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I'm having trouble with the Tomb of Horrors. My party is mostly newer players except for one veteran player, who happens to power build with another newer player (the overpowered clerics from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything).
I'm unsure of how to handle the place without instantly killing them.

  • I'm worried about killing them in the first two rooms; kinda makes your characters not wanna play.
  • I want to give them that Dark Souls or Baldur's Gate feeling that they are getting there, but they need a lot of backup characters.

What level should they be if my party has some power building going on (2 clerics twilight and peace, a barbarian of which I'm unsure, and a wizard in chronology, and possibly a divination wizard, I'm hoping to bring them all to tenth level, i need some help on how to run this torture of a campaign

KorvinStarmast
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Kaiden M
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  • What is an overpowered cleric from TCE? Is this a common opinion? – BlueMoon93 Jun 25 '21 at 13:46
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    This may also be the sort of thing that's easier to chat about than to compose a comprehensive "answer" for--I'd suggest you pop into [chat] if you're interested, as I know at least a few experienced regulars have run ToA. – nitsua60 Jun 25 '21 at 13:46
  • Thank you for the help, i will be sure to do that, @BlueMoon93 they get some op abiloities, a really great heal that can do around 10 temp hp a round for a minute,, along with a temp hp bonus, they also get this three times a day, that just makes them incredibly powerful when in combo, – Kaiden M Jun 25 '21 at 13:49
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    @BlueMoon93 I assume the Twilight domain, and yeah, it's realllllly good. – Thomas Markov Jun 25 '21 at 13:50
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    Headdesk: you're running ToH, not ToA. 'S'okay, though, because I know at least a couple regular chatizens have run 5e's ToH, too. – nitsua60 Jun 25 '21 at 14:40
  • I'll still suggest a review of these Q&A before you try to refine the question to get it reopened. – KorvinStarmast Jun 25 '21 at 16:17

2 Answers2

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If you are worried about a Total Party Kill(TPK)...

... then run a different adventure.

Seriously. (Yes, I am challenging the frame of the question).

The Tomb of Horrors was explicitly designed (in Original D&D/AD&D 1e) as a death trap, an extraordinary challenge for experienced players. (I won't comment on how well 5e has handled that intention in the conversion to this edition, there are other Q&A for that discussion). As a part of your session 0 for embarking on this adventure/module, you need to find out if your players accept that their PCs may die.

  1. If they accept that possibility, then run the adventure and see how they do. They may surprise you.
  2. If they do not think that a TPK result will be fun, then find another adventure and run that.
  3. If they are fine with "we agree with backup characters being needed" per your Dark Souls / Baldur's Gate idea, you need to find that out in Session 0.

I am going to say this again: if you are DM'ing the Tomb of Horrors and you (the DM) don't like the prospect of the adventure killing off the party, or part of the party, then that adventure/module isn't for your group - it would be kind of like serving up a plate of pasta primavera when your group is expecting omelets.

If you are using Tales from the Yawning Portal, there are ample fine adventures for your party that are not the ToH.

Our friend @NautArch ran ToH recently. He encountered the problem of the adventure not fitting well with the group's expectations. They ended up moving on to another adventure. You can probably discuss their experience further in chat

KorvinStarmast
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  • @Acerack If you go to the link I plugged in there, we have a wide variety of answers for that adventure that I think you ought to review before you make a decision. Suggest you read through them and get an idea on what other DMs have discovered. There's a lot of good stuff in there. – KorvinStarmast Jun 25 '21 at 13:53
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    I agree, ToH is not the best adventure to run for new players, might break a lot of expectations players have about the game – BlueMoon93 Jun 25 '21 at 13:57
  • @Acerack I have put your comment into your question. That is the kind of info we need In The Question to give you a good answer. – KorvinStarmast Jun 25 '21 at 13:59
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    @Acerack but wasn't dark souls about losing until you learn how to not lose, and lost in the next chamber? Getting that without, well, getting that seems like a paradox to me. – Mołot Jun 25 '21 at 13:59
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    "How can I put my players through a renowned instant-death murder-dungeon without instantly murdering them all?" Weeeeeell... – Darth Pseudonym Jun 25 '21 at 14:52
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Tomb of Horrors is intentionally designed as an experienced player killer dungeon. It's not meant to be easy.

First, Gygax explains, "There were several very expert players in my campaign, and this was meant as yet another challenge to their skill—and the persistence of their theretofore-invincible characters. Specifically, I had in mind foiling Rob Kuntz's PC, Robilar, and Ernie Gygax's PC, Tenser."

The 5e version is a bit easier, but still pretty good at killing people.

When I ran it for newbs, I gave the players checkpoint magical items. They only worked in the tomb, but allowed them to gruesomely die, and then return to the start. Made it much more fun for them. They totally died, and then learnt from their horrible deaths. They said it gave the dungeon a dark souls vibe, rather than being frustrating.

Can they do it?

Level 9s can totally do it, it's a lot about your skill outside of character levels, not just raw power. Level 10s-14s can do it more reliably though, as they have a lot more utility. Level 5s could do the dungeon if skilled enough. Your players are new though, so expect some issues.

Be aware that there's some situations where a bad roll can mean problems. In the room of 3 levers, say, unless you succeed at a DC 20 perception roll you can't go on. I personally made sure to put a few dead adventurers around to give a few hints to each room. If they find a room especially hard you can have one drop from an obscure corner.

Acererak can be a beast to fight. With his life drain he can hang on forever. Be aware that you can make him make tactically poor decisions if it'll stop the game lasting forever.

KorvinStarmast
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Nepene Nep
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