror. GM: Suddenly an explosion is heard! Q18C. Theyre a formidable enough enemy that you shouldnt need to resort to extra trickery to screw up the partys chances. In order to open the sarcophagus, the three buttons have to be pushed. I think I know how to solve puzzles, but nothing happen when I do as the hints show. D&D Tomb of Annihilation includes the following: 56 battle maps with pre-placed grids and encounters. Even if they dont understand what the marbles are for, make sure they get them, and make sure they get two of them in case they screw up the process at the ebon pool. Once the atropal has been killed, the adventure calls for Acererak himself to show up and take revenge on the heroes who fouled up his plan for cosmic evil. Another room that is entirely unfair, and is pretty much guaranteed to either result in a TPK or else permanently remove one PC from the party just as theyre getting to the final challenges and the end of this whole unforgiving campaign. There are a lot of things that can be tweaked to make this room actually survivable. Ill get down from the soapbox now. Each of the shrines they explored detailed a story in which two of the Trickster Gods were opposed to one another. The most iconic puzzle of the dungeon, massive stone gears which must be turned to navigate a lower section of the Tomb, is unsolveable unless the players sacrifice an NPC or PC to stay in the control room. For another, busting up the area or destroying Withers will stop the various traps and other hazards in the tomb from being repaired or reset by the tomb dwarves, who would then have no tools and no leader. Sometimes itll be best to just leave one alone, like Wongos, which just isnt worth the risk of death and dismemberment. This time as a digital board game called Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation.It will use the same base mechanics as other D&D board games like . The inside of this trap is still going to be extremely dangerous, and dealing with locks and doors while being spun to death wont be easy, but at least the players will have a good idea what they need to be doing. The Tomb of Horrors got them, because they fell for the old youll fit in there so you should give it a go trick. I dont think Ill be spilling the beans too badly by saying that the final part of the campaign will be a venture into the incredibly dangerous Tomb of the Nine Gods; after all, the very title of the hardcover makes it pretty clear that there will be a Tomb somewhere in this story, and that plenty of Annihilation will occur therein. The Soulmonger is a little more unusual. Buy the book from Game Kastle to support the D&D Compendium! But wait, the door is locked, and whats more, the designers made it so that the door locks cant be picked. But, thats the choice for this room: everyone dies, or else the players get to decide whos going to lose their character permanently this close to the end. And who actually does the making fun of people? So much for solving puzzles and riddles resulting in an actual reward instead of betrayal. So basically, either Ras Nsi or Fenthaza will give them the rest of the puzzle cubes and send them on their way. Now the Tomb is being resurrected again. Revolving Drum Trap, Area 38. And thats when my buddy socked me in the stomach, and they all stormed away, leaving me wondering what the hell had happened. In my opinion some of those were the best traps/puzzles designed for 5e and running that adventure has changed how I think about 5e traps and puzzles. Ras Nsi is a victim of the Death Curse, and wants the party to go into the Tomb and end the curse before he dies (note: if you look at his stat block on page 230, youll see his HP is supposed to be reduced each day of the campaign, which might result in his being dead or nearly so when the party finally meets him, so just ignore that and give him either full or half HP and be done with it). Again, Acererak isnt a particularly difficult enemy to run, although youll definitely want to brush up on his major spells and on how to control his sphere of annihilation. Share. Ill discuss this room in more detail below, but suffice it to say that this clue is meant to cause the party to think twice before charging into the room and setting things moving. Fortunately for everyone, Artus still has the Ring of Winter, which wasnt confiscated from him when he was captured. Im putting this room in the guide because it is a possibility that the party will retrieve the slaads control gem from Withers office, and will then have a grey slaad at their beck and call. 37 pieces of artwork that are sharable with players. The problem is that Handout 24 is meant to be handed to the players so they can see what the control room looks like, and consequently the diagrams for each of the five configurations are somewhat cryptic. Lets hit the high points, so to speak. The Maintenance Shop, Areas 26 to 28. Just assume stuff like that happens in every damn room! Now that theyve found two of these weird skulls, one on each level so far, theyll realize that searching out the rest of them is important, and you can make the next three of them a challenge to find, catch, or kill, because the players will know theyre looking for them. There arent many areas on this level, but some of the ones that are here are notable, and not in a good way. their tails from its underside. As far as the plot of the adventure, there isn't any need for Chapter 4 at all: the only reason for the party to venture into the Fane of the Night Serpent is because they don't have all of the puzzle cubes they need, and therefore they must go into the Fane to claim the . The Wine Room, Area 20. Dont split the party. Rubik's Cubes, interlocking ring puzzles, and puzzle gift boxes are inexpensive challenges that can entertain your players. Let the magnetic ball pull everyones armor and weapons in, but then have it drop them all right away. The traitor always lies thrice. Refers to area 62c, where correctly interpreting the gargoyles clues results in getting gassed and run over. I will offer the friendly advice that you shouldnt worry about any temporary connections between area 63 and area 58 while the gears are in the process of turning, because youll just give yourself a massive headache even deciding which gears are turning clockwise or counterclockwise. In order to rule such a motley mob, the goblin queen must defeat any challenges to her throne, and because of this, shes a ruthless and dangerous adversary . If you need combat to keep the players happy, consider using some different monsters, because the ones that come with the tomb are pretty dull. The adventure is heavily inspired by pulp adventure stories . The trick is getting a character down to below 100 HP, counting those temporary HP, by the time Acereraks turn comes around but the targeted characters turn has not. Some parts of the adventure have vast numbers of puzzles. 1920 "tomb of annihilation" 3D Models. Solving the Tomb of Annihilation Puzzle in D&D can be a daunting task, but there are some tips and tricks that can help make it a bit easier.First, it is important to remember that the puzzle is not meant to be solved in one sitting - it is meant to be worked on over time, with each person taking a turn trying to piece together the clues. This is really simple to fix. Because then they will be dead, and they will stay dead, and your campaign will be over. My idea is to adjust the last two to: Precious Air from the Sky, and Falling Sand Remains on Edge. Gargoyle Guardians, Area 45. called the Monkey Bridge. In order to make each button appear, a character has to climb into the corresponding chest and lock himself in, and then suffer whatever fate awaits him when the button is pushed. The gears can be solved by squeezing through the small gaps between the cogs and the catwalks, making the whole puzzle seem anti-climactic. The description does say that if you can open up the door that leads into the revolving drum, the trap will stop, which of course doesnt matter because if you can open the door you can just leave. If your players are hardcore completionists, there isnt much you can do or say about it, but it might be helpful for everyone to make it clear up front that clearing out each Trickster Gods tomb is not necessary for success. Assume that the Soulmonger has as many tentacles as it has possible targets, but that it can only take one or two tentacle actions on each of its turns, and only against a creature that has damaged it since its last turn. It might be better if it were an ability that recharged on a 5 or 6 (or even just a 6); that would be much more like dragon breath weapons, which do similar damage with a comparable save DC. Also, make sure that at least one of the characters can read the nursery rhyme: if nobody reads Infernal, then change the rhyme into some language that can be read. This isnt actually a very dangerous room, but Im including it because it has a feature you need to remember. The answer, then, was to place puzzle cubes such . Its a pretty dicey plan, but it could work; the problem is being able to explain to the players which openings in the cogs open onto the lake and when, because the diagrams on Handout 24 are not drawn in such a way as to make that very clear. Tomb of Annihilation - Session 20. Man I love running this game. And you listen to my Lord Lyttelton, he will tell you, in his "Dialogues of the Dead," that "in the annihilation of our globe, were Shakspere's works preserved, the whole science of man's nature might . It is possible to escape from this room, so that you can wander the tomb all alone until you meet an unpleasant end. There are 6 rounds, so I recommend describing the room as a hexagon, instead of the half-circle thats in the hardcover: that means that each wave of devils will come out of a different section of wall, so the players know how many total waves of devils they will need to defeat. Maybe theyll try to break the door, and thats a good plan. Fenthaza thinks that having the Black Opal Crown will help her hasten the coming of Dendar the Night Serpent, and shes under the (correct) impression that the Crown is in the Tomb, and she wants the party to go and bring it back out for her. The problem with both sections is that theres the possibility that Ras Nsi or Fenthaza will have the PCs executed if things go poorly, or even if things go well. Like Tomb of Annihilation? View flipping ebook version of Tomb of Annihilation published by dallas.benning3 on 2018-09-19. Replace them with nothing and just let the PCs get into area 48 without all the fuss. And who knows that aarakocra bones are full of breathable air, anyway, and even if they are, why should breathing out of one let you out of the cell? #dnd #5e #toaChapter 5 Part 1 of the epic 5th edition module "Tomb of Annihilation." Chapter 5 is the end of the line, but my oh my is there a lot to go over. Tomb of Annihilation is a jungle horror campaign that will take characters from 1st to beyond 10th level, as they face zombie dinosaurs, deadly puzzles, evil liches, and forge their own epic journey into the wildest jungles and deepest dungeons. Remember that the negative energy aura is both an ongoing damaging effect and also prevents healing for characters in melee. Any way you slice it, you need to get the party out of the yuan-tis clutches and send them on into Chapter 5, and I just gave you three perfectly good ways to make that happen. After all, the atropal is the real danger here, and the Soulmonger is much more like a lair effect than it is like a normal enemy or magical object. The atropal is actually a fairly straightforward enemy, although the stat block is complicated. Better just to press onward, and find the skeleton keys in order on the way down. The first fix option is to have someone or something do the control room tasks for the party, so they dont have to leave someone behind. I hate to be as cut-and-dried as this, but if Acererak doesnt manage to kill at least one of the PCs during this battle, its going to seem watered down to your players. The Soulmonger lies deep within the tomb, which is riddled with puzzles, traps, monsters, and magical . Nevertheless, having an entire chapter in order to accomplish this is overkill, so Ill be hitting the high points and then moving on. Remember Artus Cimber? Gravity Ring, Area 19. Choose from 30-piece, 110-piece, 252-piece, 500-piece, and 1000-piece puzzles. If someone in Shagambis Tomb rolls a low stealth check, everyone in the room dies. If this last bit happens, then youll all find yourself in the center of a melee of dangerous former prisoners of the mirror, most of whom will be trying to kill each other and also you and your friends. Except in the mirror tomb, the dangers are risks without the possibility of rewards. And, of course, there are generally four or five characters to deal with, and chain lightning and the Disrupt Life legendary action are the only ways to hit more than one of them at a time, at least for significant amounts of damage. The book also doesnt tell you how many tentacles the Soulmonger has available, which is also confusing to manage. This, too, is problematic, because while youre trying to figure all of this out, the whole room is rotating and everyone is being thrown around and bashed against the walls, which are springing out spikes, and sending out knock-out gas, and spewing sparks that make everyone go blind, and gushing out flammable vapors that fill the whole rotating mess with roaring flames. Often, they make sure that youll die by making some special exceptions that might have given you a way out of the problem, like saying that magic doesnt work in this trapped room, or that even creatures who dont need to breathe still suffocate or drown or are poisoned by gas. View flipping ebook version of Tomb of Annihilation published by Fijsar the Buccaneer on 2022-04-04. My solution to this problem was to require an Arcana check any time the party wanted to summon the slaad to help them.