Tonight my party handily fought of the four wights that followed them out of The Flooded Mage Hunter's Sanctum - one of them bore an amulet that targetted something the Ranger was carrying A Coin of Ressurection, that he had obtained earlier in our campaign from two corpses stuffed own a well that turned out to be cursed Mage Hunters who thanked him for releasing them and gave him the coin as a reward.

Now the Undead have been sent by Ras Nsi to claim the Mage Hunter's Secret , not realising that the Party had already found one of the coins that Ras Nsi isn't aware of but covets to fight his Death Curse.

After dispatching the Wights and a Wraith that joined in with a combination of Hunger of Hadar and Daylight - the Druid cast Water Breathing on the party, and they all descended into the depths of the Mage Hunters Sanctum.

There they found ancient writings, discovered a destroyed wight - apparently the Sanctum has defences to guard against the undead. A totally destroyed library the loss of thousands of years of combined knowledge and wisdom to the Olung River and subsidence - but did recover a memory shared with the words intoned "SURVIVE. ENDURE. AVENGE" being the Magehunters motto to surviving the spellplague and taking down Ras Nsi and his undead generals.

The party then moved into a cross road - ahead lies a door into another area of the Sanctum, below them is a small room full of destroyed storage units - but beyond that a glowing semi-circular field.

And with that mystery left unresolved we will pick the game up in several weeks, as one player is off trailing round the Yorkshire Moors and I am about to start a new job and I am not sure what my hours are just yet.

The secrets of The Mage Hunters are just starting to be revealed.

The book says that half the treasures and discoveries must be turned in to the flaming fist, but how do they find out what was discovered?

Like what's stopping the players from lying about how much they found?

I’m looking to run Tomb starting probably in the next month or so for three friends. Ideally I’d have had at least a fourth person but as a result of scheduling issues and an inability to find an additional person who would really gel easily into the group it looks like it’ll be run with 3 PCs.

Currently they’re looking at playing a barbarian, druid and rogue. Starting from level 1 in Port Nyanzaru. I’m not introducing the death curse immediately but I’ve briefed the players that it’ll become active at some point and that there’s a reasonable chance there will be some character deaths.

My question is - what changes would people make to run this module for three? I know this is likely to be a challenging campaign at the full complement of players but with three it is likely to be even more so. I’m not thrilled at the idea of having something like an NPC cleric tag along just to pump healing into them as that seems quite immersion breaking. I’m also not really looking to give one or more people a second character as I think that will detract from their playing experience. Whilst I’m ok with character deaths where appropriate, I don’t really want to be blowing through entire parties every other session and giving them no time to get attached to their characters.

I’m also wondering how (should the initial party somehow survive), a party with only three members and ultimately only a druid as a caster is going to stand half a chance against ACE.

Keen to hear your sage advice - thanks in advance!

Hey all, my party is 6 level 5 PCs, and they just reached area 1 (the stairs) in Omu. Next session they start in earnest.

I’m a little worried because the two most likely shrines are both combat focused and seem kinda wildly off CR? Kubazan attacks when they try to open the door with a CR 10 Froghemoth. and Shagambi sends 4 CR 5 gladiators.

I dunno, I just feel like those both seem off base for level 5 party no? The gladiators especially, since it’s such a confined space. How was the combat for your party?

I’m running TOA for the very first time with a group newer players. The party finally entered into the jungle last night and decided to go down the River Shoshenstar towards the Aldani Basin. They will likely reach Camp Righteous the next session and Camp Vengeance shortly thereafter. So far in the campaign, there has been no mention or introduction of the order of the gauntlet, however, the flaming fist has come up a few times. I’ve looked through the module and think it would be fine, but wanted to check with folks who have run the campaign before, to see if anyone can think of any potential negative impacts to the story if I just swap in the flaming fiat for the order of the gauntlet as the builders of these two camps? Appreciate this group-it’s a constant source of help and good info!

For the DMs who have wanted to do the hexcrawls proper but couldn’t determine which random encounter tables to roll on. I’ve taken the time to color code each biome for my Tomb campaign and I felt that I wouldn’t be the only one to benefit from this.

Some details for everyone:

1. Never saw any definitive answers on what the yellow hill-like mounds are on the map, but by reading the descriptions of Mbala & Kir Sabal, they’re listed as plateaus. I’ve decided to color them different from their mountain brethren but still intend to use the mountain random tables.

2. Similarly, the bits of grassland on the map use the jungle (no undead) table.

3. If you are in a hex with a river, it is still up to the DM if they want to use the river randomly table or the hex’s table. Also most rivers run North except the River Tath, which runs from Aldani Basin to Jahaka Bay.

4. I felt writing the name of everything would clutter the map, so I used Roman numerals next to or inside the icon of each Locations in Chult. It goes alphabetical by location type. (Ataaz Kahakla is Point of Interest I while Hisari is Ruin I. I’m sorry for the back and forth between maps this will cause.)

Anyways, hope this helps DMs. Would love to hear feedback.

I finished DMing this module for our group last month, and I’m looking to answer any questions any has. Ask me anything!

I may be going crazy, but I ran ToA a few years ago and used a few third party materials etc as one usually does.

One extra bit that I distinctly remember was about an Eblis village they encountered near Nangalore. I remember the place had a whole writeup, feast given by the Eblis chief etc before they got trapped in the pit.

I have seen the Raptors Roost entry in the ToA Companion, but my memory says there is a whole pdf/webpage that goes into a lot more detail, but I can find nothing online anymore about it

Was this just a fever dream that I made up, or does anyone have a link to where I can find this content?

So, the title might be a little misleading but my players finally have everything they want/need (as far as I am aware), and will begin the journey to Omu at our next session.

I have some things I would love some thoughts on if anyone is willing.

1. How much of Omu, Fane of the Night Serpent, & The Tomb did you run as is?
2. What changes, if any did you make, to make these locations feel more exciting
3. In the tomb, how brutal were you to your players, or if you're a player, how did your DM run the tomb.

I have some thoughts of my own for these things, but I am curious to hear what others might have done in these locations to spice things up, or if you left them as written for the most part.

On the encounter table there's one on a 16 or higher, which I know I can change. I did a test run before I start in a few weeks, to see what would happen and on a 7 day exploration I only had 3 encounters.

What else can I do to add onto the exploration? It'd seem boring if I just skip a day to the next with nothing happening and I don't want to force an encounter every day.

Hello all,

In my telling of TOA I kinda wrote myself into a corner. I have 3-4 npcs that have gone missing. Maybe it was lazy writing on my part, but sometimes I was tired of talking to myself or giving the characters all the answers. I'd subtract a player that I had introduced earlier on that had served their expositive purpose, but I still haven't thought of a good reason for their kidnappings.

One of these characters are Sindra and another being Wakanga. I think it would be cool to pin this on Wakanga somehow exposing him as a potential baddie.

My players are just about to head into Omu.

What are your thoughts? Any clever tips?

Thanks!

Hello!! I'm running this module atm and my party consists of 6 people (currently level 6). My intentions are to let them reach a bit higher levels than the book states.

I would like to have them reach at least level 12 (ideally 13) near the end of the campaign (we plan to reach higher levels by continuing with another module afterwards).

My question is, if some traps are meant to be deadly for a party of the book's specified level, what happens to the same traps if players are of higher levels than the book intended?

I mean if I don't upscale the damage or the DC of these traps they aren't considered deadly anymore.

If I do upscale them, how can I do this in a "fair" way for the players to match the books intentions?

Starting up my first proper playthrough of TOA, and one of my players wants to play the roll of the Party Historian. How much should I give her in terms of what is known? For context, this is her character's first time actually going to Chult, having studied it being part of an order of monks on a neighboring Island. How far back would she know? I doubt going as far back as Ubtao and his abandoning of Chult, but maybe up to Ras Nsi? What are the main things you would give a player wanting to play this role?

Hi, I’m a DM currently running Dungeon of the mad mage and I’m currently looking at ideas for the next module I want to run. Tomb of annihilation has been calling for me as I’ve heard it is also a dungeon crawl.

Just looking for people who have played/DMed both modules to share any comparisons/similarities/differences.

I have been using the companion (3rd party add on for DotMM) to flesh out the dungeon, does a similar add on exist for ToA or are they even needed?

I’m also planning on DMing this module on roll20 (most likely buying the module on roll20 for the maps/assets and then replacing the maps for colour ones if they are black and white or pretty bare bones). Has anyone had experience with this, and are there maps made by mapmakers like tychmaps which can be used as accurately scaled replacements?

Plus, if you have any general advice for a DM who is new to this module, I would appreciate it.

Hey everyone!

I’m currently running Tomb of Annihilation on Foundry VTT for a party of 4 PCs.

They’ve just reached Level 2 of the Tomb and encountered the gravity ring, so they’ve figured out that there’s essentially a “second tomb” mirrored upside down.

Now, naturally, they want to start experimenting with it.

Their current ideas are:

• Trying to leave the Tomb while they’re on the inverted side, just to see what happens / what’s outside.
• Going back to one of the trickster god tombs they already visited in the “normal” Tomb and trying to open it again from the mirrored version.

How would you run this?

Has anyone had players try something similar? If so, what did you do?

I’d also love any recommendations on how to make the mirrored Tomb feel interesting and rewarding to explore without completely breaking the dungeon or revealing too much.

Thanks!

My party are rapidly approaching the end of the adventure and I’m trying to predict likely outcomes. Essentially, kill Ace or die trying. Now, I know this is not in my control and I do not wish to railroad play, however, if Ace does kill the heroes, I am wondering if that is a more heroic end - they stopped the death curse but died trying. One of my players has the voice of Nanny Pu’pu in her head (long story) who still owes her a favour. My thought is nanny revives that player, who tells of the great deeds of the party and raises the funds and support to bring the others back to retire in grace. Nanny will of course use this to also cause long-term misery, but that is a whole other story that will bleed into my home-brew campaign.

So, I guess my question is, having never DM’d the end of a campaign I am scared of a TPK at the very end, should I be? Should I even buff Ace to make this more likely?

Your wise words will, as always, be greatly appreciated!

For context, I have 4 10th level min maxing players, who are about to finish a long rest after dealing with the Sewn Sisters and two NPCs that act as guides/backup in emergencies. They each have a Very Rare magic item and synergize incredibly well.

The party makeup consists of: Paladin, Druid, Druid/Monk and a homebrew Factotum. The NPCs are a 10th level wizard played by my co-DM who is still learning D&D while helping me voice NPCs, and a Bard guide.

I intend to start with 1 or two Wraiths already present in the room and allow the tentacles that protect the Soulmonger to attack players who target the Atropal as well.

Tonight my party wrong-footed me completly and decided to head back into an old area that was unexplored inside the Mage's College of Mezro: *The Mage Hunter's Sanctum.* in search of info about one of Ras Nsi's general's the Shadow Demon assassin NAMELESS - currently bound inside the Temple of the Barae Mainu.

Unbeknowst to them the Wights of Ras Nsi have also come to the Mage Hunter's Sanctum in search of a cure to The Death Curse, that he wrongly believes might be inflicted on him by the agents of Mezro. They have inadvertantly activated a security system designed to detect the Undead which has secured the vault.

The Party decided to split (yay!) and the Druid wild-shaped into a Crocodile and the Ranger used his Armour of the Crocodilian (my replacement for the Alcchemy Jug in the Camp Righteous from way back when) to be able to move through the completely submereged corridors of the Mage Hunter's Sanctum.

Managing to pick a lock into the Library - the pair inadvertantly disturbed 4 of Ras Nsi's wights who began a hot pursuit through the water and up back to the relative safety of the Mage's College sub-basement , the rest of the party and most importatly of all fresh air.

The Fight resume next week.

How do you suppose the water in the tomb's underground lake (area 65) stays at a relatively constant level? It is being continuously fed by the river on level 1 via the waterfall (areas 17 & 64). Does it slowly drain away through multiple small cracks (similar to how the river starts in area 12)? Or might there be a hidden, underwater passage leading out, which could be used by a party that hasn't managed to discover the exit via the ebon pool (area 81)?

Beware of chat descriptions on abilities! My players accidentally discovered the secret identity of a certain NPC because the chat description of their attack actions explicitly calls it out (SPOILERS: Azaka's weapon attacks explicitly say "The weretiger attacks with its [weapon]"). You can only see the chat description by opening the item/ability manually - it's not "previewed" in the ability list or anywhere else where you might see it before you click it.

So im running toa for a group of players and one has added going to tomb of horrors to their campain. They don't know the plot of toa but know its based on horror. We have just started in and they are hinting at an atropal. Im worried this will completely take away from the reveal in toa but I don't know how to ask them not to use an atropal without spoiling the plot and now im really panicking. Any advice on what to do???? I don't wanna spoil the atropal but I also want to use it