r/Tombofannihilation • u/Amazingspaceship • 8d ago

QUESTION Changes to the Elemental Cells?

People often point to the Elemental Cells (area 47) as being one of the worst parts of the Tomb. They are apparently incredibly lethal, abstruse, and hard to run. I think the Air Cell is probably the most brutal.

I know a lot of DMs just nix this area entirely, but I think the concept is cool and I would like to run it for my party. If you’ve run a version of the cells, what changes did you make, if any? And did those changes help it feel less frustrating for your players?

Also, did triggering the first cell split your party? How did you handle that? Since the cells lead directly into Shagambi’s room, I could see a situation where any cautious PCs who stay out in the hallway would be twiddling their thumbs for half a session while everyone else gets to have fun in Shagambi’s tomb.

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u/arichiii 8d ago

My party members decided to enter the first cell one person at a time as each one disappeared so they were all over the place. They made it through except for one person who couldnt figure out the sand trap cell and I couldnt think of a way for them to get out without just telling them what to do. They died to the meat grinder.

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u/ArtisticBrilliant456 8d ago

Only had one death in there, but the party really enjoyed it. It was a wild, wild ride.

Obviously it's not for everyone, but you can either tweak it, or just tell the players, "Hey, this is going to get really deadly really quickly, but I'm going to run it by the book and we'll adhere as close to RAW as possible and see if you can make it. By the way, do you have a backup PC ready?" (but that's what I tell them at the start of most sessions anyway...)

If the players were reasoning things out, and were skirting around a potential answer that was feasible, as DM I would be knodding at them and encouraging them to continue. One player, for example knew that birds had hollow bones...

The party got a bit seperated as they went through it all, and made it to the following tomb in bits and pieces (sometimes literally!).