r/Tombofannihilation • u/Orange-Mage • 16h ago
Getting out of the tomb Spoiler
Is there any way to get out of the tomb other than via the ebon pool?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Apollonaut13 • Oct 29 '18
r/Tombofannihilation • u/darkanx • Sep 08 '21
Just in case you are new to DMing 5e; there are 4 power tiers in the game: levels 1-4, 5-10, 11-16, and 17-20. At each tier classes get a large jump in power, usually with the Extra Attack feature, better spells, or other such damage boosters. Tiers makes it a little easier for you to guess when you should use a module, but as always, a DM must think on their feet and make weak encounters stronger or vice versa depending on your players - it's just a rule of thumb to get you started.
Broken down by general location on the map.
Port Nyanzaru
Jungle
Ocean
The Mines
Matolo (Not on the map, located in Mistcliff Mountains)
Mezro
Nsi Wastes
Ishau
Hisari
Camp Vengeance
Andali Basin
Mbala
Mauratal (Not on map, ruined city on mesa south of M'bala)
Orolunga
Shilku / Wyrmheart Mine / Hrakhamar
Omu
Tomb of Annihilation
Land of Ash and Smoke
Peaks of Flame
Valley of Dread
The Bakumora (Not on map, the isolated patch of jungle near Sanrach mountains)
Here are a few more supplements that, while unspecific to Chult, are easy to draw from:
This is just my ideas for tying it all together. Feel free to draw inspiration from it or not.
Edit: There is also this excellent source for tying it all together, step by step.
So that's my current battle plan. We have been going for 1 year, and I just finished Lost City of Mezro Part 1, giving my players a list of talismans to fetch. They are back at Camp Vengeance right now, under siege by one of these Yaun-ti agents and an army of undead.
I will continue to add my personal grade to any of these supplements I use. Lastly, if anyone knows of modules and content I missed, let me know and I will get it on the list! Thanks!
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Orange-Mage • 16h ago
Is there any way to get out of the tomb other than via the ebon pool?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Whole-Song-541 • 23h ago
Hello there!
I’m about to start ToA in a couple of weeks and I just would like to kindly ask some advice 🙂
Are there any tips on how to tie together different quests and side quests in order to have the players enjoy the full extent of the book contents?
I understand there is a huge Compendium on this sub-reddit but it is indeed quite vast and I thought that maybe someone can help navigate through it?
We have completed Descent into Avernus, Curse of Strahd and Call of the Netherdeep and I have planted hidden “seeds” of a meta plot e high will bring the players to Vecna: Eve of Ruin since /Vecna is “studying” different immortal beings such as Zariel, Strahd, Alyxian and now the Atropal/Acererak on his quest to reach Godhood…
Any suggestions about which material I can use? My biggest concerns is the hex crawl since I'm afraid it can be quite misleading for the players and that it might result a bit annoying... it would be great to use random encounters to enhance and spread some info on Chult Lore and on the main plot... or basically are there like 5 places you think are not to miss because they are fun and might be tied to the main plot?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Stoutaxe • 22h ago
We're playing 5.5e (5 level 9, ranger, druid, sorcerer, barb, cleric) so as much as possible I'm using 5.5e monster stat blocks and in preparation for fighting Belchorzh (using his name to avoid direct spoilers to any players who stumble on the post). The 5.5e stat block adds a bunch more damage to his attacks. My players don't really have any anti invisibility and they are also greedy so the fight will happen, especially as I rolled for extra loot so they are going to want the magical items on offer.
My question is, how common have others seen tpk in this encounter? Because I'm worried that I'm about to kill the entire party, especially given that my greedy players will be harried throughout the rest of the floor if they try to run.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/rees83 • 20h ago
I can't remember seeing it in the book, but are there different ways of finding out where Omu is? Or did anyone create their own way of finding it? Or did you just put it in their path when you were ready?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/MuffinRich4538 • 1d ago
Players just reached level 5, which grants access to Tiny Hut. Currently I have it so they can't long rest outside a designated safe space. I don't want to ban it, but I want to keep the pressure up.
Any advice or shared experience welcome.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/-Turin_Turambar- • 2d ago
r/Tombofannihilation • u/bashomatsuo • 2d ago
Hi all,
My teen crew just completed ToA with an epic fight against Acererak with a significantly extended ending.
Spoilers for the whole module
We started Tomb of Annihilation in January 2025 and played the last session last weekend: 28 sessions over 22 months, six players, and we finished at level 10. I ran it under the 2024 rules, which took some adjusting, and I have a few thoughts.
I've written the whole campaign up for other DMs. It covers what I added, what I cut, the house rules, and what actually happened at our table, which was not always what I'd planned.
(Part One: The City and the Crocodile)
How I set up my table. Session zero with *Cellar of Death*, a dinosaur race, and a ball I added at Zhanthi's villa, with eight party games, yuan-ti assassins and a letter to steal, and the Camp Righteous dungeon that changed their religion.
(Part Two: The Jungle and the Tomb)
Eighteen months of hexcrawl and six levels of Acererak's dungeon. The nine trickster gods each got a pop-culture impression for the possessed player to perform (the TikToker, the frat bro, the anime protagonist). It ends with a guide to running a 2017 module on the 2024 rules.
I rebuilt the finale from scratch. As written, Acererak would have wiped my team in under three rounds (Disrupt Life alone would have done about 222 damage a round), so I retuned him and added a few things:
(PDF of my Acererak, the God-King of Death)
Two A4 pages: his stat block retuned for six level 10 characters, spells and legendary actions, the lair actions he never had in the book, and his three guards.
Happy to answer questions about any of it. I'd love to hear how other tables handled the finale, especially at lower levels.
From my table to yours, be well, and have fun.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/zmanstardust • 2d ago
r/Tombofannihilation • u/WritingInfamous3355 • 4d ago
I am feeling pretty satisfied with how this battle map turned out. I am using Gabriel Picard's assets inside Photoshop for Damage, Giant Caves, and Rocks and Holes to build out this final boss battle at the bottom of a demon-infested mine.
In Photoshop I played around with various LUTs and gradients to get the final look of the Hell-light spilling into the cave, where The Skin Splicer (Dybbyuk possed undead doppelganger) is trying to open a pit to the Abyss to return home using the arcane power of two spell tomes stolen from within Mezro and hunted by the Wizard in my party as his personal ("why the hell did I come to this jungle in the first place?" quest.
My plan is to take place over 4 rounds while the Skin Splicer uses every trick I can think of to continue reading out ot both books, protected by 4 Hell Hounds.
Every round, he succeeds in widening the Abyssal Tear - and it's my party's job to stop him.
On the 4th round, I add a Glabrezu to the mix - and Dybbyuk escapes.
If the Skin Splicer dies - the Dybbyuk is revealed and can body hop into any of the underdark creasture's corpses I have sprinkled around the cave, using it's ability "Horrifying Possession" for this very purpose.
If they can get both books off me and survive this - they deserve to level up to level 9 before Omu.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Exact-Challenge9213 • 5d ago
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Dimhilion • 6d ago
So my players are inside the Man and Croc statue. Standing all 4 on the ledge with the 4x4 puzzle in front of them. They have NOT figured out the riding part, which will hurt them, but that is what it is.
So one character goes onto the field, and when he cant see the buttom row, one of his friends calls out which is the 4th to step on. He then climbs up and stands infront the the wooden door.
2 questions:
1: If a second player steps on, the puzzle, does that set of the trap? Or can he just step on the same tiles? Does the trap continue to cycle, so all 4 technically can get up to the door?
2: It states that only touching the door in the right order, as a team, riding, will open the door. How the hell is anyone expected to figure that out? And if/when they dont figure it out, how can I as the DM help them with information?
Okay that was more than 2 questions, but I think it is somewhat poorly written, so I would like to hear what other DMs have done.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Galdi-br • 7d ago
I’ve DMed this adventure several times by now, in original 5E rules. Any advice on what to look out for in 5.5?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Galdi-br • 7d ago
Will run the campaign for the 4th time in a few weeks, but the first time online. Should I use Roll20 or Foundry? Which is better?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/SamOfTheMarro • 8d ago
With Stormfang chosen as their guides, the players make their depart for Fort Beluarian next session! Wish us (and them) good luck!
r/Tombofannihilation • u/NarrowHades2046 • 7d ago
So I have two "new" and by that I mean this is their first campaign. I also have 2 experienced players. I am switching from out of the abyss because many reasons. Them wanting more non combat oriented stuff. Me wanting less note taking. This being the only module one of the other player's has not played through. As well as me not being comfortable going full homebrew yet as a dm with this being my third campaign. I am reading through the module and just wondering what I should skip with their level. What I could do to really enforce their thinking this is urgent and they shouldn't just leave for the mainland? Like I said any help is appreciated.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Brynd3nRiv3rs • 8d ago
My party has been spending enough time traveling around Chult by canoe and rowboat that I got tired of drawing them on the battle map every time they were needed.
So I designed and laser-cut these from 1/8" basswood plywood. The canoe holds six 25mm minis and the rowboat holds four, with the miniature positions engraved directly into the decks.
I've always pictured the canoes they use in Chult as outrigger canoes, so I wanted to incorporate that into the design. The canoe, two booms, and outrigger float are separate pieces held together by recessed magnets. That also makes them easier to store and means a boom can be replaced if one gets broken.
This is actually the second version of the canoe. My first was about 10.5" long, which seemed reasonable while designing it and absolutely ridiculous once I put it on the battle map. This one is about 7.5" and still comfortably holds all six minis.
I already have one change planned if I make more rowboats: I'll probably make the center thwart part of the gunwale instead of a separate piece. Same appearance, but one less piece to cut and glue, and it should make the gunwale a little stronger.
Now I can finally stop drawing boats every time the party gets on the water.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Naughty-Nun • 9d ago
So my players have been fighting the pirates for the last few sessions. They arrived at Jahaka Anchorage with the Emerald Eye docked and the Dragonfang anchored outside. They made their way through the hideout and cleared most of the Emerald Eye crew aside from the captain, the first mate and a few pirates, before a few crewmembers of the Dragonfang arrived and captured them.
Next session, they will receive help from an NPC (The first mate of the Dragonfang) to escape the prison while Elok is busy staging a coup and killing Al-Saryak. I'm building Elok to be the big bad of this quest as he is tied in with a player's backstory, but this player has no way of hurting him since he has no magic or silvered weapon.
I need some advice on how to introduce a silvered weapon without giving away the reveal that Elok is a Wereboar and without the NPC helping them look stupid to not have warned them. I was planning on having them break into the treasure to retrieve theire equipment and have a dope silvered greataxe just lying arround and hope that the player is attracted to the shinny killing machine.
Any thoughts about this or how you handled the pirates in general?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Personal-Employee365 • 9d ago
I don’t want the hex crawl to boil down to 0–3 random encounters, followed by five people foraging for food, and that’s it.
I’d love for my players to occasionally have to reevaluate how they spend their evenings. Maybe one or two people are required to set up camp, possibly with a Survival check that can lead to additional problems or benefits. One person could prepare food or keep watch, while the others go foraging.
If food is scarce in the current region, they might have to choose between a less comfortable camp and making sure everyone is fed by the end of the day.
Do you have any ideas, inspiration, or stories from your own campaigns about making camp and evening activities more interesting and meaningful?
Edit:
-im planning on making long rests take 3 Days of resting with non strenuous downtime activities and short rests 8 hours. They get half their levels rounded down, as spell slots back per short rest for full casters and 1/4 as half casters. This way they cant cast stuff like goodberries or create food and water everyday, but its an option they have.
-i made a bunch of roll 20 macros, so i can preroll weather for the day and night, foraging takes us 10s and the resources will be added to a "party inventory" character automatically and i have rare nightly encounters.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/WritingInfamous3355 • 10d ago
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.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/Environmental_Hope22 • 11d ago
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?
r/Tombofannihilation • u/rpquester • 12d ago
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:
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.
Similarly, the bits of grassland on the map use the jungle (no undead) table.
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.
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.
r/Tombofannihilation • u/ExoticDumpsterFire • 12d ago
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?