I've been thinking a lot about the atropal as I gear up to run ToA for my crew, and what might be happening to it as it feeds on souls. I feel like it would be able to touch other minds as it grows toward godhood, and would be attracted to beings that are near to death. So I figure that once a party gets a ways into the jungle of Chult, it would start to reach out to them though dreams. More specifically:
Inflicted Nightmares: As the consciousness of the atropal grows, it can feel more of the reality around it and touch it briefly in the form of nightmares. After 5 days of travel into the jungle, the character with the lowest number of hit points at the end of the day feels the psychic tendrils of the atropal during its long rest. The inflicted nightmare gives and takes, imparting a glimpse of the atropal, the Soulmonger, or Acererak to the character. In return, the character takes 1-2 points of psychic damage on waking from the nightmare. If the character suffers a nightmare on two consecutive nights, it suffers one point of exhaustion the next day.
Mostly using this for flavor, but I'll use it to push the PCs toward Omu if they've missed clues elsewhere.
I think the character with the lowest hitpoints is a BAD mechanic.
You'll constantly hammer the same person, since during a long rest the lowest max hp will be the person you hit, over and over and over again... and a point of exhaustion is awful, add in that they can never recover because they will keep getting targeted. day 5 into the jungle they get a nightmare. day 6, that character get exhaustion and Disadvantage on ability checks day 7, speed is halved. This could reduce how far they move in the jungle? day 8, hit point max is halved. Remember that you CAN'T recover from hp max lose because of the Death Curse. day 9, speed is 0. Party has to carry the character day 10, death.
I like the idea but you should probably do it like a Random Encounter. Every sleep roll a d20, on a 17+ a nightmare happens. Roll randomly for the PC. Lose of ability checks can be crippling in the jungle as this can effect navigation, perception, or travel tasks like gathering food and water.
I like the idea, but I think you need to think about it more.
I've been thinking a lot about the atropal as I gear up to run ToA for my crew, and what might be happening to it as it feeds on souls. I feel like it would be able to touch other minds as it grows toward godhood, and would be attracted to beings that are near to death. So I figure that once a party gets a ways into the jungle of Chult, it would start to reach out to them though dreams. More specifically:
Inflicted Nightmares: As the consciousness of the atropal grows, it can feel more of the reality around it and touch it briefly in the form of nightmares. After 5 days of travel into the jungle, the character with the lowest number of hit points at the end of the day feels the psychic tendrils of the atropal during its long rest. The inflicted nightmare gives and takes, imparting a glimpse of the atropal, the Soulmonger, or Acererak to the character. In return, the character takes 1-2 points of psychic damage on waking from the nightmare. If the character suffers a nightmare on two consecutive nights, it suffers one point of exhaustion the next day.
Mostly using this for flavor, but I'll use it to push the PCs toward Omu if they've missed clues elsewhere.
Thoughts?
I think the character with the lowest hitpoints is a BAD mechanic.
You'll constantly hammer the same person, since during a long rest the lowest max hp will be the person you hit, over and over and over again... and a point of exhaustion is awful, add in that they can never recover because they will keep getting targeted.
day 5 into the jungle they get a nightmare.
day 6, that character get exhaustion and Disadvantage on ability checks
day 7, speed is halved. This could reduce how far they move in the jungle?
day 8, hit point max is halved. Remember that you CAN'T recover from hp max lose because of the Death Curse.
day 9, speed is 0. Party has to carry the character
day 10, death.
I like the idea but you should probably do it like a Random Encounter. Every sleep roll a d20, on a 17+ a nightmare happens. Roll randomly for the PC.
Lose of ability checks can be crippling in the jungle as this can effect navigation, perception, or travel tasks like gathering food and water.
I like the idea, but I think you need to think about it more.
Darn good points. Thank you! Yes, I'll have to tone a bit. Maybe I should just forego the exhaustion point altogether.